Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-20
A Washington Mystery.
Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial.

|
WASHINGTON, January II. 1869.
One day last week l observed crowd
collected about the corner of H and Fif-
teenth streets, the residence of the French
Minister, and, made curious by the late
profession, l elbowed my way through
the motley crowd to the center of attrac.
| tion.
Crowds in Washington Of to-day are
peculiarly tinted, or, as Western boy
would say, "rng-tailed and speckled,
and on the countenances of this crowd ]
could almost read the nature of the even,
that called them together. The whites
whistled and joked, the blacks looked
solemn. Indeed, the solemnity and con
Germ seemed to deepen with the tint
The light saddle.colored were non
chalant, though serious; as the counte.
| nance became darker the gloom was
deeper. Something had happened, l
thought, to very black person.
Arriving through the alley at the door,
the police officer, recognizing my re-
portorial countenance-or, perhaps,
mistaking me for detective or Con-
gresham Il have such sights put on me
sometimes), threw open the door and
gave me admittance.
found myself, with three other live
people, in the presence of tive very dead
ones. The mellow light of noon per-
vaded the poorly y-furnished apartment,
with the peculiar stiffness of day, in the
presence of the dead, making the noise
of walking doubly sharp and disagreea-
BILE. On the bed were the two bodies, as
said, very dead Death seems to occupy
and possess colored man with teniold
the tenacity the dead messenger exhibits
or q white. ITO hold on like death to
dead Niger" is, you know, a popular
saying. With the belief prevalent that it
is unlawful to disturb the body of one
strangely dead until the Coroner arrives,
they who had discovered these bodies had
left them, as life did, in the hands of the
enemy, and the eyes we're open, staring
out into the day with that lack Of express
sion peculiar to blind man, or the fshy
outlook of Louis Napoleon.
The American citizens of African de-
scent were dead when found, at a late
hour in the morning. They had passed
away-ore without q struggle, the other
with slight effort, but both without a
groan or cry to indicate the violence that
was being done to them. They had re-
tired about midnight, in apparently good
health and spirits. And here they were,
as the officer teld me, in low tone, with
out any known cause for their deaths.
a mystery deepens the interest attach
ing to such cases, and since the hour Of
the discovery the mystery has increased.
A post-mortcm examination reveals no
trace of poison; and if traces of poison
could be detected, no suspicious persons,
or motives for the deed, can be discov-
cred. We have no end of rumors shoat.
II is fact that the French Minister had
been robbed, not long since, Of articles
of value, and the belief is general that
these unfortunates had been put out of
the way for being Troublesome witnesses
But this is not tenable. 1t there is
poison in the hands of negroes so potent
that two able-bodied men can be taken
of. without cry and scarcely a struggle,
and 80 subtle as to defy scientific inves-
,ieation, We may well be alarmed. But
such cannot be the fact, and we are
driven 10 other causes for the tragic event.
The room is not well ventilated. 1t
would DC, probably, for cclered people,
who seem to be able to exist with less
pure air than any other sort But taking
all the contingencies into consideration,
/ doubt whether a sensible man would
like to make that room q bedroom. Yet
we are assured that these departed Afri-
cans had slept for months in this room,
without apparent injury. They could
not have been sufocated, then. Let Us
see.
/ read somewhere Ouce Of well su-