New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-05

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FToTtoN--A MAN Losy sIa
YEARS TURNS UP AGAIN.
From an Eastern exchange, we copy the follow
ng singular, and we have no doubt correct, his
tory OF a missing man:
Many Of our readers will recollect that some Sly
years ago this community was startled to Learn
that q young man, well known in our best social
circles, the son of q prominent citizen, had sud
denly and mysterinusly disappeared. The papers
for short time were filled with accounts OF this
strange occurrence, and enormous rewards were
offered by his bereaved but agonized family.
Detectives were sent to every town in the mon
and for whole year strove to find some cue g
the missing man. He had gone to New YORK city
lie LARGEST hotels on Broadway About o'clock
in the evening he gave the key Of hls room 70 "
clerk. He went out never to return Long
lang after the experienced detectives nad given
AZ fhe search the family still hoped that some day
he would return, aud the terrible mystery be I'M
rayeled, But even they in time came TO accept the
{ theory that he had been murdered and his remains
destroyed. N, !,
d 4 charming girl, and an early day had been fixed
for fheir urion. She was now filed with unutter-
+ able sorrow. The blow fell upon her with even
greater force than upon the parents Of Mr. s., and
Tor six years past she has led q secluded life,
mourning in sacred privacy her worse than widow
cloud had settled upon her that was even
more gloomy than it would have been had death
Qulety severed the ueS That DOulu tieHl W taCH
other. The awful suspense, the long, hopeless
search the images Of terrible murder which an ex-
cited imagination conjured up, all made her de-
SPAR more complete and her anguish more uncon-
trollabIe.
One week ago, on the 10th day of March, Miss
L. received a dispatch from New York that was
4 wholly incomprehensible. It read: !. Prepare for
an important revelation = signed w." In the
midst Of her surprise, letter was received IN a
strange handwriting, inslnuatIng that there was
some reason to suppose THAT MI. s. was still alive,
but, at the same time. warning his family against
hoping too much, as there might be mistake.
The next day letter came from W. himself. stat
me- that he would be home on that evening.
II would not be becoming for. us to describe the
oy the great, oyerpowering sense Of thankfuness
that swept through the hearts Of all that little
family circle, OF to depict the touching scene that
ensued at the meeting which took place when ne
that was lost at last returned altogether changed
appearance it is true, but still the same true
hearted man as Of old, but with greater sadness
in his heart and terrible hitter scared
INTO his life as with hot iron. we can only
relate the strange story that, in its marvel-
lous truth, has no equal in any fiction we know Of
Il and only proves that there are tragedies enacted
In our midst every day that are without parallel
Mn. s. tells The following story: On the evening
Of his disappearance he left his hotel at about
O'Clock, and proceeded TO East river with the IN
tenti0n of crossing over TO BrookiJn, where he
proposed spending the evening. He was sannter-
Ing carelessly along, when his arms were suddenly
piRioned from behind, q gag was placed in his
mouth, and ne was dragged along rapidly through
back street. Continuing to make resistance, be
received blow upon the head, which completely
stuDned him. When he awoke to consciousness
he found himself in a small boat being rowed
away from the city. which he could see in the dis
lance.
The boat stopped by che side of large ship,
and he was rapidly hoisted up its side, and in an
hour afterwards she put to sea. Remonstrance
Y was wholly useless, and he found himself enrolled
] as common seaman on q vessel bound upon a
whaling voyage to the Pacific. There were two
Others upon the vessel who, like himself were vic
TINS Of press gang; they were both countrymen
from the interior Of New York State One of
them, named William Allison, died four years ago,
and was buried in the ocean. ga
1t would be impossible to give the details Of his
adventures in our limited space; Mr.. S. will pub
lish them himself at some future day. Suffice it to
sap, that in June in 1852, he was seized with the
scurvy, and being, it was supposed, beyond hope
Of recovery, he was abandoned upon one Of the
Marquesas Islands, in the South Sea, by the cap
tain Or the whaier. Here he was nursed and cared
for by the natives, among whom he lived for three
years but was wholly unable to communicate with
any vessel as they detained him in the interior of
the island. In August last, however, he managed
to escape to the coast, and there finding Russian
vessel procuring wafer, obtained passage to Hong
Kong, which place he reached in the latter part of
October, and upon proper representations to the
American Consul, was furnished with means of re-
turning to the United States.