Fiction Eclispsed

Is the Identification of Heiress to Fortune of Mrs. Lord

A real romance and arealheiress,who comes into the possession of an estate that is real, is the somewhat sensational outcome of a spirited lawsut just ended in the courts at Plymouth, Ind., in which Mattie Commons, a young lady of Munice, was the central figure.

The whole story, although it seems as novel and strange as anything in fiction, now bears the court's stamp as to being genuine, and is the sole foundation upon which Mrs. Commons based her successful claim to being the lawful heir of Mrs. Emma Lord, who died four years ago n Culver

Back in the "76s in the village of Walnut Rudge Ind., a young woman named Nettie Hoover married a young Methodist preacher by the name of Jason Brewer. The young lady had been reared in the family of her uncle and aunt William and Hannah Cook, on account of the ill health of her mother. A daughter, Mattie Estella Brewer, was born of this union and for a few years the family was a happy one. The young wife was noted for her remarkable power in religious exhortation, her prayers being noted for the beauty of composition. Then she developed a strong desired to shine as an actress, and in a short time there was a gulf dividing her from her earnest young husband and the simple home life. When the baby Mattie was but three years old there was a temporary separation, soon followed by fivorce, the father keeping the child and the mother foing out into the world

Before a year had passed, however, the mother returned humbled and humiliated with her experiences and sought to be taken back into her former home, but she met neither welcome nor forgiveness, and turned away again to face the future alone. She made a short visit to relatives living close to Dayton, by the name of Waymire, then came back to have a final visit with the husband and little girl. She asked the privilege of helping to dress the baby, and permission to visit her any time she cared to, which was freely granted, then she left, taking away with her a tiny tintype of the little daughter.

The strangest part of the history that followed was that the mother never returned, never in after years stretched forth a hand to bring the child of her youth to her side or tried to find whether she lived or died

In 1881, five years later, a strange woman by the name of Emma Sewell, of Indianapolis, married Ralph Lord, and moved to Culrer, on Lake Maxinkuckee, in the northern part of the state. She was of dark comlexion, attractive of appearance and manners, and soon became well known. Mr. Lord was operated a pleasure steamer on the lake and for a few years the couple appeared to be properous and happy, but in 1887 the community was shocked to learn of the husband's death by sucide.

Mrs. Lord placed her business affairs in the hands of Captain Crook, her husband's former employe and she built another large boat, bought out a competing line, and with her shrewdness in business and the good management of Captain Crook she was fast becoming a woman of prominence and wealth. He home as a beautiful country home on the edge of the lake and was tastily furnished. She showed a great interest in the welfare of the unfortunante, was paremont in works of charity, often giving the use of her grounds and her boats to the churches for socials and picnics. She took into her home a young girl and young boy and cared for them as though they were her own children.

In all these years she said but little about her earlier life, except that her maiden name was Emma Sewell, that she was the child of English parents, both of whom were dead, that she was born August 2, 1859 close to Dayton; that she was reared and educated in catholic institutions of Cincinnati and Boston; that she never had any children, and had no relatives who were living. She showed great displeasure if any of her intimate friends sought for further details of her life. No one who claimed to have been her firends ever called for her, and after awhile both she and the community about the lake seemed to forget that she had ever had another home than Culver.

Here aboats carried thousands of travellers from all over Indiana and it is probable that more than 30,000 people in Indiana knew Mrs. Emma Lord personally or by reputation.

Four years ago an attack of apoplecy prostrated her,and knowing that death was but a matter of days, she said but little, and then not a word concerning her past or her people except to repeat that they were all dead. In another week she was dead.
,br> for a few months no move was made as to the disposition of her property except to settle up a few unpaid bills and thn it began to dawn upon her acquaintances that a stange situation had arisen, that here was an estate worth between twelve and fifteen thousand dollars and without a soul to lay claim to it, and that the money in all probrobabilty escheat to the state of Indiana for the want of heirs.

Conflicts immediately arose among the parties who endeavored to obtain possession of the estate. The matter was taken to the courts and the wrangle continued until Captain Crook, Mrs. Lord's former manager, lost patience and decided to institute a search for the relatives of the dead woman whoever they might be. for this work he engaged the services of John C. Capron, a young lawyer of Fort Wayne. Mr. Capron went back into the life of Emma Sewell Lord as far as he could probe, travelling to the cities she had spoken of, hunting up supposed friends, making thorough searches in the catholic institutions in which she claimed to have been educated, also hunting through directories of Cincinnati, Dayton and Indianapolis. But one search was like another, and they all ended in failure.

