Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-12-18
A Strange Story.


In the December number of the At
yGptic is told a story from true life
which has not many equals for oddity
in fiction. AS the tale goes, one day a
man pretty well on in years came into
the Police Headquarters, and asked to
have the officers take down a descrip-
ton of his wife and children, who had
disappeared from their home. The man
told his story in such a simple, unaf-
fected way that he made a deep i'm
preston upon those who heard it. He
lived in small town in Connecticut,
and had been married five or six years
to a woman considerably younger than
himself, and by whom he had had two
children. On returning from his daily
business few nights before he found
his home deserted; wife and children
had evidently gone out, dressed in their
best clothes, leaving no word of expla-
nation. 1t struck him as being very
strange; but, although disturbed, he
was not seriously alarmed, as he con-
cluded they must have gone to friends
house, He got his own tea, and then
smoked his pipe, expecting momenta-
rily to hear them at the door. 1t was
late in the evening before his anxiety
drove him out to look for them among
the neighbors. The next day he learned
that they had been seen in the railway
station at the next village, and that
they had taken the cars going East.
That was all he knew about it. He and
his wife, he said, had got on pretty
well together. He was perhaps too old
to be much society for her, but she
never complained. Since she had
gone off he remembered that she
had been very melancholy and
moping for some time past. He thought
that she had "sort of dwelt on things,
bein' so much alone;'' that she had be-
come " crazy-like," and had started off
with the idea of going to see some peo-
pie in New Hampshire whom she had
known before she was married. But
the New Hampshire folks had not Seen
her or heard of her; and some of the
neighbors said, "More like she'd gone
off with a-yOunger man." "But you
see," said the deserted husband, "that
amt likely, as she wouldn't have taken
the children if she was that wicked"
The police gave good deal of atten-
ton to the case, as it was peculiar |
one; they had a feeling of sympathy for
the man who had suffered such terrible |
loss. The wife and children were
traced to town short distance from
Portland, Me. There woman and
two little children, answering in most
particulars to the description given by
the police, were seen by the local sTa-
tion-master to leave through train
and walk off in the direction of the vii
lage. 1t was just at dusk, and showing
heavily at the time. The road led
along the banks of river. Passing
out of the station-master' sight into
the storm, they were seen no more.
The inquiries OF the police never got
beyond that Those who had been at
work upon the case settled down to the
belief that the woman had left home
during a fit of temporary insanity; that
the storm she encountered on leaving
the cars increased the confusion in her
mind, and that she had either thrown
her children and herself into the river,
or had wandered out of the road and
fallen in with them, One evening, after
this conclusion had been reached, an
officer who had worked on the case was
asked by young woman who was Wis
ting at his house to tell her an inter-
esting police case. He told her the
story Of the deserted husband. The
young woman afterward married, and
went to live in q Western city. Some
years passed, VIXEN, on meeting the
officer again, she reminded him of the
story he had told her, and asked if any
hing had been heard of the wife and
children. He said the case remained
rs profound mystery as ever.
"Now," she said, twill 90 on with ;
he story where you ended. The woman
yot off the train at B for the pur- !
Jose of misleading those who might
earch for her. She had through tick :
It's to Portland; and, after going some
distance toward the village, as testi- !
led by the statiOn-master, she retraoed /
Ter steps. Eluding observation at the (
ailroad station she got on q Way-train
hat came along presently, and pro-
eeded to Portland. There she was
net by a man, who took her to the }
irand Trunk Railroad; and the next Il
rain bore them to q city in the 4
ar West, where they found a home h
rhich had been carefully prepared for I,
hem. She appeared as the wife of the
IAN who accompanied her, and who