The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-03-23
MYSTERIES.

annually disappear from the view and
knowledge OF friends and foes alike, and
of whom no traces are ever obtained, we
might we'll stand aghast, not only at the
terribly long list Of lost and missing in
dividuals, but also at the seeming tutility
of the best directed efforts for seeking and
finding them A glance at the agony
columns of our daily newspapers or the
notice boards of police stations will in
deed show us that the mere disappearance
from home of individuals is by no means
IA rare occurrence. and in many of these
cases very plain reasons for the absence
of the runaways may be at least guessed
at or supposed. But the cases we more
especially allude to are instances of the
regular ''niystcrious disappearance" class,
in which, for the most part suddenly and
in every instance without any reasonable
or sufficient cause or excuse. individuals
disappear from home, from their business
haunts, and from the circle of their ac-
quaintance> and leave not the slightest
trace of their whereabouts or intentions.
Even what we may call the ultimate fact
of their death is, in the vast majority Of
eases, never asserted or proved and the
friends of such waits and stravs of society
have not as a rule, the melancholy assur-
ancc or satisfaction of knowing that the
further hope of finding the lost is utterly
futile and vain. And thus the date OF the
disappearance in time becomes one which,
as days, weeks and years roll by, carries
with it the evcr-increasng remembrance
of an event at once sad and terrible in
the doubt and uncertainty which enshroud
t.
To tie question, "What has become
Ofthem:" detective science may hazard
ingenious theories, fitting more or less
exactly the ascertained facts of each case
But such speculative philosophy is useful
only as gIide to the inquirers, and
can afford but little help in framing de-
cisivc answer to the above query. 1t has
happened, however, that in some few no
table instances the science of the medical
lurlst has aided in the most powerful and
satisfactory manner in calculating the
history Of disappearances through its tes-
timony to the identity Of discovered re-
mains with the presumed missing sub
jects. And no records of fiction could
show more interesting or startling illus
tratons of the tangled nature Of evidence,
and indeed OF human affairs generally,
than The records of medico-legal expert
cnce in respect of the light which science
brings to bear on questions of the like
ness and identity of the dead with that of
the once living. We thus may find, in Il
somewhat roundabout manner, one an
swer to the query regarding the where
abouts of missing men and women; for
when death claims such it frequently de-
wolves upon the man of science to say
whether the body is or is not that of the
missing person concerning whom society,
as represented by the family or by the
law may have ma do much and nnyiOuS
inquiry.
The notable case of Eugene Aram fur
nishes, for example, a case in point. The
deceased or murdered man, named Dan
iel Clarke, a shoemaker of knaresbOr-
ough, disappeared suddenly in the month
of February, l145, and on no reasonable
or satisfactory hypothesis could his alb
sence be accounted for. Thirteen years
afterward, when the disappearance had
well-nigh been forgotten, the discovery of
some human bones in cave near Knares-
borough, together with some suspicious
which had been aroused by the words of
one Houseman, Aram's accomplice,
brought the occurrence again before the
notice of the public. And, as is well
known, the discovery Of a second skeleton,
bearing marks of violence, as indicated
by HOuseman'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
dence was so far strengthened, and the
crime traced very near to Aram's door.
And yet the most important links in the
cham were supplied by the evidence of
the medical jurists, as lending to prove
the correspondence of the remains with
those of a man of Clarke's age and ap-
pearance. Aram's defense, singularly
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 tailed in singularly
complete manner with the account given
by Houseman of the manner in which the
murder was committed. So far, there
fore, as testimony corroborative 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 exhibit
very great variations in the manner in
which it is carried out, and in the points
to which its attention is more especially
directed. A very noteworthy case, start
ling 10 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
the front teeth in very old woman. This
woman, Caroline Walsh by name, con-
scented, after much persuasion, to live
wifi In fr:o IN.
Ross, and her husband, in Goodman's
Fields. Walsh arrived at that place on
the night of August 10, 1881; and from
that date disappeared completely from
public view. Inquiries Immediately made
by the relatives of the missing woman re-
suited in their ascertaining from Eliza
beth Ross that Walsh had gone from
home on the day Of her disappearance,
aud had never returned.
On the evening o. August 20, or that
OF the day following the disappearance,
an old woman who gave her name as
Caroline Welsh, an Irish woman like the
missing woman, and corresponding in
most particulars to the description given
of the latter, was found in destitute and
almost dying condition in the neiphbor-
hood of Goodman's Fields. She was con-
veyed to the London Hospital, and it was
there ascertained that she was suffering
from fracture of the hip-joint. Her in.
Juries proved too much for her reduced
condition, and she died in hospital and
was duly buried therefrom.
When Ross was arrested on the charge
OF numbering Caroline Walsh she at once
said that the woman who had been CON
veyed TO the London Hospital was her
old friend, and although her statement
seemed plausible enough at first sight, it
was found to be decidedly Inconsistent
with facts when subjected to due scrutiny
and analysis. Then, also, direct evidence
OF the murder OF Walsh by Ross was
1orlncoming from Ross son, who testified
to witnessing the suffocation of Walsh by
his mother; to seeing the body of the
murdered woman lying, on the morning
OF the goth OF August in the cellar of the