Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1877 — Romance of a Dust-Barrel. [ARTICLE]

Romance of a Dust-Barrel.

The honor and fortune of a lady once hungupon the result of a law-suit in one of tire New York courts. The most important part of the evidence in her favor was in the contents of three letters. She had put them away in her desk, but when she searched it the letters were not to be found. They had been stolen. The lady’s counsel informed her that unlessthosc letters could he, produced (Iw ease wmddgo against'm r. Tin-inai came on,“and on the morning of the third day the lady did not appear in court. The counsel were annoyed, but went on with the cross-examination of the plaintifl', the lady’s husband. , . .Suddenly the woman rushed into the court-room, and excitedly exclaimed to her counsel, so loud that the Court and jury heard her, “ 1 have found them!” Examining the package she handed to them, the counsel found three old letters, which had been badly torn, but were now skilfully patched together. They were dirty and stained. “If the Court please,” said the counsel, “I now offer in evidence three letters, which’, up to this moment, we could not find.” them,” said the plaintiff’s counsel. They looked at them carefully, and then remarked to the Court: -——— “ We object to the admission of these papers. They purport to be letters written by some person, but they are so patched and pasted that there is no way by which they can be identified as genuine letters.” “We propose, if Your Honor please, to show that they were written by the plaintiff, were lost, and found in a most extraordinary manner,” replied the lady’s counsel. The Court examined the letters, amid* the silence of the audience and the anxiety of the husband; “You may identify them,” at last said the Judge, “and. then offer them in evidence.” The plaintiff was again placed on the stand. “Did you ever see these letters before?” The witness’ hands trembled while he held the letters, and his face grew white. -2 r “Itis possible, ’' was his hesitating reply. —— “Are they in ytfur handwriting?” < "It looks like my writing.” “ Are not the signatures yours?” ‘ * They look like my writing. - - “ Have yon any doubt that they are your signatures?”" Jle hesitated.

“ Answer the question,” said the Court. “1 can't say that I have,” he stammered out. "That is all.” The letters were admitted as evidence anil the woman’s honor was saved. Those letters had been thrown, from a waste-basket into a dust-barrel. A rag-picker," while searching the barrel, was attracted by the signatures. He read a few words. They excited his curiosity. He searched for and found all the pieces, and carefully put them together, for he saw money in them. One day he saw the same name in the papers, and connected with the lawsuit. He sought out the lady, Providence leading him to her rather than to her husband. She paid him a good reward, and instantly hastened to the court-room. The Tetters saved her from ruin. Few of those who saw their exhibition in court knew how she found them. But to-day that rag-picker owns a paying stall in one of the city markets, the result of his finding the pieces of three old letters in a dust-barrel.— Youth's Companion.