The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • Page 12

There Is a grave in West View cemetery, 4 miles Atlanta, when rests the mortal remains of a man around whose death there was woven one of the most wonderful almost completely Ties of a doable In the annals of the world. The story so staggers credulity that I would not hsTe the temerity to now record It If I did not have the newspaper flies, court attorneys of Atlanta who took a prominent part In the unraveling of the strange mystery. I was one of the newspaper reporters in Atlanta when this case of an extraordinary double astounded the public, and I believed even at that time There were thirteen people killed, and among them was J. W. Pierce, a man about SO years of age.

who had been to Atlanta selling a carload of horses. It was he who lies buried in West body there, developed the story of a wonderful double. When the thirteen dead bodies were brought to Atlanta, and an Inquest was held, Edward C. Bruffey, a reporter of The Constitution, was foreman of the coroner's Jury. This Jury not only looked Into the cause of the death of the victim of the disaster, but they also directed the coroner tp take Immediate steps to have the relatives of all the dead promptly notified.

Those over whom the inquest were held were Mr. and Mrs: Jake and Mrs. B. Bright and one child, B. Peyton.

N. Stanley, E. T. Hughey, two children of a Mrs. Brown.

Jack Scott aha J. W. Pierce. It was ascertained that Pierce's home was at Abilene, Texas, and when his family were notified of his death a grown son to Atlanta and began preparations tor the removal of the bod to the Texas home. Vs some of the dead were hot at Ural Identified, their descriptions were published in many of the southern newspapers.

Mrs. J. Pierce Weaver, of Indianapolis, received a clipping from The Constitution, to which waa attached a business card of her husband, who was an and from whom she was separated. Jhis, together with the 'fact that the description of the dead man tallied exactly with that of her absent husband, caused her to come to Atlanta at once. She viewed the dead body, and' stated positively that It was that of ber husband.

The controversy over the dead body became so acute that both young Pierce and Mrs. Weaver secured legal assistance. Pierce retained GartreU 4 ladaon. a arm composed of the bite General L. J.

Gartrell and T. Lad son, then a young lawyer, and now one of Atlanta's foremost members of the bar; Mrs. Weaver retained the late Judge O. A. Lochrane Walter Rt Brown, who is one of Atlanta's beat known barristers.

So determined were Mrs. Weavers lawyers that she should take possession of the body that Sir. Pierce lawyers resorted to an injunction in the courts. Up to this time the dead man's body had been ones disinterred and twice taken from the receiving vault for Identification. Mr.

Pierce telegraphed tor his mother to come to Atlanta and bring with Mrs. Weaver Indianapolis' to her brother in law to come to Atlanta immediately and bring witnesses. Wonderful Points of Resemblance I feel like pausing just hen, tor I going to relate the evidence of a double that astonished an who heard too beucb. Mn. Pierce all her witnesses, without the body, wsing in sight, wen told to describe any peculiarities by which they could Identify the remains as those of J.

W. Pierce, of Texas. Mrs. Pierce, corroborated by i others, swore: "First, mat the dead man hi malformation of the feet, by which certain gether. The body es were growing Second, that there was a certain tooth which was of solid gold.

Third, that there was a wound on the left side of the hack of the neck caused' by a pistol shot Fourth, that J. W. Pierce carriedvln his pocket a certain prescription for blood poison. (The three ingredients in the prescription were named by Mrs. Pierce).

Mrs. Wearer and her witnesses refused to be swore that J. W. Weaver had the. mat Here the evidence of court records and formation of the toes, a certain solid of witnesses.

Since than I hare been gold tooth, and a. pistol wound In the tempted more than once to write this I back of his neck, and these were pre story, but I hare been persuaded not ctsety as had been given by Mrs. to do so on the ground that I might Pierce. And to add more wonder to the not be believed, and that the story would be classed with has been written by the imaginative Jules Verne. 1 do bo now with some hesitancy, but.

as I have stated, as I hare such strong evidence to support the story, I am going to give It to the readers of The Constitution, and let them think of it as they will. But it is true, every word of It, this story of a double that Is more won derful than Katherlne Cecil Thurs ton's "Masquerader," which, even as fiction, has been considered by many to be beyond the bounds of possibility. Death of J. Pierce. On December 15, 1S85, there occurred a railroad wreck at Mableton, near Austell, and about 15 miles from Atlanta.

