The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-12-31


sons and three daughters, remaining at
home.
by Mysterious and Deadly Corrc-
sponGenr.
From the ST. joseph Gazette.
In the central part Of the city lives
young lady who has been for some timepas:
the subject of the most singular pcrsccu-
ton. She is pretty, and, like every hand
some girl, knows that fact, although no
heart-smitten swain has as yet been bold
enough to proclaim it to her face. 1t seems,
however, that she has in some way become
the object Of the wrath Of an unknown but
y.ndictive youth. Who he is, or why lie
should thus annoy her, is more than she
can possibly tell.
Some three months ago the young lady
commenced receiving through the post
Office letters warning her Of danger and
also threatening her with sundry dire ca
| lamitics in case she did not Immediately
! leave the city. These letters were written
, in fine hand, and to better impress upon
her mind TIE nature Of the writer's inten-
ton, were in red ink. They were signed
simply - II. b." and this signature was
! in an entirely different handwriting from
the body OF the cpiStlc. The first two or
three letters were rather vague ami indeti-
mite as to the nature of the threats, MS
though the writer had not yet fully made
up his mind as 20 what he would DO in case
she remained in the city.
Now, it is not pleasant thing for even n
man to he appriscl Of the fact that he has
secret enemy; but when it comes to "A
Young girl, sensitive, nervous, and, above
ALL curious, such q thing is really distress
ing. And 50 ii was with our heroine. She
thought and pondcrcd over the matter, and
the more she thought the more she was
worried and pcrplcxcd. She counted over
carefully her entire list of acquaintance,
but could remember no one to whom she
could have givcn cause for offence. From
| this she took to comparing handwriting
availinr herself of every possibility to
gain glinlpscs Of the cbiro@raphy Of letters
| and notes. In fact, she seemed to her ac-
! Quaintanccs, TO be Il perfect monomani&c on
the subject of handwriting. All her efforts.
! howcvcr 1rr:," i,<-vai-4. SO clue could he
| obtained in any way 10 the mysterious cor
respondent.
And sill the notes kept coming, each
predecessor. The poor girl was in q per-
| feet maze Of bcwildcrmcnt and fear, and
every moment Of her life was one of wretch
cdness. At length, on Saturday afternoon
| last, another note came, in which the
writer advised her to prepare for death, as
nothing wcul satisfy him but her heart :
blood. This was positively fri-htfvl. 1t
was evident that her secret foe was now
fully bent upon her destruction. And yet,
what was most singular, she could not for
one moment conceive why any human being
on the face of the earth should entertain
| the least unkinl feeling toward her.
On Monday the crisis came. The family
were all absent from the house, and she
was sitting alone in the front parlor, en-
| lcavorinr to take her mind off the terrible
mystery which cnShrouded her by perU.ing
the pages OF a novel. \ passage in the
story attracted her attention particularly
and she was so deeply interested III
ii that she failed to notice the opening
Of the room door. \ moment more,
and light football on the carpet
caused her to look up. Before her stood I,
man masked, and armed with 4 revolver.
1t was evidently her unknown prosecutor.
in n low tone, demanding the imme-
diate surrender to him Of the letters
he had written 10 her, saying at the
same time that he would shoot her did he
not fear that the report Of the pistol
would arouse the ncighborhood. At this
juncturc the young lady, overcome by fear,
tainted, falling back in the chair appa-
rcntly lifelcss. How long she remained in
! this condition she docs not know. but when
she recovered the man had disappeared
| >i"n% articles Of furniture III the room
| we're thrown around III considerable diaor-
der. but nothing IN the house was carried
away. The only object of the singular
VISITOR seemed to have been to search for
the .cttcrs, and failing in finding them, he
depaltcd in the same way in which he had
entered the house. The girl had recovered
from her fright by the time some members
of the family arrived. Of course they
were perfectly astonished, rs well as con-
siderably frightened, by what had trans
pircd in Their absence.
On Tuesday morning another note came
through the post-office, directed to the
young lady, which was opened IN eager
haste. Unlike the others, it was written in
coarse, scrawling, almost illegible hand,
with black ink, and contained these words :
i am sorry frightened you yesterday.
L leave the city to-day"
The whole story is most singular one,
and We can account for it in no other way
tlan by supposing that some one acquainted
with the family desired to play off joke
upon them. II this was the intention, the
party certainly deserves the severest pun
iSiiment 1or thus inhicting so much misery
ana wretchcdncss on young and sensitive
girl.