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56 owners. Strange that so large a lot of land as this should want an heir! Yet Peter Rugg at this day might pass his own door stone and ask, 'who once lived here?'"

The auctioneer appointed by the Solicitor to sell this estate, was a man of eloquence as many of the auctioneers of Boston are. The occasion seemed to warrant, and his duty urged him to make a display. He addressed his audience as follows. "The estate, gentlemen, which we offer you this day, was once the property of a family now extinct. It has escheated to the Commonwealth for want of heirs. Lest any one of you should be deterred from bidding on so large an estate as this, for fear of a disputed title, I am authorized by the Solicitor General to proclaim that the purchaser shall have the best of all titles, a warranty deed from the Commonwealth. I state this, gentlemen, because I know there is an idle rumor in this vicinity, that one Peter Rugg, the original owner of this estate, is still living. This rumor, gentlemen, has no foundation in the nature of things. It originated, about two years since, from the incredible story of one Jonathan Dunwell of