A Georgia Pacific railroad passenger train was standing at a water tank when an East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgl crashed Into the other with such an Impact wonderful case. Mrs. Weaver stated that her husband carried a certain prescription for blood poison. It contained exactly the same three Ingredients that had been named by Mrs. Pierce.

Now, don't forget that these witnesses were all under the rule, and not one had heard the testimony of the other, and that the dead body was out of sight in the receiving vault at West View. Descriptions Identical. The descriptions of Pierce and Weaver were identically the same. They were both of the same age, the same height and the same weight. When the witnesses on both sides bad testified to the same peculiar marks on the body they were allowed to view the body, and as they were ranged on opposite sides of the open coffin all those on the Pierce side exclaimed: "That Is the body ot J.

W. Pierce, All to be two me the Weaver side cried "That Is the body of J. P. Wearer, and we swear it" Among the witnesses for Mrs. Weaver was an Atlanta young lady, who had known Wearer at one time in Texas, when he kept a hotel.

Another witness was an undertaker, a former business partner of who had known him from his child hood. It developed in the Investigation that J. P. Wearer had separated from I his wife in Indianapolis, and had gone to Texas to manage a hotel. While there he changed his name, and, won derful to relate, he called himself Wearer Pierce." The dead man was; named J.

W. Pierce. The simillartty added still more to the mystery. You will probably conclude that at this point In the narrative that Pierce and Wearer were one and the same man; that Wearer had gone to Texas, and there married under the assumed name of J. Weaver Pierce.

Ton will! decide In your own mind that this is, the only possible solution of such a mystery In which there were claimed courts, of Pierce, buried in West View cemetery. Upon the arrival of Mrs. Wearer it was disinterred for identification, and it waa when she waa about to have the body removed to Indianapolis that legal steps were takes by the Pierce family to prevent her from doing so. Judge Could Not Decide. As an Indication of the wonderful resemblance between Weaver and Pierce and of the remarkable evidence that fitted both men.

it may be stated that no leas a renowned Judge than the late Judge Marshall J. Clarke declared, after he had aU the evidence, that he could not render a decision in favor of the Pierce Wearer family and jet mete THE CONSTITUTION, ATLANTA, GA SUNDAY, WonderftQDouMeBrerKnown "0RYAN ATLANTA TOMBSTONE TELLS J. W. Pierce, and the other named J. Pierce Wearer, who were both exactly alike, and who had the same malformation of toes, the same solid gold tooth, the same pistol wound In the back of the neck and the same But not so.

And when I go on with this story of probably the most marvelous double that the world ever saw, I know that I am taxing crowallty to the utmost limit The question may be asked why there was such a fight over a dead's man's body, especially when one of the contestants. Mrs. Weaver, had not laid much claim to her husband when he was living. The answer is, perhaps, that aside from Mrs. Pierce actually desiring the right to bury her husband's body, there was considerable money The dead man had on his person $875 In cash, a draft for about $3,000 and a valuable pure white Arabian, horse which he bad bought in Atlanta.

As the legal points ot the case are here told by one of the attorneys, I will not dwell on the fight that was either side. He had granted porary injunction against the era, and waa preparing to hear evidence as to bis final decision when the mystery waa cleared up. Before relating the circumstances under which justice was finally done, I wish to state that C. T. Ladson, who then a young lawyer and Just be ginning to make bis way In the pro fession in which he has been so suc cessful, played the role of a detective with great sklU.

As the case stood It devolved upon him to prove that there was another man named J. Pierce who was still living. 'How he accomplished this 1b best told in his own words. There was another man named J. Pierce Weaver, and when he waa found he was the living image of J.

W. Pierce. He was about the same age, the same height and the same weight He was so much like the dead man that his friends and relatives, and even his own wife, could not have told one from the other if they had both been in life. This existence of such a remarkable double, with the Identical peculiarities I have before mentioned, is what induces me to declare that there has probably never been in the annals of the world such a marvelous case on record. Like the Dead Come to Life.

