The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-02-11

deep lines of grief, and her hair was
slightly tinged with gray She told a
narrowing tale. Not long ago she had
lost her only two children in the most
sudden manner, and while almost fran
tic with grief over their death, her hus-.
band, upon whom she was wholly de-
pendent for support, mysteriously dis
appeared, and had never been heard
from since. She said he was travelling
agent for a large wine-house in Vienna,
and they had lived for the last three
years in Baden, a village which is a
short distance from the capital He
never allowed her to come to his bust
ness place, on the plea that he could not
bear to see women at stores and was
generally away travelling, only coming
home for a day or two in the week
When she went to the address he had
given her she found that there was no
wine-house there whatever. In fact, no
wine-house of the name of Althoff, Gross
u Co.-which was the name he had
given her-could be found by her or her
friends. .@s. 53Hi 81 H'.
The Police Director, after listening to
her interesting story, desired her to give
him the description of her husband,
and was not a little startled when she
drew a picture resembling closely to
that of the mysterious purchaser of the
trunk. The suspicion that he was now
upon his track, that the man who had
disappeared was also the man who had
poisoned the young, golden haired
woman, flashed across his mind in an
instant. He questioned her closely as
to the antecedents of her husband, but
she said she knew very little about them
She was the daughter of a poor, but
learned clergyman, in q country town in
Syria, and Joseph Marx that was his
name-passed through the village lit
over three years ago in his travels, fell
violently in love with her, and married
her. They then settled in Baden, where
there had remained ever since. The
Police Director took down carefully
every word she said, did not betray his
suspicion of the guilt of her husband of
the atrocious murder that had been per-
petrated, and only requested her to give
him miniature Of Herr. Marx. This
she did, and upon its being shown to
the trunk-maker and to the agent of the
steamboat company, they both identi-
fed him as the individual previously re-
ferred to. A description of Marx was
then sent all over Austria, and publish
ed in all the newspapers. A most damn
ing circumstance against him was, that
he disappeared on the very morning on
which the Vienna papers announced the
discovery of the female body in the
trunk at Pesth.
From the developments subsequent to
the trial it appears that Mrs. Marx, as
soon as she discovered that her husband
was not dead, but had simply fled be-
cause he was suspected of having COM
mitted a murder, became most anxious
to defeat the efforts of the police toward
accomplishing his arrest, and to save
him at all hazards. She probably did
not believe in his guilt, and was so
desperately in love with him that
she most likely would have still at
tempted to save him from the halter,
even if she had thought in her own
heart that he was a murderer. She felt
sure, from his great affection for her,
that he would attempt to return to Ba-
den, in order to see her, and as her
house was watched by the police, she
determined to prevent his doing so in
any case. Personals, it seems, are very
old institutions-much older than
American newspaper men would be-
lieve. Mrs. Marx had been in the habit
of calling her husband by the endear-
ing pet name of g Joserl,'' and she in
serted the following advertisement in
the Wiener Zeitung, paper which she
knew he read wherever he was:
TOSERL--Don't return in any case. You are
- in great danger. Go as far as you can, but
write to me 50 that Imay followeyou.
LITTLE DOVE.
.Little Dove" was pet name by
which he was always wont to call her.
Austrian detectives are sharp, however,
and stringent orders had been issued
that every letter addressed to Mrs. Marx
should be handed to the Police Director.
Not long after this PERSONAL appear
ed letter bearing the postmark of
Paris, addressed to her, was captured.
Sure enough, it was from him, and read
as follows:
MY DARLING WIFE: read the advertise
ment in the Wiener Zeitung with heart
full of reverent gratitude for my dearest,
best wife. Thank God! you love me STILL,
you believe I .ame innocent. am here sin
perfect safety, and for fear that this letter
may be captured by the police, / will not
state my address. But if you can follow me
hither shall indeed be grateful. ] inclose
you 500 gAden, which viii pay all expenses.
Write to me and let me know where to meet
you Within the borders of France, for dare
not go beyond, and l will be there. A
thousand thanks foryour love, From yours
ever lovingiye sss " FssssssRr JosERL.
. P. S.-My address is simply ''Jean Bab-
tiste Schneider, Poste Restante, Paris. -
The Police Director, after reading
this letter, sealed it up again in so dex-
ferrous a manner that it. would have
been impossible to say it had been