Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-05-30
THE FATE OF MISS LIE BLANC.
Il. WHITMORE,
Publisher and Proprietor.


skeleton Discovered Abducted
and kilied by RFjeeted BuitOr.
st. Louis Post.l
lu July, 1872, Julie LIE Blanc,
then eighteen years of age, daugh-
ter of Francois lie Blanc, a farmer
of Jefferson county, Missouri, mys-
teriously disappeared from home.
She had dressed with the intention
of attending party to be given in
neighbor's house, and was last
seen by her mother and father in
their garden plucking flowers for
bouquet.
The family supposed that Mr..
james Leonard, the most favored
of her many admirers, who was her
intended escort to the party, had
called, and that she had gone with
him Her parents were not alarm
ed that night, but as she was still
absent the next morning they be.
came anxious. The persons who
gave the party said that she had not
been at their house, although Leon
ard was there the entire evening,
having escorted his sister instead of
Miss lie Blanc. Other neighbors
had neither seen nor heard of Julie.
Companies of men searched the
woods, and there found traces of
the footsteps of a man and a wo-
man. The latter were the imprints
made by shoes of the same SIZE as
those worn by the missing girl.
These led to a creek, where boat,
the property Of Mr.. LIE Blanc, had
been moored. The boat was miss
ing.
Search was made for several miles
down the bank OF the creek and
along those Of Crystal, a large
stream flowing into the Mississippi,
into which the small creek emptied,
but without success. The despair.
ing parents gave up their daughter
as lost.
The fathers suspicious rested
on Philip Kenealy, who had been
an ardent admirer of jules from
her childhood, and who had been
dismissed Tor the favor of Leonard.
But his wife refused to let him
have Kenealy arrested. The sus-
peoted man went to LIE Blanc a
few days after jules. disappear
ance, and telling him of his love
for her, and how little he cared to
remain in the neighborhood now
that she was missing, said
that he was going to New Orleans,
where he had been offered perma-
nent situation at a good compensa.
ton in a large wholesale store
That same evening he quietly de-
parted. He has not since been
seen.
Now, after all these intervening
years, the mystery has been cleared
up. Benjamin F, Akin, a colored
hand, who is in the employ Of Fer
dinand Maher, a farmer of New
Madrid county, Mo-, near Point
Pleasant, while shooting snipe
along the river bank on Monday
morning last, saw an object having
the appearance of skiff floating
with the current down the river
toward him. Procuring long
pole he awaited the objects ap-
proach. He caught it and drew it
to shore. Lying in the bottom Of
the boat was skeleton. The
bones had been bleached by the
sun and rain until they we're Of q
pure snowy whiteness.
The skeleton was that of wo.
mau, Not q particle Of flesh was
on the bones, but on the right side
of the skull was piece Of skin,
dried and shriyeled by the heat of
the sun. Three teeth in the upper
part of the mouth were filled with
gold, and two of the lower teeth
were missing. BY her side, in the
bottom Of the boat, lay piece of
jewelry having some resemblance to
a breastpin, but it was worn by the
action of water On the wrists Of
the skeleton were gold bracelets of
a very fine quality, and having
some peculiar marks. In the skilf
were parts of a tarpaulin that had
decayed before the rayages Of rain
and heat during a lapse of many
years. The boat was of the class
known as lifeboats. 1t contained
water to the depth of ten inches,
which had accumulated from many
rains.
Aiken moored the boat, and took
the jewelry to Mr.. Maher, and that
gentleman summoned coroner,
but that official deemed it unneces-
sary to hold an inquest over The
bones of persol who had been
dead for a number Of years. The
bracelets and breastpin we're given
~ the coroner by Aiken. The