The Osceola times., 1876-04-01
MYSTERIES.

hho" thc eNdct numDer OF persons who
annually disappear from the view and
knowledge of friends or foes alike, and o
whom no traces are ever obtained, W,
might well stand aghast not only at the
terribly long list of lost and missing in
dlyiduals, hut also for seeking and find
ing them. A glance at the agony
columns of our daily newspapers or the
notice-boards of police stations will in
deed shew us that the mere disappear
ance from home of individuals is by no
means rare occurrence, and in many of
these cases very plain reasons for the alb
sence OF the runaways may be at least
guessed at or supposed. But the cases
we more especially allude to are in
stances OF the regular " mysterious dis.
appearance class, in which, for the most
part suddenly and in every instance with
out any reasonable or sufficient cause or
excuse, individuals disappear from home,
from their business haunts, and from the
circle of their acquaintance and leave
not the slightest trace of their where
abouts or intentions. Even what we
may call the ultimate fact Of their death
is in the vast majority of cases never ascer-
tanned or proved; and the friends Of such
| waits and strays of society have not, as
rule, the melancholy assurance or satis-
faction of knowing that the further hope
of finding the lost is utterly futile and
vain. And thus the date of the disap-
pearance in time becomes one which, as
days, weeks, and years roll by, carries
with II the ever-increasing remembrance
OF an event at once sad and terrible in
the doubt and uncertainty which en-
shroud it.
To the question, "What has become
Of them w detective science may hazard
IN answer some speculations and several
ingenious theories, fitting more or less
exactly the asceytained facts of each
case. But such speculative philosophy
is useful only as guide TO the inquirers,
and can afford but little help in framing
a decisive answer to the above query. 1t
has happened, however, that in some few
notable instances the science of the med
ical jurist has aided in the most power
full and satisfactory manner in elucida-
ting the history of disappearances through
its testimony to the identity of discov-
cred remains with the presumed missing
subjects. And no records of fiction could
show moro interesting or startling illus
trations of the tangled nature of evi-
dence, and indeed of human affairs gen
orally, than the records of medico- legal
experience in respect of the light which
science brings to bear on questions of the
likeness and identity of the dead with
that of the once living. We thus may
find, in a somewhat roundabout manner.
one answer to the query regarding the
whereabouts of missing men and women;
for when death claims such it frequently
devolyes upon the man of science to say
whether the body is OF is not that of the
missing person concerning whom society.
as represented by the family or by the
law, may have made much and anxious
inquiry.
The notable case Of Eugene Aram fur
nlshes, for example, case in point. The
deceased or murdered man, named DAN
lei Clarke, a shoemaker of Knaresbor-
ough, disappeared suddenly in the month
of February, l745, and on no reasonable
or satisfactory hypothesis could his alb
sence be accounted for. Thirteen years
afterwards, when the disappearance had
wcll.nigh been forgotten, the discovery
Of some human bones in a cave near
knaresborough, together with some sus-
picions which had been aroused by the
words of one Houseman, Aram's accom-
p,ice, brought the occurrence again before
the notice of the public. And, as is well
known, the discovery of a second skele-
ton bearing marks of violence, as indi-
Gated by louseman's confession. resulted
in the apprehension of Aram, and in his
being arraigned at York, in August,
1859, for the murder of Clarke.
Thus the chain of circumstantial evil
trnce was so far strengthened, and the
crime traced very near to Aram's door.
And yet the most important links in the
chain were supplied by the evidence of
the medical jurists, as tending to prove
the correspondence of the remains with
those of man of Clarke's age and ap-
pearance. Aram's defence, singulariy
able and lucid, did not avail him against
the testimony of the anatomical data of
the last century. Thus his allegation
that the skeleton was that of a female
was entirely disproved by the medical
evidence; and this evidence also tai
lied in a singularly complete man
ner with the account given by House
man OF the manner in which the
murder was committed. So far, there
fore, rs testimony corroboratiye of the
facts brought out by ordinary witnesses
was required to substantiate the identity
of the remains, medical science lent its
powerful aid in clearing up this example
of mysterious disappearance.
While the work of the man of science
in this respect can never be said to vary
in Importance, it may nevertheless ex-
hibit very great variations in the man
ner in which it is carried out, and in the
points TO which its attention il more es-
peclally directed. A very noteworthy
case, startling To excess in some of its
features, was tried in London in 1881,
and rested, So far As the identity of the
subject of the trial was concerned, on the
presence of front teeth in very old
woman. This woman, Caroline Walsh
by name, consented, after much persua-
sion, TO live with female friend named
Elizabeth Ross, and husband, in Good
mans Fields. Walsh arrived at that
place on the night of 18th August, 1881;
and from that date disappeared COM
pletely from public view. Inquiries i'm
mediately made by the relatives of the
missing woman resulted in their ascer-
tanning from Elizabeth Ross that Walsh
had gone from home on the day Of her
disappearance, and had never returned
On the evening of Goth August, or
that of the day following the disappear
ance, an old woman who gave her name
LII -. l.