The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1869-12-09
VI t2sG From Every Saturday.
The Disappearance 6S John Ack-
q t land
IN THIRTEEN CHAPTERS, CHAPTER TX.
90 (coNcLusIoN.). .,.....

On inquiryatthe police statlenin Charleston
s. G. Mr.. Tom Acklnnd, accompanied bv Mr.
Cartwright, was shown the hat and book mem
toned by the Charleston Messenger. Mr.. Tom
Ackland rather thought that he had once seen
the book In the possession Of his Cousin John
But of this he could not feel sure. The name
both int the book apd III the hat, were printed.
The handwriting on the margin OF the page op-
| posite the marked passage in the book proved TO-
be quite illeglble, but bore strong resemblance
to the sprawling andswesteRdS chaTaelers0f the
last two letters received by Mr.. Tom Ackland
from his cousin. Inside the hat they found the
mark OF Georget0Yn maker, partly eilaeed
The, police, alter their first inquiries in Charles
ton having jumped To- the conclusion that they
! were being hoGxedl had treated the whole affair
SO carelessly that theyehad not even attempted
to follow up this Indication. Cartwright was the
first to point tSout.i IN consequence Of this dis
! covery. Mr. Tom Aekland immediately proceed
ed to Georgetown, and had no difficulty in find
! ing the halter whose name and address Cart
wright had detected inside the hat. .....-
| On examining the hat and referring TO his
books, the halter identified 1t as having been
sold on the 10Th of last September To whom?
He cou Id not say. So many different hats were
soldin the course Of day to SO many different
people. He would ask his young men. One Of
Ills young men thought he had sold hat Of that
description some time ago but could not posi-
tiyely,say it was on the, 29th Of September, to
gentlemen who had one arm in a sling, Right
arm? Could notrenembef, ,Ebbt tho6ghe itewas
the right arm. Hat was paid for in ready mon
ey. Was the gentleman on foot, or In cSrri-
age3 Thought he'was on foot, but could not
remember distnctlyI ...... ....,....
This was allthe information Tom Acklaud
could obtain Mt Georgetown. He incurred at all
the hotels there but could not find the name of
Ackland inscribed on any of their books On
his re turn to Charleston Cartwright told him
t hat his own inquiries at the hotels and board
ing houses in that city had been equally infruc-
tuous. IN fEp ,.......t & II
On inquirlngat the post t-oflce. they were in
formed that letters had certainly been received
there for John'K Aekland, Esqs and regularly
elvered to gentlemen so'eallmg himself, who
applied tor them daily What sort of look ing
gcntlemen2 Very inyalid-l6oking gentlemen,
always muflled up to the chin in a. long cloak
and seemed to suffer from cold even when the 1
weather was oppressively hot. ,....,f. ,,i Lai
'.Was he at all like this gentleman?" asked
Cartwright pointing to Tom Ackland
Really couldn't recall any resemblance. aHu{
Noticed anything else particular about him
Yes. He carried one arm in a sling and limp
ed slightly. fst tr.f |'Et -
Anything else? 20 gi..Ht. ~. F. ia
Yef, Spoke with rather an odd accent.
Yankee accent?
2 Well. ihOrdly. Could MT well say what it was
like, But the gentleman rarely spoke at all, and
seemed rather deaf, ''''.''
Had been for his letters lately? ,,,.n
| Not since the 10th Of October. There was one
letter still lying there to bis, address, Explan-
atoms having been giyehby the two gentlemen,
this letter was eventually, with lhe Eanction of
| the police officer who accompanied them, hand-
ed over to Mr.. Tom ,Acltland. that gentleman
having claimed 1t ON behalf of his cousin. 1t
| proved to be his own reply to John Ackland's
| last letter TO himself
Had the gentleman never communicated to the
| post-ottice his address in Charleston?
| NeyeG.& 81 w ..,t.....,,.....
