The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-11-28
Mysterious Disappearances.

| DEMENT, Oh m6ulCdl COllSgeS, gives GQe
following account of mysterious disap-
pearances in Cincinnati: Enquirer
readers will recollect a mysterious and
unaccountable disappearance which oc-
CURED some three or four years ago. 1t
was young clerk who, returning from
the country by the Ohio and Mississippi
train, was bringing home to his wife a
string of quails. He walked with a
friend from the depot up town until he
reached an alley, through which he
could shorten his way home. The young
man bade his friend goodnight, turned
into the alleys mouth and disappeared
as completely from the world as though
he had sunk into the sea. Search and
inquiry both failed to trace out the mys-
terry. A fragment of scalp was.after-
ward found in an ash-barrel, which,
/ from the color of the hair upon it, was
at first believed to be the only remains
of the man. When this theory was ad-
vanced, it was explained away by a
medical college janitor, who came for
ward and said the scalp was fragmen-
tary remains from the dissection-table.
At that time this explanation was suf-
fcient to make the searching friends be-
lieve they had been following wrong
lead. Since the horrible discovery Of
the existence of Burking in our very
midst, the janitor's explanation of how
that scalp got into the ash-barrel serves
to raise horrible surmises sin the minds
of the friends of the missing man. Is
this not proof positive that he was
Burked and his body sold to the dissec-
tion-room? These are all cases fresh in
the readers memory. But there were
other mysterious disappearances in the
earlier years of the city's history, to
some of which we will refer.
About the year 1S42 there lived in a
little frame shanty on Central-avenue,
near Mohawk Bridge, a shoemaker by
the name of John Guechs. He had a
wife then, but no children. One stormy
night in winter he put a pair of boots
under his arm and started out to take
them to a gentleman in the East End,
for whom he had made them. He
promised his wife ESQ she said that he
would return before midnight. She
went to sleep, and only woke with the
morning light to find her husband still
absenA Days and nights passed without
any tidings of him, though no means
were left untried to discover trace OF
him. John Guechs, the shoemaker,
never returned. His name went down
on the list of the missing, and remains
there to this day.
The strange part of this history re-
mains to be told. The grief of Mrs
Guechs seemed most poignant when she
became convinced that her husband had
disappeared and could not be found
Some of the neighbors suggested that he
had deserted her willfully, but she de-
cla4ed such conduct would be foreign tt
his devotion for her; that they lived
most happily, and he spent but little
very little-time away from her presence
or his home. He had never reached hi
customers house and the new boot
) disappeared with him. The lone wife
grieved so much that for a time it wa!
feared that her health or her reason
would desert her. The mystery deepenec
when one morning, about month aftel
, Guechs's disappearance, the wife alsc
turned up missing. A neighbor callec
one morning at the shanty, and finding
the door standing ajar, walked in
There was no one there. She sat dow
and waited, expecting to see Mrs
{ Guechs return in few moments, mas
much as the door had been left unse
, cured. The minutes few until an hou
passed. The visitor then went home.
second visit in the afternoon, prompted
! no doubt by curiosity, was made by thi
woman, and the house was found in ex
actly the same condition she had left i
in the forenoon. The alarm was spreat
then and an investigation followed
Slight evidences of struggle wer
! found in the room. A chair was oh
served to be lying on its side, tn
! : curtain which hung in front of the rud
! cupboard was torn from its cordage, an,
a cheap picture on the wall was slightl
displaced. Still suspicion of foul pla,
; was not innrnediately entertained. Whel
days and weeks passed without ttding
from the wife people became divided il
3 their opinion as to an explanation of tn
7 mystery. While few suspected fou
: play as the cause of the double disau
e pearance, there were those who though
e it was all a prearranged abscondin
!. plan. Yet no one could find any caus
}, for this theory. No record was eve
!, found to explain any such action on tn
o part of the humble couple. If the
i had run away why had none of thei
!, humble property been taken with them
d Every thing remained in its place for
e long while after the woman was missed
n Then, we believe, they were sold unde
l. order of Court and the money turne
" over to the public Treasury. AS yea
rolled away John Guechs and his wi
were forgotten, or only recalled at inte
walls by some old citizens who recollecte
= the strange events of their disappea
ia ance. The incident recalls itself at tn
]. late period and the question arise
q Were they Burked?
# Melissa Shane is the name of anoth
l. victim Of an unknown fate. She was
le little girl of fourteen years, lovely
o form, features and disposition. Melis
n possessed Just such a fine, health
physique as would make Professor
IS Anatomy rejoice to see lying cold al
m rigid on the dissection-table beneath b
IS merciless knife. This girl lived wi
Re her uncle and aunt (being an orphan
r, in the northern part of the city
', Main-street, if we are not mistake
K The time was some thirty-four or thirt
in five years ago. Melissa left her uncle
house for school one morning, and the
3 her existence fades away. She nev
10 reached the school-house or returned
II her home Mystery of mysteries i
sc quilted her young existence, and h
es name was added to the roll of the lo'
d Gossip wronged the poor girls memo
le by limiting that she had gone to the ba
voluntarily sought life of shame, al
n- merged her existence into life of @
$. security and shame. But there was n
r. the slightest foundation for such sla
ut derers to build upon. Melissa had be
lg all that is good and pure in girlhoo
i. Her companions had loved her for h
If truthful, amiable, dutiful and pul
minded character. The most plausit
n. theory of her fate is the terrible O
u which now hangs so gloomily over t
r. memory of all such unfortunates-s
or was victim of Burking.
of How crime of this nature could ia
place in city such as Cincinnati "
at that time, and in broad daylight,