ROMANCE OF A FORTUNE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 178, 26 January 1912, Page 8

ROMANCE OF A FORTUNE.

I„ ' : \ (INTERESTING AMERICAN SYSTEM. THE DETECTIVE IN AUCKLAND. A story told to an Auckland Star reporter bv Inspector-Detective Lea Bleak-" more, of the United States Administration Department, shortly before the departure of the Marama, by which vessel . he is travelling to Vancouver, endorses the contention that truth, can be just as strange as Action. It concerns the quest that took him to Sydney, and constitutes an interesting record in regard to inter--5 national detective achievements.. Inspector Bleakmore reached Sydney :by the i Aorangi. from San Francisco a week ago last Tuesday,, and within a"* couple of days he had located! the relatives of an old miser named Stephen Cunningham, whom death disconnected from a hoard of about £30,000 in December last. The narrative of the detective hunt, as i told to Sydney reporters before the In- } spector's departure, was given in a recent issue of the Star, stowing how the first clue was nothing more substantial than a few pieces of square chalk, which kindled' the .belief that the old man had once been a tailor, also-, how the discovery of a similar name was made in an ancient register of tailors- as haying worked in Newcastle, New South Wales, very 'many years ago. Some additional fa'cts which have' not so far been made public were told to the Star representative. Detective Bleakmore returns to the States the richer by about 5000d01., which sum represents the 20 per cent, reward which the Government pays for such discoveries. When an unknown person dies in America all inquiries are left to what is known as the Administrator's Department, and all possessions which come i to light are kept for a period of five years unless the identity of relatives is established. If at the end ,of that time no •claimants have appeared the assets of the estate are used for educational purposes and public benefaction. Detective Bleakmore was in Australia less than a week. "My work opened up before me , Hke a flower," he remarked. 'When I 1 went out in an automobile to *the country homes of the two elderly brothers , and the two sisters of the deceased they ridiculed the idea that my mission could Jbe serious. They knew all about these Yankee ways-, they said. However, I soon. convinced them and their neaas, those of the families, at least—were nearly turned with excitement. Some of tVio uniiTw ones have made up .their

the young ones nave mauc uy ' minds that they c&n find uses for the : money. Each one of the families were living in poor circumstances, most _of ' them carrying on farming a'few miles out from Newcastle." Another point not 1 mentioned before was that this old miper made his pile as a tailor in the mining centres of New South Wales. Before leaving Australia some of acquaintances remarked upon the likelihood of a reunion with his and of a 1 transference of portion of his riches in that direction. No fear of that, he said, ! he never wanted to see any of his rela--1 tives again. He never did, and what is more, none of them ever received a letter from him. The millstone of wealth bore very heavily on this super-selfish • spscinen of humanity. •