Etta - By Gerald Kolpan Page 0,3

picked up the newly installed telephone, asked for the operator, and only then turned in hot tears from the gory husk that had been David Jameson.

Outside the lead casement window, Bellerophon reared one final time before the grooms led him to his stall. As Lorinda fell to her knees, all she could hear was the drumming of his hooves, threatening to shatter the paddock door.

Then, through her tears, she noticed for the first time, nearly hidden in the upper corner of the desk blotter, the small sheet of monogrammed notepaper. It was upon this rich pure-white stock that Father had always sent the most personal of his messages. On it she had read his congratulations for every ribbon won at a horse show, every fine grade earned at school, every expression of gratitude at her forbearance, every apology for this or that weakness.

Lorinda reached for the note. The paper felt more like cloth in her fingers, so fine was its weave. But now, instead of some last comfort, its message led only to a last bewildering rage. My dearest Lorinda, it began, the greeting followed only by the single letter: I.

Below were two marks. One was red, a spot with a long tail that ran to the paper's edge. The other, a gray streak, ended in a sudden burst, like the period on a sentence her father would never write.

From the

PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEDGER

May 6, 1898

JAMESON SCANDAL WORSENS: SUICIDE BY

BANKER LEAVES CREDITORS FUMING,

DAUGHTER PENNILESS

FAMOUS “CEDARS” ESTATE TO BE AUCTIONED,

ENTIRE CONTENTS SOLD TO HIGHEST BIDDERS!

WHEREABOUTS OF MISS JAMESON UNKNOWN.

YOUNG BEAUTY DISAPPEARS FROM PUBLIC VIEW,

SAID TO BE IN SECLUSION

By our correspondents

The strange case of noted local banker G. David Jameson continued today amidst fresh allegations of both financial and personal wrongdoing, all adding to the sordid revelations of the past two months.

As is now well known, police have determined that on or about March the first, Mr. Jameson, 55 years of age, took his own life inside the study of The Cedars, his 100- acre estate at Germantown Avenue and Etta Place in the Chestnut Hill section of the city. The weapon of choice was an S. Colt model 1851 Navy percussion revolver, which Mr. Jameson had carried with some distinction throughout his captaincy during the War Between the States.

In recent days, numerous creditors have come forward and are demanding payment of what they claim is over two million dollars in debts incurred by Mr. Jameson, the former assistant chief officer of the Seaman's and Merchant's National Bank and Mercantile Society. Along with police, that institution is now investigating allegations of embezzlement by the deceased man, which, if so proven, could add additional monies to the total upon which various elements now lay claim.

Though able to trace his lineage to the earliest days of the Republic, the doomed financier had no living relatives and no male heir and so was known to Philadelphia society as “the last of the Jamesons.” Some who knew him claimed that Mr. Jameson had been permanently altered by the death in 1880 of his wife, the former Anna Pepper Reese, who expired giving birth to their only child, Miss Lorinda Reese Jameson, now 18. During the past decade, they say, a slow deflation had taken place within the unhappy banker, a decline rumored to be fueled by alcohol and the abuse of a doctor's script of laudanum.

Chief among Mr. Jameson's creditors are the Shippen and Vare Real Estate and Trust Company, which holds a mortgage of some consequence against The Cedars. The company has stated in court documents that Mr. Jameson had allowed the property to slide into arrears over the past five years. On February 23, President Judge Mr. Harris W. Wilkeson, Jr., of the orphan's court, ruled that Messrs. Shippen and Vare may proceed toward auction of the entire estate and its various contents. This includes all furniture, books, paintings, and statues and over 20 of the finest horses in the region, including Spanish and Argentinian quarters and a black stallion.

As of publication, the whereabouts of Miss Lorinda Jameson are unknown. According to the Society editors of the Public Ledger, Miss Jameson created a sensation among the young men considered suitable at her coming-out ball earlier this year. Tall and slender, with large green eyes and auburn hair, she is considered by many to be the most comely of all Philadelphia's debutantes. Although she had been present for the majority of the court sessions, Miss Jameson has not appeared in public in the past week and