There was another clue that Cpatain Crook had furnished.Years before Mrs. Lord had spoken of having visited the Waymire family in Dayton. She had said they were realtives but that all of them had since died. So the search was then taken up of getting some thread that might lead toward the early life of Mrs. Lord. It was found that hundreds of Waymires were living all through western Indiana, Illinois and eastern Ohio, but none could be found near Dayton. Finally by accident, W. L. Waymire was located at Englewood a small village twenty miles north of Dayton. He called in all the Waymires in that section but none of them could remeber of such a woman as Emma Sewell.

There could be but one conclusion, and that was that Emma Sewell was a myth, and that it was not the true name of Mrs. Lord.

Obtaining an early photograph of Mrs. Lord he went back among the Waymires and exhibited the picture to them. Recongnition was immediate. It was Jeannette Hoover, it was the same Jeannette Hoover who had made a visit to the home of John H. Waymire thrity-five years before. Then it began to look as though Emma Sewell Lord and Nettie Hoover might be one and the same woman. Nettie Hoover had also at the time of her visit givien the Wymire family a tintype of herself. This was obtained and compared with the photo of Mrs. Lord. The resemblance was very striking.

The Waymires had never heard of her since the day she left them thirty-five years ago, but remembered that she had been reared in the family of William Cook of Walnut RIdge. The search was then transferred to Walnut
Ridge, but William Cook had been dead many years. His son, Jacob Cook was located in Zionsville, a village north of Indianapolis. He is one of the substantial men of the community, a man of high repute. He had known Nettie Hoover from the time he was six years old when his mother received her into the family, but since the time she left them, when about twenty-two years of age, not a word had been received from her, and he knew nothing of her life during the thrity-five years that had passed. He did know, however, that Nettie had, when about seventeen years of age, married Jason Brewer, from whom she was afterwards divorced. He also knew that her daughter, Mattie Brewer Commons, was at that very moment living in Muncie.

With in very few hours after recieving this information Mr. Capron called upon Mattie Commons at her home and it took but one glance to assure him that the long search had come to an end.

For the young lady it was an hour crowed with the most conflicting emotions. For thrity years she has sought this mother, had prayed for a sight of her and sought the advice of friends and counsel, had spent of her slender means in payingdetective agencies and had searched the faces of nearly every srange woman she met. Now she had found that her was dead.

Two days later the little city of Culver was startled to see Mrs. Lord's daughter visiting among them. She was at once accepted at her word, on account of the striking resemblance not onl of features but of manner.

However confident the young lady;s friends were that she was the rightful heir, and while a comparison of the pictures of NettieHoover with the photo of Mrs. Lord showe a strong resembalance thes was not legal proof. There was no positive link to bridge the gulf between the Nettie Hoover of 18876 and Emma Lord of 1904.

It may truthfully be said that one tiny tintype was all that stoode between Mattie Commons and the loss of a heritage that is rightfully hers. The was the small tintype of Mattie Brewer Commons as a baby, which the mother Nettie had carried away with her at the time she separated from the husband and that identical tintype was found in the album of Mrs. Emma Lord and was identified by Jason Brewer, the father who produced another on exactly like it for the court's examination.

On top of so many significant parallels in the lives of the two woment the finding of this picture in such a place wiiiped the last vestige of doubt from the mind of the court.

Turning to the young lady who was among her Quaker firends, Judge Bernetha said.

In twenty years experieince both as a lawyer and judge, I have never had so novel and strange situation presented to me, but in comparing these photos and noting the number of parallels that are shown to have existed in the lives of Nettie Hoover and Emma Lord, wihile there is no one thing upon which the court can fasten that bear absolute proof of their identity, yet the court cannot believe so many coincidences to have taken plpace, surrounding the lives of these two women upon any thother possible pypothesis than that they are one and the same, and I have no hesitancy in finding that Mattie Commons is the daughter and sole heir of Emma E. Lord, and the administrator will act accodinfly

Mrs. Commons has for ten years been employed as a sales lady with rohr Y Smith of Muncie. --- Fort Wayne Weekly Journal-Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 08 Dec 1910, Thu Page 13