TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 95, 26 November 1879, Page 2

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.

We are continually hearing of what wonderfal inertia newspapers are for the discover/ of lost heirs and missing friends, and the following ia a case m point. Mr. Jorgensen, of- thi3 town, had a brotber.-in-law who eighteen years ago, when a mere boy, ran' away to sea, and although twelve years ago, it -was reported that he had been seen m Queensland, during the whole eighteen years his family had received no communication from him. Nine year<3 ago Mr. Jorgensen and his wife left Denmark, and upon arrival m New Zealand caused thorough inquiries to be made, and advertisements to appear m the principal Australian' papers for their missing relative, but without avail. During these years it appeared the missing one ' had wandered all over the world, finally exchanging the sea for mining pursuits, and settling down at Kumara, on the West Coast. He, then, m his turn became anxious to learn tidings of his people, and with that view inserted advertisements m- the Danish papers, not knowing that" his brpther.- in-law and sister iiad leffc for the colonies, and were actually within a few hundred miles of him at the time. The Danish paper, containing | the advertisement, travelled to Sweden, as j newspapers do travel abo;it, an,6Y a'amall scrap containing the notice vyaa Dieted up by the little child of a relative iix that country, whose parent at once recognised the identity of the advertiser, answered, the notice, and at the same time oomraunifated tho facts 50 M,r. Jorgensen. The' result was that when the fwo letters arrived — one to the long-lost one at Euuiaiftj and the other to his sister at Palmerston— the telegraphic wires were put into requisition, only to confirm the fact that the" brother and sister who had been so long separated had Seen for so.me years within ivfqw' okays' travel of each other, and the former, now a man of thirty- four, is daily expected m Palmer- . ston to visit his sister, whom he has not j seen since lie was sixteen. ' After that who 1 will d.-ire to question the ufjiji^y or-usef ulness j of newspaper's*. "' '' ' •»..-..■. I