Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-01-11
DISAPPEARED.

D1SAPPEA RED
Yes, l can tell you story OF nv old
friend Bayle; no one better. Some Of
my friends here may have heard il be-
fore nut il will bear Gazing again
can't say Tn proud 10 tel i, because
it's too sad an ending, as far as he was
concerned, poor fellow, though / myself
had a lucky escape.
James ,bayie was very peculiar man.
! don't think any one understood him
except myself He was certainly more
open with me than with any of his other
years ago in November, when he came
up to London to stay with me in this
very house. He used to go out on long
walks by himself every day, and I
knew his object, for he had confided to
me the fact that he was going 10 marry
a young girl somewhat below him in
station, and he was looking for a house
in London, as he intended to work hard
on two or three journals, on the staff
of which he had long been attached.
The sort of house that he looked for
was, as you may believe, not very dear
one. He naturally wished for a very
quiet situation and as he was a man
who had always lived in the country, and
was very fond of flowers, he said he
would put up with any inconvenience so
long as he could have piece of ground
to himself He told me the. sort of
house he required, and I-told him the
districts in which he would most prob
ably find one. 1t was one Wednesday,
| remember, four days after he had been
with as, that he went out rather earlier
than usual. We never expected HIM to
return very early; but when the dinner
bellrang, and we found he had not come
ID, we felt e little uneasy. He was a
very shy man, as you know, and very
particular !: the last thing he would be
likely to do was to be purposely late for
dinner, without giving US any warning.
We waited twenty minutes, and then
sat down without him. He never came
back at all that night, nor the next day,
nor the day after that in fact, as you
all know, he never came back at all.
Wewent 70 the police-offce at once;
and | was very much amused at the
theories setvup by the excellent detec-
tives to account for his dis appearance.
l told them believed it very likely
that he had been looking for house,
or, if not, that he had gone to the
British Museum; but they got it into
their heads that he had been decoyed
into the slums of st. CHESS or West
minister, or had committed suicide; and
nothing would dissuade them at first
from these two ingenious theories.
They asked me if he was not man
of studious, solitary habits. rather eccen-
4ric. 4- .5.,.
l answered, eyes, certainly"
"Then depend upon it, said the SER
geant, she's in the Regents Canal or
the Thames
This reasoning was so unanswerable
that did not attempt 10 answer it; but
! determined 10 test my own theory first.
Hitherto We had been able to find no.
body who had seen him. He knew very
few people in London, and he was not
the sort of man to attract attention.
began my Ell deavors to trace his move
meats in rather novel manner.
started every morning from my own
house at the same hour as he had done
l stood for about FIVE minutes in the
street, and then | set out in whatever
direction chance suggested to me. For
eight days walked almost fifteen miles
a day, looking everywhere for any house
to let which would have been likely to
attract Bayle's attention, but did not
get any clue. l found several which he
had been TO, but not on the day upon
which he had disappeared. On the
ninth day | started at the same hour
this day | selected a district which
knew to contain one or two houses such
as he required. / walked or in the
same unprecedented manner, turning
down any street as chance led me.
was very much dispirited. so much SO
that l had forgotten was hungry, when
l found myself in very quiet part of
one Of the western suburbs. ]. was just
going to try and find some place where
could lunch, which promised to be no
easy matter, as there seemed to be no
shopsef public-heuses5 near, when my
eye caught a very scrazy-lookihg board
which was peering over the dingy corner
Of dead-wall straight in front of me.
walked up to it and read: "This eligi-
bic villa to be let, unfinished, with
one acre of ground. Stabling, etc.
Terns very moderate. Inquire with
in"
l could only see the top of the house,
which seemed very low, and some little
way from the road. The front looked
on to DUddon's Grove; on one side was
a Dissenting chapel. standing in a small
piece OF ground on the other, a very
quiet, lonely lane; there was door
evidently leading 10 the stsble-yard; 1t
was bolted, and there WIS 10 bell. l