Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-10-06

2 her accepted lover. We'll. called on him.
! did not startie him into any sudden
questions, but he acted rather strangely. i
thought. This may have been only imagi-
nation. l shut the door of his fathers
J house, leaving all hope behind, for j
had spoken of Miss Pas being in the
country still. did not toll him what /
had heard
:" Now and as the girl promo nnced
this monosy liable she let her shawl fall
from her head, her face grew deadly pa;e
and her fiji gers twitehed nervously I Was
startled at the sudden change that came
over her.
"'Now,' she said, as her breath came
hard and FAST listen. This evening-an
hour sgo-I met friend of mine who
asked me how Mis- P---was. Had not
seen her Strange, Was it not He had
seen her and Mr.. J--Ihe day before,
arm-in arm, in West street as he drove
by in a hack"
1.-The girl pulled the shawl over her
head and stood up; now she exclaimed.
have / I'good cause for stealing away from
home ali unattended to come here and
| tell you tlis There's nv card and the
hand from which rbe five s.oDe diamond
ring SparkIed in the gas light held out the
delicate paste board In her agitation she
dropped it ou the floor, and 1 stopped
to pick it up the door opened and the girl
was gone"
Did you follow her? I ventured to
ask tue officer
"Have patience and we will hearl the
rest" he res lied.
"The dead body of woman was found
floating In the North river one morning
about three months after the VISIT" con-
tinued the detective, as he lit fresh
cigar. ut had evidently been in the water
| for long time, although it was, as the
| I6nnfnra N q tato nf
tion' / read in the newspaper of the
! finding Of The body. 1t gave q full de-
| -cription of it. and many of Us went down
| to see it, for we were led to believe that
it was the body Of Miss P, from the
description gwen"
"Then you had heard nothing all this
| time of the lady Z"
"Ab~oluteiy nothing, and yet we had
worked at the case day aud night-st lmu-
lated, between y0u aud me, By large re-
ward offered by the ia her.
"Well, we went down to the dock, and
became satisfied that the body was that of
Miss P
"The young lady who called at the Office
th ut rainy night three months before, went
with us Afterwards. She Recognized her
friend In an instant, as did the poor moth
er. The body had marks of violence
about it, AMI the gold rings were still
in the ears, and diamond ring on one of
the fingers.
81 noticed that it was five stone one,
and that the gold setting, which was pc
culiar, was exactly like that Of the dia-
mond ring that noticed on the finger of
the dead wOman's friend the night she
came to the Office. l called the young
lady's attention to this
eyes, she said Gs she burst into tears,
we both had our rings set at the same
time, and we had them set alike
"The mother, hoping against hope, said
that her daughter had peculiar mole
mark behind the left ear. If the body
had not that malk it was not that of the
daughter.
Investigation showed the mole mark
where the mother had Indicated.
''Then came the coroner's inquest, and
young J-was su1pected of having foully
dealt with M iss p, and be was com
committed. for his explanation did not
satisfy the jury.
''Six wee ks rolled by, and young J--'s
trial was to take place the following week.
L was seated in the flee, and, il being O
fine night, all the wit dows were open. A
carriage drove up to the door and young
lady aiIghted. aud in o second was az the
doorstep. L heard my name mentioned,
and recognized the voice of the girl who
had called on me nearly five months be-
fore. She rushed into The room out of
breath.
"'What is it" d? asked.
''She sank into u seat and was unable
to articulate @ word FOR several minutes.
" 'She-she-s6e 10 not dead I she
finally gasped, as she seized hold of my
hand and gave way to her feelings in fl
of weeping.
"'Shel Who? What?' J. asked. half
afraid that the girl was going out Of her
mind.
"Miss P" she cried, "she is home
and we'll. That was not her dead body
God be thanked"
eff I'd been ordered to do police duty
in the Fifth precinct / conldn'L have been
more dunn bfounded."
"But what in the deuce did she mean?"
impatiently asked, as the officer button
ed his coat preparatory to gong out.
''Meap? just this. The whole thing
came came out. Miss P took it into
her head to go to Europe wnh party OF
friends from London, who had been in
New England for a few months. She
never would tell why sue W Mt without
letting any body know it, but she probably
thought it good j ke, aud her London
friends keptIt up. On reaching the city
frem the country she met young j
quite accidentally, aud managed to throw
him off the sc, mt,
'It looks rather strange" remarked
to the detective, "elmost an improbable
story"
"'Well, the case is still on the coroner's
record"; bat such a case of mistaken ident-
ity L never heard tell of before. that mole
mark on the dead body being identical
with the mark escrIbed by the mother,
and that diamond ring the same a. the
one WON by Miss P--'s friend I
swear it puzzles me even now when think
Of the case
"What became ofthe parties %
"MIss P is now residing at No.
Fifth avenue. She is Mrs. -"
"What?"
"The same. Yet who would think that
she had ever been the innocent cause Of
such mystery ?"
"And the young lady friend of hers
the one with the diamond ring ?"
''She has been sleeping the sleep that
knows no waking for seven years past
And as the detective uttered these words
IN sort of solemn way he rose and Went
out into he street