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Show DOUBLES IX HEAL LITE. THE EQUAL OF THE BEST CREATIONS CRE-ATIONS OF FICTION. England turnl.l,,. he Mo.t Important Can. of Mintaken Identityother Cn.c. With Remarkable Feature. Among a number of New Yorkers recently the conversation turned upon the subject of mistaken identitv It was agreed that the mistaken identity of the dead is in nowise uncommon, and that the danger to business and social interests in this matter is far tives one night stumble! upan Jim Stewart and supposed they had caught the prisoner of Marysville escauing. To make the story short, Jim Stewart confessed. He was hanged upon California Cal-ifornia street wharf, the gallows being the .derrick. The body was taken to an engine house, and Buffum relates: "I wan fond of dramatic situations and proposed pro-posed that we should send for Berdue. This wes done and in half an hour ho stood in the presence of his dead rival, standing by the table on which Stewart was lying and gazing upon his fixed features. It was like a man looking at his own corpse." more serious than one would think without reflection. The insurance companies realize the ease of deception. de-ception. Said one talker: "I have never reen a play that turns on mistaken identity that had in it to me the slightest slight-est improbability, on that one point at least I have kuown many people startlmgly alike, and an for twins everybody must have experienced the impossibility of telling them apart 1 nil I hompson, formerly member of congress from Kentucky, and his brother John are not distinguishable to many of their friends when seen separately. The comical mishaps of the two Dromios of Shakspeare are entirely reasonable to me, and so throughout the long line of characters in the romantic drama, which is full of doubles. -A Celebrated Case' has one of its strongest scenes in false impersonation. imper-sonation. -The New Magdalen' hinges on it. In any case, either of outward identity or mero impersonation, the dramatic possibilities are strone. For that, reason I like Willard in -John No-dham's Double.' The situation is l'")io, anu it is intensely interesting to look into a man's soul under such 1 conditions.'' The Tichborne case is the most important im-portant in the annals of mistaken j identity. Its proportions grew and grew, and the claimant was backed to such an extent with the pounds, shillings shil-lings and pence of believing sympath- izers that it beeamo a kind 'of civil conspiracy against a great estate. The story is recent and familiar and, as is known, the structure of the claim fell I apart, and a year or two ago the obese j duplicate of the vanished earl could bo , seen from timo to timo emerging from j his lodgings in Fourth avenue, in this I city, accompanied by a pitcher, in quest of his modicum of beer after the j good fashion of the cheaply bibulous, j Ho is probably living to-day in New York or Brooklyn. . England, then, furnishes tho most imposing case. I France, naturally enough, supplies the most dramatic, and that was the original tragic happening upon which , was based "The Lyons Mail." i he, ft"-8 are authentic as anything j lution. Only the issue was more tragic than the drama, for the innpeent man , was hanged. ! told the curious case of Martin Guerre, I which happened more than three centuries cen-turies ago. Martin Guerre lived at ! Uiscay, and disappeared. Eight years I later his wife was confronted by her ! "husband." who was identified and welcomed by her and others. Two children were born of this reunion. , .there was no suspicion, it would appear ap-pear from this, for several years, but from circumstances not detailed a trial eamo up. The man who had "exactly the features, stature and complexion of " us pin on proof of his identity iden-tity two hundred witnesses, equally divided in opinion, were examined, lour sisters of Guerre were positive that lie was their brother. There were but two points against him. Guerre was known to be a most skillful wrestler and he was a poor one. Guerre s shoemaker noticed a slight difference in the lines of their feet jHnnlly. Guerre himself returned from the. wars with a wooden leg. and the case broke down. In his confession tho interloper told how he had been accosted by a friend of Guerre by mistake. From him ho had drawn tho facts upon which he worked and had counterfeited the marks on the body. This Armand de Tihl was hanged and burned before the house of (!ierre. . A remarkable case was told by Edward Ed-ward Gould Buffum, a Xew York newspaper man, who had many experiences expe-riences in California between 1846 and 1857. In 1851 San Francisco was ex-' ex-' lted over a case of assault, of which tho victim was Charles Jansen. a merchant mer-chant on Montgomery street. His lerns nau leu me shop, when two men ntered. One of them felled him with i bar of iron, and the two men then Uled the safe of several thousand dol-ars dol-ars in coin and gold dust. When mnd Jansen was brought around and 'as able to give some description of us assailants. Two men were arrested ust as they were about to depart on a teamboat up the Sacramento. At that i me James Stewart,, an escaped convict ora Australia, was a terror. He was great malefactor, but had always es-iped es-iped conviction. Tho detectives sup-osed sup-osed that they had arrested this charter. char-ter. His companion gave the name f JoWildred and the supposed "Jim lewart" claimed to be Thomas Bcrdue. Those were the days of the vigilance :minittees. Jansen fully recognized is assailants. Berdue claimed to Jive come from a mining camp with 1 friend, and that ho had never ard of Stewart. Half a dozen wit-sscs wit-sscs identified him as Stewart on the eliminary trial, and the prisoners re sentenced to fourteen years in n penitentiary. Wildred was at ice taken away, and Bordue was rent Marysvillo to be tried for the mur-r mur-r of the sheriff of Yuba. He was re identified and convicted as Jim ewart He was to be hanged in ree weeks. In the meanwhile a party of detee- |