The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1873-08-21
a,. Case Of His aken Identity.

- A ycrv remarkable case of mistaken
IDENTIFY has just been revealed in Brook
yr.
On the morning of the Sd Of July the
body of a man, about thirty years Of age,
was found in the water at the foot OF
Vandyke street. The hand of the de
ceased was firmly secured by rope to
a satcAel, and the satchcl was found to
contain seven large fat-irons. 1t was
also discovered that the deceased had q
bullet hole in his head and box of pre-
cussion caps and nineteen pistol cart
ridges in the hip pocket of his pants
Some believed that the man had CON-
mitted suicide, while others were of the
opinion that he had met his death by
foul play. If he had been murdered, it
was argued, he would have been robbed,
but it was found on searching his cloth
ing that he had s2l in his possession.
Strange as it may appear, there was
nothing aLont tn body except the cloth
ing which W nd lead to b s identity
Coroner Jones b Sing notified, caused the
body to b, moved to the Brooklyn
Morgue, where it was r>v.ewe1 by a
large number Of persons who hId miss
ing friends who's, appearance cores
ponded with that of the deceased.
Four days after the body had been
taken to the Morgue, lady residing in
Grant street, +. d., whose son-in-law
has been missing for two or three weeks,
called at the Morgue, and positively
recognized the deceased as that of the
missing man Charles Diehl. Dichl, she
said, had married her daughter contrary
to her wishes, and they had not lived
very happily together. He went off in
q fit of anger, and had in all probability
committed suicide. HIS wife, knowing
his disposition better than her mother,
said, "No; if that is the body of Charley |
he was murdered. He never committed
suicide, for it was not like him." The
uncle of Diehl also visited the Morgue,
as well as others who knew lin, and !
they were all firmly convinced that the |
unfortunate young man had come to a |
sad end. His family were thrown into
great grief and set to wor. at once to
make preparation for his funeral. DIchl
had been employed rs agcat for the At
lantic Life Insurance Company in New
York, and being pretty well known in
that neighborhood, the furcral was
largely attended. The body was put in
the family plot, ana Mrs. Diehl mourncd
the loss of a husband, to whom, with all
his faults she was deeply attached, and
dressed in the habiliments of widow.
Time wore on and nothing occurred un-
til yesterday TO lead her to suspect for
moment that she was not widow. +:
Yesterday, to her unbounded aston
shment, she received letter from her S
husband, who was, when he mailed the !
etter, at Key West. He wrote that he .
'egretted leaving her so abruptly; re- +
,retted his hasty temper; said he was I
veil, and hoped nothing had occurred $
since his del arturo from the city that b
lad caused her any uneasiness further $
han what she might feel concerning her S
'rring husband. S
1t required considerable effort on the n
,art of Mrs. Diehl to read the letter, for, /
Is may be imagined, she almost tainted. b
She would not have been more surpris-
ID had her husband, whom she suppos-
ID dead and buried in the family plot,
walked in and held out his hands to her, :
nut the letter was nearly as great. She
rad buried some one for her husband >
perhaps somebody else's husband, and
who could it be? Who the man is who
was buried by Mrs. Diehl is a mystery I.
which will probably never be solved, ,
for now the remains have passed be- I,
vond rccosnition.-N. Y. Herald. r.