The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-03-02
A Modern vehm-Gericht.

One Of the chief incidents of Mr.. Wilkie
Collins's well-known novel The Woman in
White is the assassination in London Of an
Italian refugee, Count Fosco, by order of a
secret society of which he was member.
TO most readers the episode must have
seemed improbable, if not absolutely incredi-
BILE. Yet, within few weeks, if we are to
acceptwith unquestioning faith queer story
published in the London papers, MIR. Collins's
bold invention has been literally realized! A
man we'll known in commercial circles has
suddenly disappeared, leaving behind him
letter pllrporting to lave been written on
the eve of his execution by secret society TO
which he had belonged, and whose orders he
had In some way disobey ed, Accompanying
this was missivc, supposed to come from
his Judges, announcing the fulfilment of the
sentence. Certainly there is here most
promising sensation, and one that ought to
Stir in the average British public, already
profoundly agjtated by Alabama claims and
rrlnors of Fenian uprising, very lively
emotion.
More in detail, the circumstances Of this
curious story are these: Messrs. w. Blews q
Son, manufacturers of gas chandeliers at
London and Birmingham, state that on the
18th Of January last they received a letter,
dated the 18th, from their agent at Moscow,
Alr. L. r. Bauer, announcing his immediate
departure for England to consult his EN-
blowers on business, He wrote again from
Riga on the 14th of the same month, from
Berlin twice on the Goth, and from Hamburg
on the odd On the 18th he reached London,
and telegraphed to the Messrs. Blews that
he would leave for Birmingham on the 1O:2O
train. Subsequently they received tele-
gram stating that Mr.. Bauer had missed this
| train, but would leave at in the afternoon.
This is the last that has been seen or
heard of him except the letter mentioned
above, which is dated JANUARY p, and an.
nounces his impending death. 1t is addressed
to his employers, and is permitted 70 De
written, it says, "by special grace" 1t hints
darkly at some criminal act which the "rlter
| was bound to perform by his obligations to
the secret order which he had joined Gin a
sad error" Of youth and ineXperience. DIS
obedience subjected him to death, and this
bitter alternative he had chosen rather than
''do things against which his whole soul re,
volted." His luggage, he had added, had
| been DESTROYED. and the Enclosure referred to
! from his eXecutioners stated that for their
own safety certain papers of the firm IN
Bauer's keeping had been also burnt. This
aWc-llls JiI1uS uUCuLuSuG Ndo siEhSo1 IA
Sufficient Number"
Accepting implicitly what is here related
| for fact, we have certainly all that the most
ardent lover Of mystery could desire. This
| brief correspondence contains all the ele-
ments Of a first-class sensation, out of which
brisk imagination may weave most thrill
| ing and complicated romance, bristling with
daggers and evil-minded masks, with secret
midnight tribunals, with shadowy conspira-
tors and delightfully."- unintelligible warn-
ings, with love, and revolution, and muir
der, in their most attractive phases. Unhap-
PLY, however, there is one weak point IN
the plot. which, for the sake of our romantic
readers, we almost hesitate to diyulge. Mr.
Bauer's mental poise has never been OF
the soundest. He had been once completely
derangcd, and it is quite as likely that this
extraordinary correspondence is the result
of second alteration as that the rule OF
the Carbonari flourishes in England. Again,
there may have been method in Mr.. Bauer's
madness which made sudden disappearance
expedient. Yet, underneath oil its apparent
wildness and extravaganza, there still re.
mains in the story grain-a mustard seed
call it-of possibility, and we hope to see 1t
receive the thorough investigation for which
portion of the London press imperattVely
calls.-Ne,D York Times.