The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-12-23

ana neglected and that the seemingly
White child of negro-sIaye ana az,
unknown father became the scion of 4
FAMILY OF unblemished lineage.
But mere change Of clothes and
condition does not penetrate far be-
low the surface. A silken gown can
not alter the currents Of a shoddy
soul, and while externally the spurious
heir was all F. F. ", internally he was
negro. After few years, never hay-
ing discovered the deception practieed
upon him by Roxana, Percy DriscolI
died, penniless, but his brother, the
Judge, his prayer for children of his
own denied, adopted the supposititious
Tom, and made the boy his heir. He
sent him to college. He gave him ey-
cry advantage that an affectionate
rather could have given a boy OF his
own, but the raw material which was
the real Tom was poor, and the soil
unfruitful. The boy acquired a taste
for dissipation for which, the simple
life Of Dawson's Landing offered no
Arrangements. He plunged into the
gay whirl of st. Louis, garnerIng notp.
Ing but disgraceful gambling debts.
Worst of all he was at heart a snob
abused the real heir now become his
slave, and acquired a profound detes-
tation for his ancient nurse, Roxana,
of whose real relation to him he was
unaware, until goaded to intense re.
sentiment by his contemptuous and
brutal treatment, she acquainted him
with the terrible facts of his birth
and ancestry, and demanded that he
treat her as a mother on penalty Of
exposure.
The revelation Frustrated the i'm
poster for brief period, but failed to
spur him on TO better behavior. He
went from bad to worse. STOPPING even
to housebreaking in order to obtain
funds to pay his gambling debts. In
his mothers power, and she not at all
disinclined to blacknail, he was driv-
en- to all sorts of expedients to satisfy
his own and her demands. But through
it all he managed to maintain an out
ward appearance of superiority that
enabled him to dazzle his interiors
and deceive his equals. The judges
love for the boy blinded him TO the
lads evil character, but once he near
ly disinherited him on the score of
cowardice. A pair of mysterious Itnl
ian twins settled at Dawson's Land
ing, and at a public meeting, Tom
having provoked him to action by his
insolence, Luigi, the stronger of the
two, had kicked the scion of the
House of Driscoll off the stage into the
audience, the stain of which insult
real F. F. v. would have wiped orr
upon the field of honor, but for which
the cowardice of Tom found ample
satisfaction in the police court, which
proceeding so outraged the good judge
that for the honor of his family he
personally fought q duel with the of,
Tending italian, wounding him. and
thus laying the foundations for much
future trouble.
Came now the supreme touches f.
the career of the spurious Tom. For
the payment of newly acquired gam
bling debts, with Roxana's consent
Tom sold his own mother back into
the slavery from which at DriscOllS
death she had been freed, but in VIC
Iation of his promises he sold her
"down the river" crime that reacted
upon his unfilieI head when the re
sourceful Roxana escaped, and under
threat of exposure of his real status
IN life, required him to indemnify her
new master lest she be apprehended
and returned to him. Having no other
resources Tom resolved upon the rob
berry of his benefactor, the judge, in
the fulfillment of which venture he
murdered him, his weapon being an
oriental knife of unusual design, which
he had stolen from Luigi. the italian
In one of his theft-raids.
The murder of Judge Driscoll
brought great excitement to Dawson's
Landing, and the italian twins narrow
ly escaped lynching for the crime.
The whole community adjudged them
guilty-all but Pudd'nhead Wilson,
who volunteered to defend them
in court, a poor reliance since the
were his first and only clients. But
Pudd'nhead was unafraid. The evi.
dence against them was most convinc-
ing, but
There were finger-prints upon the
knife handle, and they were not the
of the accused
Whose finger-prints were theyt
Tom, secure in his sense of safety
because of the overwhelming evidence
against the twins, ventured to taunt
Pudd'nhead upon his confidence in
winning his case. he entered his
study, and seating himself at Pudd'n
heads side while he studied the prints
in his collection, he picked up one of
A.