she did
not consider that it was from her son. She was satisfied, she said, that
the letter was not in her son's handwriting.

The person claiming to be Jesse L. Bunkley reached Jones County some
time afterwards. His case, in the nature of things, excited great public
interest. Hundreds of people who had known Jesse recognized him in this
claimant. On the other hand, hundreds who had also known Bunkley when
a boy failed to recognize him in the claimant. Meanwhile those who had
charge of the Bunkley property took prompt action. They went before the
grand jury, and had the claimant indicted for cheating and swindling;
and thus began the celebrated case of the State against Elijah Barber,
alias Jesse L. Bunkley.

The claimant came to Jones County in 1836, was indicted in that year,
and his case was brought to trial in the Superior Court in April, 1837.
A great deal of time was taken up in the investigation. More than one
hundred and thirty witnesses were examined. Ninety-eight, the majority
of these being disinterested persons, declared that they believed
the claimant to be an impostor. More than forty disinterested persons
declared under oath that they believed the claimant to be Jesse L.
Bunkley, and the majority of these last witnesses had known Bunkley long
and intimately.

The efforts of the prosecution were directed to showing that the man
claiming to be Jesse Bunkley was in reality Elijah Barber, who in
1824-25 was a wagoner who hauled lumber from Grace's Mill near Macon,
who was also known in Upson County, and who had served in the Florida
war. Some of the witnesses who had never known Bunkley recognized the
claimant as a man who had called himself Barber. Some of the witnesses
who had known Jesse from his boyhood testified that they recognized the
claimant as Bunkley on sight. Bunkley had various scars on his face,
neck, and body. The claimant exhibited all these to the jury. One of the
witnesses remembered that Bunkley bore the marks of a snake bite on one
of his legs. The claimant immediately showed these marks. Hundreds of
questions had been put to the claimant to test his memory. A great many
he answered correctly, a great many others he failed to answer; but his
replies to all vital questions were wonderfully clear and satisfactory.
The jury was out but a short time before it returned, bringing in a
verdict of guilty; and the claimant was sentenced to the penitentiary,
where he served out his term.

[Ill