Year: 1878

The Ofspring Of Losoly Parentag
il Heir to Wealthy Estate in 81
i Louis,-Ten Thousand Dollars Pait
i for a Baby not Ten Hours Old.


"There was a fellow died in tn,


Work House the other day." sait
Deputy Coroner Praedicow, in hi
most matter of fact manner, "ano
| when that mans son grows up, HI


will inherit big property in thi


town."


| Here the Deputy stopped and look


ed out of the window, abstractedl,


surveying the pleasing expanse o.


Clark avenue mud.


'Well, tell it all while you ar,
about it," urged reporter a littl'


impatiently.


The deputy chuckled little, mad,
some remark about items beinf
scarce, and then went on. Out OF
Market street there lived very re-
spectacle and wealthy German, who
was brewer. This was about seven
teen or eighteen years ago. His wife
had never had any children, and as
the time approached when the advent
of baby was expected, the event
was looked forward to with great
anxiety. The poor little atom Of hui
manity came into the world and with
wall went ont Of it. They carried
the little corpse into an adjoining
room, and there the doctor, the mid
wife and the father consulted. To
add to the great shock of maternity,
the tidings ofthe bereavement would,
The doctor said, be fatal, and yet be-
fore an hour or two at the furthest
the yearnings of motherhood would
demand the child. 1t was an out
look toAppal stout heart. The con.
sultation was hurried. When it was
over, and the trio had mutually
pledged secresy, the brewer took his
hat and hurried out Of the house.


To the south side of this mansion
lay little collection of houses, the
abodes of the poor. In one lived an
Irishman and his wife, the latter a
worthy woman. The man was shift.
less, drinker and worthless. Into
the squalid home that very day had
come O baby. The mother lay on q
miserable bed, child baby by her, at
tended by one of the neighbors.
The father sat by the cold stove and
thought moodily of the extra mouth
as he reflected how poorly he had pro-
vided when there were only two
The door was pushed open and the
brewer appeared. He beckoned the
Irishman out, and in the dark, chill
night they talked in undertones for q
few moments. Then the man went
in, and on a pretext the attendant
was induced to go to her home. The
brewer took the place she vacated.


Then the poor Irishman and the
rich German told between them what
had happened at the mansion.


Madame said the brewer, "I
want your baby. will take him and
make him my own son. He shall take
the place of the dead child. No one
shall ever know the change. He shall
have education and everything, and
when he grows up he shall be my
heir. I will take the child aud what
transpires this night shall be buried
between US. The dead baby shall be
brought here and buried as yours.
You and your husband shall be paid


The mother strained her baby to
her and groaned in anguish. The
men stood and waited. She sobbed
a little and looked around upon the
desolate surroundings. Then she
wrapped the little form in almost the
only piece of bed clothing, and press
ing it once more to her breast, put it
in the brewers arms, said "Take it,"
and buried her face in her hands.


"Come," said the brewer, and he
hurried over the then unimproved
commons up Eighteenth street, and
into his house. The Irishman follow.
ed him. In the outer room to the
sick chamber the infant was hastily
transferred to dainty wraps which
had been prepared for the dead baby.
The latter was given the ragged
counterpane for a winding sheet, and
as the midwife with beaming face
passed into the sick room bearing the
little stranger the Irishman passed
out the other door carrying the little
corpse.


The pledge made at the mothers
bedside was kept. The Irishman and
his wife received 5000 and preserv-
ed their silence. The price that the
birthright brought disappeared final
ly through bad management, and the
mother died. The man lived on, al
ternating between low haunts and the
workhouse. The brewer befriended
him time and again and finally died.
Ono night in q workhouse cell the
man died also, and the Coroner was
the only mourner at the brief obse-
quies the next day.


The transplanted baby has grown
almost to manhood since then, and he
bears his adopted name right WORTH
ly. If the foster-mother learned in
after years loves deception she has
never shown by acts that it is not her
flesh and blood she nourished. BY
and by the young heir will step into
fortune and take his position among
the solid young men of St. Louis
81. Louis Times.