LOCATED THE HEIRESS.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 15294, 24 July 1923, Page 6

LOCATED THE HEIRESS.

A BIRD MASCOTTE. STRANGE ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE. REMARKABLE STORY. MELBOURNE, July 13. The remarkable talking minah, "Jacko," the property of Mrs Fells, of ' the Royal Hotel, Queen Street, which a few days ago was an interesting exhibit in a case in the Melbourne Police Court, when he appeared as stolen property, and admonished the man who ■stole him to "Get work, you loafer," is c-nce more in evidence, and just now is attracting as much attention as a bird of paradise. On his first appearance befni-u the public he was the cause of an tvildoer being sent to gaol. Now lie figures as the means of finding a long lost heiress, who comes into a big fortune, which, it is said, will trine her in a rent roll of between £I6OO and £2OOO per annum. When the case concerning the stealing of •'Jacko" was heard," a witness called to prove the identity of the feathered chatterbox- was Mrs Annie Wallace, one of Mrs Pell's employees. Years ago, when, a girl in Stawell, Mrs Wal- ' lace was engaged to a young man whose regard for her, judged in the llgiit of his latest act, must have been "very deep and sincere- Fate, however, decided that they should part. The girl married Mr Wallace, a station master, and the young man went away to-New South Wales, where he amassed money. More years passed away-. Mrs Wallace's children gathered round her,- and her husband died, leaving her unfortunately situated financially, with the responsibilities of a young family on her shoulders. In the endeavouf to keep her family, she ■found herself obliged to take a situation in domestic service. For purely family reasons she adopted an assumed name. When she was called to court to recognise her feathered friend, she gave her evidence in her real name of Mrs Annie Wallace. The publicity.given to that interesting case in the Age caught the attention of a v. lawyer in Sydney, who had been advertising far and wide for Mrs Annie : Wallace, and he at once communicated with Melbourne agents asking for particulars of the Mrs Wallace who had appeared at the City Court. Then he came over himself, and after inspect■ing the lady's marriage certificate, and 'becoming satisfied that she really .was the legatee, for whom \hc was in search, informed her that the sweetheart of her young days had died unmarried, leaving her his entire property, consisting chiefly of real estate in Sydney, RaShurst, and other parts of New Srolii Wales- One property alone in Sydney, it is said, brings in a rent cf £llOO per annum- Mrs Wallace accepted' the congratulations 'heaped upon her with modesty. The good news certainly surprised her, for though she had never really forgotten her benefactor, she thought naturally that he had forgotten her. • "Jacko" continues to turn flip-flaps all over his spacious cage. He eyes strangers with deep " mistrust, like Barnaby Rudge's raven, and gives pause to anyone who'shows a tendency to pry too olosely into his affairs, .. with that new phrase, the outcome of. his recent experiences, "I'm a hot thing! Hands off I"