THE ROMANCE OF GOLD

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12459, 29 May 1926, Page 11

THE ROMANCE OF GOLD

Son of English Collier Lays Claim to Klondyke Miner’s Huge Fortune

A claim to a fortune of nearly £400,000, atated to have been left by hi* father, who went to Klondyke two year* before the gold ru*h of nearly 30 year* ago, has been made by John Joseph Dewson, aged 49, a miner, living in the little mining village of Wath-on-Dearne, in England.

WHEN a correspondent knocked on the door of the humble little cottage. in. Mr. Dawson lives tie was greeted by Mrs Honeymoon, a buxom, motherly-looking i>ersou, and cousin to Mr Dawson, who cordially invited him in. Mr Dawson, who had just returned from his work ac the Manvers Main Colliery, told the story of his claim. Mr Thomas Dawson, father of the claimant, proceeded to America -12 years ago, when the son was 17. About Id years later, Mr Dawson, junior, not having heard from his lather since he lelt England, put a notice in tne “missing relatives'* column of a newspaper, asking his father to communicate with him. In faraway Alaska Mi Thomas Dawson, who, after years of fruitless prospecting in the “Great Silence’’ of the frozen North, had struck a vein of virgin gold ,up in the Yukon, and had become Mayor of Dawson City, picked up a copy of the papier, and the paragraph inserted by his son caught hi?. A SIX-FOOT GOLD REEF Mr J. J. Davson received on envelope bearing the postmark of Dawson City, and inside was the following letter:

Pinkerton Villa, Dawson City.--Deai son,—Glad to have heard of you after all these years. Please remember me to all relations and friends. Well, lad, I have made my pile at last and all my property, to the value of some 3,000,000 dollars L£600,000) will be left to you at my death. Please do not. communicate, as I am always at the mine. I have struck real virgin gold at last —a six-feet seam. Well, goodbye, lad till you hear from me again.— James Gale (secretary), for Mr Thomaa Dawson, Mayor of Dawson City. It was not until the end of last year that Mr J. J. Dawson wrote to the man he claims, as father, and his letter was returned by the postal authorities because he had failed to put the State on tho envelope when directing the letter. He again wrote, and about the middle of February he received the following letter: Dear Sir.—Your letter of recent date addressed to Mr Thomas Dawson has l*cen received by me. Mx Thomas Dawson. r who has lived in this country for a number of years, was adjudged insane in the year 1923, and died on September 28th. 1925, at an asylum in British Columbia. He has left an estate of which one-third was paid to his widow, but there remains something over 1.900,000 dollars (.£380.000), most of which is in the hands of the Receiver-General, to be paid to the next-of-kin. I would suggest that you

Half a Million Money at Stake: Miner Speaks of Six Feet Reef of Virgin Gold

let me have full detail* which assist ■in identifying mother and brother and sisters, if any, the part of the country to which Mr Dawson went when he left England, and any other details - which would assist m identifying yourself as his son.—Yours truly, C. E. McLeod, Public Administrator, Dawson, Yukon Territory. A HOUSE AND A MOTOR-CAR Tho news of the vast fortune which Mr J. J. Dawson may inherit has caused a great stir, not only in his own home, but all over Wath. Mr Dawson has made application to Somerset House for a copy of his birth certificate, and this, along with all other available evidence as to his right to claim the fortune, will be sent to Dawson City. The details of his birth and the story of his life will attempt to prove that when lie was a boy lie was brought up with the family of Thomas Dawson’s brother in Roman Terrace. He was led to regard the brother as his father, but inside tho family it was generally known that he wa* in reality the son of Thomas Dawson. The facts relating to his birth were not revealed to Mr Dawson until he was well past manhood. Latterly, he has been living with his cousin, Mrs Honeyman, whose maiden name was Dawson, nnd her husband. In reply to a question as to what he would do with the monev if he gets it. Mr Dawson answered th it, after providing for his sister’s futire,. he will purchase a house, a motor-car, and get married. He heartily concurred when his visitor remarked that mining for gold was evidently a more profitable occupation than digging for “black diamonds.”