The Yazoo Democrat., 1860-03-10
YAZ00 CITY, MISSISSIPPI SATURDAY MORNING. MARCH H. lS6l
THE MISSING SON OF MALTA-HIS WIFE
IN THE ORDER-CAN A WOMAN KEEP
SECRET =?

A few weeks ago, a man named Curtis, a
esident of GAINESVILLE, Ohio, published what ST
,urported TO be full exposition of the cerS o
,monies of iniation, as practced by the Sons $
If Malta when taking in fellow member
This account we copied from the GAINESVILLE b
Aurora 1t was very funny account, but u
The matter took serious turn after the mys- s
erious disappearance of Curtis, who has not
since been seen and it was alleged that the e
charitable Sons had made way with him 4
much in the same way as the Masons are SAID f
to have extinguished the famous Morgan
This serious aspect Of the matter has since t
changed to the ludicrous, by tie publication, i
in the GAINESVILLE Aurora, of card by Mrs
Curtis in which she states that the Sons are
not to blame for the disappearance OF her
husband We give few extracts from her
card, detailing the manner of her initiation
into the mysterious order:
My husband came home one night late,
and of course he laid abed later next morn
ing than | did, and when | got up and was
Kidding up the room, l picked up that part
of his clothes which has waistband to 1t,
and they were just as wet as if he had been
sitting in some pond of water; this, OF course,
alarmed me, for was afraid he was getting
into bad habits, though, before that, | never
thought or dreamed Of his being a drinking
man. 1t bothered me great deal, and 50,
when he got out of bed, asked him without
mentioning the wet clothes, whore he had
been so late. Now, never scolIed my hus-
band, because scoldng don't do man one
bit of good, as ever l could see. So when |
asked him that question, he first smiled, and
then said he had been in the Sons OF Malta,
and then laughed with all his might, and
asked me if | was satisfied.
The writer next goes on to state how she
questioned Curtis with regard to the condi>
ton Of his unmentonables, and that the only
satisfaction she received was a burst of laugh"
ter from her husband, with the remark that
he was in "good condition" and that what
ever might be her ideas on the subject, she
might rest assured that be had "never de-
parted" This put her almost crazy, so she
called on her neighbor, Mrs. Smith, and told
her the whole story. We let her tell the rest
in her own language. She continues: And
Mrs. Smith says to me "Why how in the
. world did he wet himself Sony husband
belongs to the Masons, Odd Fellows and
= Sons Of Temperance, but he never came home
j in that condition. He must have slipped and
fallen down somehow" "I thought about
> that" says l, F'but then there hasn't been any
rain for month almost" "Thars true,
saws Mrs. Smith, "but be may have fallen
at Prints pump-thats where most all the
: men stop to drink in warm weather, and il
is rough and rocky about that pump l near
u ly fell there the night the Sons of Malta par
0 AIDED, when l went round the pump to gel
}. through the crowd"
u Nv husband had behaved himself after thai
. morning as well as usual, until the next Fri
l. day morning-the Sonsmeet on Thursday
0 when he was laughing again; but as his
e clothes were not wet just let him laugh, ant
S he went away in the morning laughing. t.
: his work. AS soon as he was gone, Mrs
II Smith came to see me, and told me that he
e. man had come home last night as wet a
'e mine had done, and wet in just the sam
+ place And when she told me that, said
Is 'mav be he fell! down at Prints pump-tha
7, rocky place where you most fell down tn
j IL time of the parade" "No," says she, "
le asked him it he fell down there and he SAT-
S, NO, he hadn't, but he'd been over roughe
0, road than that, and fell a good many times
"a I didn't say anything more, because you knc'
Us my husband is a sort of shut up body, an
when he stops talking, it is no use to as
questions" "Well, it's mighty curious,
IN says I, "the way men are carrying on, an
Mt I'm going to see into it. Pm not afraid {
We their societies, belong to the Daughters {
ip Temperance, and / know if there was an
es sense of using water, we could use it there
'r. because we 90 in for water in moderation
tn though l don't like TO have water used o
-e- me the way it has been used on my HUSBAND
at before he came home that night last week.
C Mrs. Smith and talked heap more abou
up the Sons of Malta, and the Masohs and SO OIL
Ke before she went home, that day.
m The upshot of the conversation was tbs
= the pair agreed to have themselves propose
'e, as members, and got Mr. Smiths cousin
nd attend to the matter. She goes on TO sa,
e. eve were proposed and elected, and JC
Die came down into the store where we were, al
he told us, so we hurried through the dressing
'ut and went up to the ante-chamber and S
em down all in row. We hadn't sat there Ion
to before two men came out to us, from the i
I'VE side room, all muffied up in gowns, aud ha
is. ing kind of lin hats on their heads whit
covered their faces. They asked US S. eac
and Joe handed over the money for us al
mo- himself, as we had given him nearly o
nv amounts, and promised him the rest soon
cn- Then there came two other men more Ii
ted the other two, who formed us into line al
no. told us to walk right along. They had swor(
,si. and one Of them walked before Joe, who W
.dv in front, while the other walked behind n
vas | was glad of the darkness, because, havi
She on suit of my husbands clothes, was n
at, sure that they fit very WE'LL"
Der She next describes some of the scenes
far side as she saw them, and says: 81 was I
yer, frightened, for l am not one of your tin
our people, being reared to ride colts, shoot P
Der tolls, skate and swim. So got through