I remember well the afternoon when I stood in the old Union depot with Mrs. Weaver's brother awaiting, the arrival of the train from Chattanooga, which was to bring to Atlanta the man. Wearer, accompanied by Attorney Ladson and an officer. Mrs. Wearer's brother remarked to me as the train was entering the depot: "If Wearer gets off that I will swallow him alive, for I am as certain that my.

brother in law lies dead and In his coffin as I am that God reigns In the eternal universe." When the train stopped Mr. Ladson and the' officer alighted with Wearer between them. "Great God." exclaimed Mrs. Wearer's brother, "there Is Wearer alive and standing before me. I can scarcely believe my own eyes." Wearer stepped from the train, and smilingly spoke to his friends and relatives who bad come to the depot, not to meet him, but what they believed would be an impostor.

In the court room Weaver told his story to Judge Clarke. He simply acknowledged that he waa J. P. Wearer, and that several years before, when be had left his wife, he had gone to Texas and assumed the name of J. Weaver Then there exhibited by Weaver to the wonder stricken assemblage a solid gold tooth, a bullet wound in the back of the neck, a malformation of the toes and a prescription for blood poison, an Identically the same as had been exhibited on Pierce and which had been sworn to There stood in the court room a living man.

who was the exact double of the dead man In the cemetery, and he bore upon his body marks of identification the same as were on the dead and which would hardly have been found upon one man in i rinf husband Mrs. Wearer, of coarse, gave up the contest, and went bask to her homo In Indians polls, while ber husband went his way test, the body of J. W. Pierce could not be removed to Texas, and it waa re interred In the grave at West View, where it now rests. So certain had been both parties as to the Identity of the dead man that the lawyers for both Mrs.

Pierce and Mrs. Weaver tiled suits for damages against the railroad companies, amounting in each case to $50,000. The Wearer case was withdrawn and that of Pierce was settled satisfactorily to those concerned. Lawyers in the Case. I will now give the story as told by Attorney C.

T. Ladson, and what he says is corroborated by Attorney Walter's. Brown. "I hare often wondered," says Mr. Ladson, "why this remarkable story of a double has not been told before.

I do not remember of ever having read ot anything of the kind that can equal It At the time the affair happened it was not as fully handled as such a piece of news would be If it occurred at the present day. Many of the extraordinary features were then overlooked. "Soon after the killing ot Fierce; Mrs. Weaver came Clark, who. had been her husband's business partner.

The body was identified by them, and they were about to remove It to Indianapolis, when a man named Lovelady, a friend of J. W. Pierce, notified the Pierce family In Abilene, Texas. We, Gartrell Ladson, received a telegram from Mays Tlmmons, a law firm in Abilene, to prevent the removal of "Pierce's bosy. We immediately secured a temporary Injunction from Judge Marshall J.

Clarke, in a few days Pierce's son arrived in identified the dead man as his father, and uncertook to re move the body to Texas. Mrs. vex wired to and relatives In Indianapolis to come to Atlanta at once, and Pierce wired for his mother and relatives to come from Texas. Then followed the remarkable iden tification of the body by in the contest "Both the Pierces and the Wearers Identified the dead man by sight and then, without seeing the body and without hearing the evidence of each other, swore to the gold tooth, the bullet wound In the back of the neck sad the malformation ot the toes. 1 believed then, and I still believe, that Mrs.

Weaver was honestly mistaken; for how could she be otherwise with such startling evidence to convince her she waa right? I understand that the many striking features in the case win be siren by the writer of this article, and therefore after certifying to. the" facta that have been given, will add another chapter about how the man Weaver was found and the puxxling mystery unraveled. Thought Weaver Was Living. "I felt all the time that Weaver was not only living, hot that he in some way had becon Mrs; Wearer and make her believe that ha dead, so she would no longer try to. Interfere with him.

I believed It. was. Weaver who sent his undertaking card attached, and that he was led similarity lng so exactly like bis own. I therefore had letters written to the police authorities of cities throughout the locate one heard of the From there he J. P.

