A Detective’s Experience

A Lost Will

“I will tell you,” said Mr. F——, “of an incident that at the time excited universal interest in New Orleans, and was the occasion of the success which subsequently attended Mr. I—— and myself as detectives. In other words, it was our beginning. The success we met with gave us reputation and started us in the public confidence.

An old gentleman, a Creole, named Cotier, had died leaving an immense fortune. He had two heirs at law, a niece and nephew. It was the old man’s earnest wish that the young people should marry. He wished to preserve his property as a whole and transmit it undivided. It was a princely estate, and if guarded with care the possessor might attain to any influence, and would certainly wield a flattering control in the financial world. This was the dream of the old man’s ambition. It gave consideration to himself, and he hoped to found a great moneyed aristocracy in his family. But the girl was averse to the match. She was a fair, delicate creature, one whom we intuitively loved, and who… Read More