The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-06-20
A wEsTFOID YOuNG LADY MISSING.

suspected Murder.-A Mysterious Auar'
On the night of Sunday, June 8,
Emma Sands, of Wcstford, disappear
ed, and has not since been seen. She
is the daughter of blind and widowed
mother, and has been in the habit of
travelling about in team with a sister,
Mary, selling laces, Yankee notions, etc.
One the day of her disappearance they
stopped with Joel Putnam, farmer
living in Cambridge, where Emma had
worked last summer. Emma went in
the afternoon with q friend named
Aida Cilley, who worked at a Mr..
Eli uobarts, expecting when she start
ed to return to Mr.. Putnam's the same
day. Two grandchildren of Mr.. Put
am, who drove over with them, re-
turned alone, saying that Emma had con-
cludcd to stay with Miss Cillcy all night,
and would return early in the morning.
She did not return in the morning, how
ever, and Mary went over to MIR. Ho-
bart's, where she learned that after the
IL
had learned by ovcrhearing that Mrs.
Hobart did not wish her to stay there,
and decided to return on foot. She
started about half-past eight o'clock.
A Freichman, James Larocque, who
worked for Hobart, overheard the talk
of her return and offered to go with
her, but Emma was afraid of him and
declined his company. After lingering
| Ill \ G,,n1 cto tod tfxx
ard Putnam's. Emma decided to go
down the track of the Burlington and
Lamoille railroad part of the way TO
avoid him. Miss Cilley went with her
over high tres.le work 100 feet long,
seeing her safely across and then re-
turned to Mr.. IIobarts. That is the
last seen of her, so far as is known, ex-
cept by Larocque. lie returned TO Mr..
IIobart's about halt-past nine O'Clock.
lie states that when he had got near
there, he passed Emma going the same
way towards Ilobart's, being the oppo-
site direction to that she took OH start
ing. lie spoke to her and she answered
him, saying that she didn't understand.
lie left her and went directly to Ilo-
bart's. The news of her disappearance
spread rapidly, and on Monday and
Tuesday large numbers of men searched
the vicinity, and the search has been
actively kept up ever since. There was
at once n suspicion that she had been
made away with, and that Larocquc
was the guilty party. lie, however
tells a straightforward story, and cir.
cumstances do not seem to point very
strongly 10 him as a murderer. Nc
signs of any outrage or murder have
yet been found. An explanation OF
l Miss Sands disappearance has beer
sought in the fact that a young woman
was last week in Burlington where she
: had her hair cut short and procured
+ mems clothes, in which she was dressed
: and was seen by several parties. A
n Waterman saw and questioned her in {
, passenger car, on Monday night of las
week, where she had been asleep. lie
Z, recognized her sex, but she fled withou
: waiting for much talk. Two boys saw
the same person south of Burlington
and thought it was woman. She wa
| traced as far as Shelburn village. Con
t ductor Oscar Phipps thinks such per
, son got on board the mail train at Char
lotte and rode to Rutland. All wht
saw the face of this person recogniz,
her in the Sands girls photograph
t Active efforts have been made to fine
I this girl in mems clothing, so as to set
tie the mystery, but without success
1t is considered quite doubtful if this i
: can be Miss Sands. She has Away
/ borne an excellent reputation, and he
{ friends assert that such freak on he
a part is extremely improbable. Their
are also many obvious difficulties in thu
way of supposing that she could hav'
q left Mr.. HObart's and walked to Bur
: lington and made the changes in he
apparel SO soon. Her friends an(
neighbors in Westfleld believe she ha
!, been outraged and murdered and tina
: nothing else would have kept her ava,
= from her sister and family. 1t is to b,
hoped that no Josie Langmaid horro
, will be developed as the cause of he
disappearance. " hatever theory b,
adopted there is at present complet,
:. mystery surrounding the case.