Tom groaned in the spirit. He,could no ldng9
| er entertain the least doubt thnt his worst fears
had been too well founded The absolute and
universal ignorance which appeared to prevail
ut Charleston of the existence Of any such per-
| son as John AcIland would have been altOgtlh-
er mexplicablef John Ackland's own letters to
Tom, alluding Ito the profound secmsioni in
which he had been living ever since his arrival
in that city, did not partly explain it. No such
person havingCever ,been seen or heard of on
Change, or at myof the banks in Charleston,
| how had John Ackland been living? Cart
wright suggested that it was possible that he
might have been living all this while on the
money which he himself had paid over to him
in notes at Glenoak. '''
"That Is true" thought Tom Ackland for he
remembered that his cOusin IN his last letter
from Glenoak had stated that The notes, were
still in his possession But nothing short Of in
sanity could account for his not having deposit
ed them, since then, at any bank. Unhappily
| such an hypothesis was by no vntans imprOb-
able. Who was that Spanish gentleman who
proiessed to have discovered the lat and book
of john Acklaud's on the bank of the riperp
Could he have been JOhn Ackland's assassin
But if so, Why shonA he have spontaneously at
lracted attention teT the disappearance of-his
victim, and promoted inv estigatiOn into the eir-.
cumstances of II? His story, as reported by the
Charleston Messenger, was indeed so eXtrava-
giant as to Justify the opinion expressed by that
Journal. But Tom Ackland had in his possession
letters from his cousin which made the story ap1
pear far less improbable to him than ii might
REASONABLY appear Ito any one not. acquainted
with the state of John Ackland's mind during
th e last month. 1t was very mucliy that there
was now no possibility of seeing and speaking
with that Spanish gentleman For the gentle
man in question, alter having postponed his de-
parture in order to aid the inquiries of the po-
lice had left Charleston about. two days before
Tom Ackland sarriVal there, on being assured
oy the authorities that his presence was not re-
quired. And he had left behind him no indica-
ton of his present whereabouts .sEt
This was the position of affairs with Mr.. Tom
Acland, and his Inquiries appeared to have
come to u hopeless dead lock, when late one
night, Mr. Caftwight( (who had been absent DUR
ing the whole day) burst into his room with the
annou ncement that he had obtained important
information about John Ackland.
1t had occurred 10 him, he said that John Acll-
land must, from all accounts have been a con-
hrmed invalid for the last few months. ii so be
would probably have sought some country lodg-
ing in the neighborhood Of Charleston, where
the situation was healthiest without being in
conveniently far from town, in case he should
require mtdieal assistance Acting at once or
this sulpositi0n (wIiith, in order not TO excite
alse hopes in case ii should lead to nothing, h(
had i0intd from communicating TO Tom) he
had determined to visit all the enyirOns o.
Charleston. He lad that morning selected fol
e his first voyage Of, discovery locality only
few miles diatant from Charleston, whic hi
+ knew TO be IardeulaTly healthy situation. Hi
II inquiries there were not successful and he wa
Q on the point Of rduIbing TO Charleston, wheI
he fortunately 1ee6llccted that lie had not ye
visited little ltdghg-house where he remem
bered having once taken rooms himself, man,
yeaIs ago, NlIen he was at Charleston with hi
poor wife, tltn in. very weak health. lie wa
not aware whether that house still existed, bu
he thought he would Try and he had been fe
:, warded Tor h il paiisly learning from It's land
= lady that some time ago a gentleman, who sal
v his name was Acklald, called there, saw tn
:, house, and took ii iUrsix months
~ He laid the rent 10 advance; and pluced hi
effects in thehouse. but, to the best of th
landludys belief he had not Cnco slept at HON
since lie Letdme her tenant. He neQuentI
came there, indeed, during tie day, aud liza
sometimes taken his meals there. But on q
such occasions il was his habit to lock the doc
OF his room as long as he was In it, Nothin
W ould induce lini to touch food in the presenC
of any one She had served him his dinner o
ten, but lad never seen him cal It,. Sometime
: lie carried pait0t it away with him; and ono
he told her that he did this in order 10 have th
food unalyztd. He appeared 10 be undefa cor
eto nj impipssifn Ant ms fOnd tyaa noisOupd an