place to place. It seemed that Major Lackland got so close track of him

that he was able to describe his personal appearance and learn his name.

But the letter containing these particulars was lost. Once he heard of

him at a hotel in Washington; but the man departed, leaving an empty

trunk, the day before the major went there. There was something very

mysterious in all his movements.

Col. Sellers, continuing his testimony, said that he saw this lost

letter, but could not now recall the name. Search for the supposed

father had been continued by Lackland, Hawkins and himself for several

years, but Laura was not informed of it till after the death of Hawkins,

for fear of raising false hopes in her mind.

Here the Distract Attorney arose and said,

Your Honor, I must positively object to letting the witness wander off

into all these irrelevant details."

Mr. Braham. "I submit your honor, that we cannot be interrupted in this

manner we have suffered the state to have full swing. Now here is a

witness, who has known the prisoner from infancy, and is competent to

testify upon the one point vital to her safety. Evidently he is a

gentleman of character, and his knowledge of the case cannot be shut out

without increasing the aspect of persecution which the State's attitude

towards the prisoner already has assumed."

599

The Gilded Age