Weaver. tracked to Chat "Being satisfied that Weaver war hiding out in Chattanooga, I swore out a warrant against him before a Justice of the peace In Atlanta, charging him with some misdemeanor as a cottage la of the city. We went to stood guard at the front door, while Captain rear window. When I rapped on partly opened by Wea ver himself, who Immediately began to back towards a dresser, where, we afterwards learned', he had a pistol. Captain Couch was by this time crawling In the window, and he drew his pistol and brought Wearer to a halt "The man at first denied he Wearer, but after we had locked him up In the city prison he admitted he wanted, and.

agreed satisfied that Wearer was living and present In Atlanta, there were some ot the witnesses, lndud ing an Atlanta young lady, who reluctant to believe tbe evidence ot their own eyes, so positive had they been that the dead man was Wearer, and so strong bad been the points by which they had Identified him. The contest was quickly closed after that, Mrs. Wearer admitting at last that the dead man in West View was not her husband. "Besides seeking an injunction to prevent the removal ot Pierce's body BOOIiyiEVIEWS that city. The perhaps and tribulations, lnteres be better Kate and Mrs.

Morris L. CroxaU. (Published by Everett Waddy Richmond, VaO. This is auite an Interesting journal, written by this estimable woman, Mrs. LeGrand.

during the war. She gives a full account of the Indignities perpetrated by the yankees during their occupation of New Orleans, particularly tfte terrible deeds committed and bard ships thwr SScurred during the reign of Oeneral Benjamin F. Butler. Especially tbe hardships and indignities perpe horrible tales of suffering trials have grown up since. Still, there are many that may like to go back to these gruesome tales, ot which they can read some of the worst sort In this book.

The Starr Cotton, and the development of the southern states. By Eugene Clyde Brooks, professor of education, Trinity college. Durham. X. C.

(PObllBbod by. Rand, McNally a Co, Chicago. Price 15' cents.) A for schools relating to all the phases of tbe krowing of the cotton plant in the southern states, also a complete syaopals of. the de veloDment ot tbe in which cotton Is grown. the by produets of cotton are full 01 Interest and Information.

The Illustrations show In evolution the farm implements and machinery and methods used in tbe culture and manufacture of cotton There are also fine Illustrations of the plant the flower, the leaf 'and tbe boll. Maps and diagrams further show and reinforce tbe Tudor Jenka. Pictures by George Alfred Will (Published by A. C. McClurg a Chicago.

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fought hi Two Years la By the Princess Der tins, first lady in waiting to the Empress Dowager. Illustrated by photographs. (Published by JCoffat Yard a New York. Price A highly Interesting narrative of experiences sf the first lady In waiting late The Princess Der Lias: Is the of a Chinese ambassador to was educated In Paris. Whe if nee? who lames Cooke Mills, au or of Inland Seas." (Publish Ith great klnd 'ed by.

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value of arraaaltc io ta might say th have i I pretext to get some legal bold on him. 1 1 went to Chattanooga with Captain BIT 4ilj Couch, of the police force, who died a jUsT Illl I few years ago. and upon arriving there JaW atA II ml found that the man we supposed was Ylli Wearer was occupying toss the outskirts was toe man i t0 to Atlanta. "And do you know, that although 5 Mrs. Weaver and 'the undertaker, ii Clark, were many weeks consumed In the con to Indianapolis we filed suits for damages against tbe railroad companies, and effected very satisfactory settlements." Attorney Waltas.lt.

Brown says that the story of a here related, la In every pout correct like Mr. come across in the courts. In the law books or in history such a wonderful case. Filed Suits for Damages. "Judge Lochrane and I Were so positive that the dead husband of our client Mrs.

Weaver." says Mr, Brown, "that we I office of GartreU Ladson and an them to give up the fight and let Mrs. Wearer hare the body of her husband. We resisted the Injunction suit and filed suits for damages in behalf of Mrs. Weav So strong was'' tbe evidence that J. P.

Wearer was the dead man that nothing short' of the appearance on the scene of Weaver right I do not believe there ever has been such a case of a double in existence before, or, for that matter, will ever be again." As the inscription on the tombstone shows. J. W. Pierce waa born on December 15, 1833, and was killed on his fifty second birthday. He sleeps in a lonely grave under a tall pine tree, and there his dust must forever rest.

trip in a motor car through ho part of Africa by Mrs. Ayer Very few books hare ever Uahed treating of thaw interesting countries, except a few la tbe yrench language. The author has traveled ex tenslvely. and tells very fully all ber ner Houghton. 1 amal at Skis know regarding these by A McClurg a Co, Chicago ttso.

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By George Moore. (Published by D. Appleton a New York. Price, sua.) "iea rorings, "cruIToa, capades, and fierce battling upon the ocean, for patriotism and for treasure. Illustrated By Charles H.

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