The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-11-26

eu0 AllboA NLIc luIu Iccbitb3 4duQ Ol bu6
invalid, feeling his pulse.
"Quite high fever" be said, after
a brief pause. "WoTrying again, eh,-
Mr.. Predict You are wearing your
self out. Medicine will DO You no
good 50 long as your mind is in its
present condition, mgStggiYg you eR
aNOt now, DOCTOR" int#Bsbeab tie
banker. 4" i cannot-must not-sleep
to-day l need to be broad awake now =,
for | cannot tell at any mement what
the next may bring forth. I am look
ing for the elimination of all my years
of snpuish-for the crowning agony Of
the whole Perhaps even now All,
what was that's"
He started up wildly. and then, as
the sound that had disturbed him was
not repeated, he sank back again on
his cushions, pallid and painting.
The doctor looked at Mrs. Preble
with an anxious, questioning glance.
at is the anniversary" she replied
to his unspoken inquiTy-A''the auniver-
sary Of our loss"
'sAh, yes" said the doctor. q re-
member"
"Yes, it's another of those terrible
days" cried the banker. in a hollow
whisper. ''Sit down, doctor, and l
will tell you the whole story. I can
think of nothing else to-day, and am
almost wild with apprehension and
anxiety. Sit down"
DR.. Hutton drew up a chair and sea
ted himself, bis face expressing the
double solicitude of friend and ply
sician. 90 ISL \ > tGErl .f1
"You knew US fourteen years sgo,
doctor" said Mr.. Preble. We lived
then where we do now, in cottage on
the side of this great mansion. There
were but the three of us-Helen and
I, and our three-year old Jessie. And
It was fourteen years ago to-day that
our little Jessie was stolen from US.
remember If, said the doctor softly.
"Yet might she not have been lost, Mr.,
Predict She went out to play in the
garden, if 1 remember rightly, and was
never seen by you again. She might
have strsyed away"
$50 we thought for a whole year,
doctor interrupted the banker. We
never dreamed that she had been sto-
len. We searched everywhere for her
recovery. l employed detectives, but
al to no purpose. When our little
Jessie ran down the steps into that
Rower-garden , and be pointed to the
house, 'as if the earth had opened and
swallowed her up, we never saw her
again
She must have found the gate open,
and wandered OUT suggested DR.. Hut
ton. She might have strolled down to
the waters and been drowned
The banker fixed his burning eyes
upon the physicians face, and wins.
pered: -,
said we never saw the poor child
again. I did not say we had not hear!
of her. She was lost on the 9Th OF An
gust, 1854. For a year We thought
her dead. But on the anniversary o.
our loss we received written message
concerning her.
A message! cried DR.. Hutton, start
ting.
A mere scrawl-a single line in a
hand evidently disguised said the ban
ker. Here it is.
He produced a dinS,y scrap of paper
from q drawer in tie table, and held il
up to the view of the physician, who
read as follows:
august o, 1865. Jessie, la, ha! Jessie. .
DR.. Hutton looked, with puzzled
air, from the scrap of paper, which he
turned over and over, TO the counte-
nance of tSe banker.
I can make nothing OF this, he de-
clsred. It is melcly date, with the
name of your lost daughter. 1t tells
me nothing.
Nor did it us, at first, said Mr.. Preb-
le. Then that name and that date, with
the demon laugh connecting them, set
US to thinking. A whole year we ago
nized over the dreadful problem, and
then We received another message,
which you shall see.
He thrust a second slip of paper, iden-
t;csi in shape and appearance with the
first b. fore the gaze of DR.. Hutton,
who read It aloud:
August Q. 1856. Your Jessie 'ta EOss, "
The physician started, as if electri-
fed.
Ali this is something definite
something decisive, he muttsred. 1t
convinced you that your daughter vas
sill living.
yes, doctor, said Mr.. Preble, and
every anniversary of that day has
broEght us'some message. The disap-
Dearsnce of the child, mysterious as it
4. does MT seem to me half go strange
"a that the villain who took her away
could contrive to communicate with US
every year since, and always on d par
ticular day-the anniversary Of that on
which she was stolen-without our be-
inc able to discover who he is. And q
still greste- wonder to me is what can
be bis motive. It seems incredible.
Tf; vos stated IN a novel many people
would not believe il. But truth Is
stranger than fiction
Mrs. Preble drew from her husbands
breast-pocket his note book, opened it
to the proper page, and presented it to
the physician.
DR.. Hutton adjusted his spectscles
glanced over the page, and then slowly
read the ground of entries aloud. The
entry the first year is as follows:
august 9, 1866 Jessie, la, hD! Jsssisf
And tie next year it Is
August S, 1855. Your Jessie still 'ir's!
And the next
August 9, 1857. She Is in good hands!
And the next
August9, 1853. She Is ''eb as e'eri
And the next
August 9, 1859. ! sao her yesterday
And the next }f
Al gust 9, 1860. She'sgrO'0iog rapidIyl
And the next
August 9, 1861. She continues to do 17slll
And the next
August 9, 1852. re see" her again!
And the next
August 9, 1868. She's becoming l0o'na"!