Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-01-06

luIOIm yOu tuaI Biz was % uHIOI.
tunate as to have her right hand Sc
verely bruised by slamming car
door, on.ou way here. She cannot
use it at all at present, but we are in
hopes that. she will soon be well.
With this exception, we are enjoy
ing ourselves here, and have every
prospect Of doing well. Mary is de-
lighted with her reception by my
relations and friends, and desires me
to assure you of her content"
The next letter from Randall still
harped upon the injured hand:
"Mary has caught cold in the
hand that l told you had been hurt,
and it is much inflamed, causing her
great pain. A doctor has been called
in, who expresses fear as to the re-
suit, unless great care is taken. But
he is noted for making a case appear
worse than it really is, and we are
not alarmed"
There was some delay in the next
letter, causing the simple and conf
ding Ordolfs much uneasiness. At
length it came, fulfilling their worst
| fears:
"May Heaven help you, and all of
us to bear it! Our darling Mary is
gone-she is dead! Five days ago
she was seized with lockjaw, and ex-
pired next day, in spite of every
effort to relieve her. She was sensi-
bic to the last, but speechless. She
was buried yesterday. You may
family imagine my grief and desc
lation. You have lost daughter,
and have lost all that was dear to
me. God help us all!
~ am too unnerved to write now.
But must beg, as favor that you
allow my darlings' remains to rest
here undisturbed. / will care for
them, and water the flowers on her
grave with my frequent tears. AS
soon as / have the heartto undertake
the task, / will send you all her
clothing, etc., reserving to myself
only few mementoes. May Heav-
en- bless and sustain you!"
The aged couple were heartbroken
at the loss of their only child, and
mourned with grief that refused to
be comforted. All! 1t was not long
before they would have thanked God
had their daughters fate been no
worse than they at first believed.
The reward offered for the discov-
cry and apprehension of the murder
er of the woman, had stimulated one
man to patient and ceaseless inves-
tigation. He was sort Of amateur
detective, named Tinsley, who had
no special fitness for his self-assumed
Office, except an intense desire and a
persistent brooding, that would
sometimes bring form and purpose
out of chaos. He haunted the spot
where the corpse was found, and
meditated upon all the circumstances
of the case with the pertinacity of
stupidity. A brighter person would
have yielded the task in despair, but
his very dizziness kept him at it, and
at length gave him cine that he
steadily followed up. Near the
scene of the murder he one day found
chignon of coal-black hair. TIL G
dead woman's hair was auburn, and
when found she wore q chignon Of
the same color, Close to the chignon
lay a piece of muddy paper. 1t
proved to be an old letter, dated
"Near Gettysburg, Pa" 1t was
simply addressed to "my dear hus-
band," and was signed your "aflec-
tionate wife, Mary" Nobody but
Tinsley would have attached any
importance to these discoveries, but
it being his habit Of mind to refer
everything to the case in hand, he at
once believed he had found the key
to the awful mystery. Yethow easy
it was to account for the presence of
those things there! Hundreds of
both sexes, from far and near, had
visited the noted scene, and it was
very probable that some of these had
lost the chignon and the letter.
Tinsley, however, was not at all inn
pressed with this view Of the matter,
and thought it worth his while to go
to Gettysburg and inquire for "Ma-
ry." He did SO. 1t was weary
hunt, and would have seemeda FOOLS
errand to most people; but at length
Tinsley got on the track. Of "Mary,"
and he pursued it till he was well
coined by the Ordolfs as friend and
neighbor of-John Randall! He al
ready knew enough to convince him
that John Randalps wife was the
murdered woman found near Bee
Vile, and that John Randall was the
murderer. He had already seen the
minister who married them, and now
he had read Randall'sletters, written
since the hellish deed, and he thrilled
with horror at their cold-blooded
duplicity and heartlessness. The ev-
idence was appallingly Overwhelm-