Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-12-31

NOT DEAD BUT MISS1NG.
How an Englishman Left His Debts
and Old Clothes Behind and Departed
Old Country Life for the New--A
Strange Story.
From the London Times.
Few dramatists or novelists have ever
conceived a story more singular than
that of Randolph Payne, which has just
been unfolded in court of Law. In the
month of October, 1878, Mr.. Randolph
Payne WAS living apparently in content
with his parents st Moulsey, on the
Thames. There was no presumption of
his being in debt or difficulties, and, as
was natural in the case of free and single
man, he one day announced his inten-
ton of running down to Wales for
short holiday. He did not conceal his
object or his destination, and he prom
Used faithfully to be back on certain
day, in order to keep his mothers birth
day at home. He arrived at yarmouth
on Saturday night, and. putting up at
a hotel, he remained idly lounging about
until the Monday morning, when he was
seen leaving the house very early in
order to battle in the sea. There was no
mystery or concealment whatever. He
left his watch and trinkets on the dress
ing-table of his room, a good and sub
stantial breakfast had been ordered to
await him on his return, and he was seen
going down to the sea clad in long
ulster coat and swinging his bathing
towel. Later in the day, at a secluded
spot on the beach, were found the
clothes of Randolph Payne, left
where he had put them of, and, as
nothing more was seen of him, the ouly
conclusion that could be arrived ct was
the very natural one that the bather had
been drowned. Careful search was
made, but no body was discovered. The
parents were communicated with, and in
8 state of great mental distress they
came down to yarmouth to identify the
clothes found on the beach and the
trinkets left in the room. That birth
day which was to have been SO happy at
home with the afectionate mother was
spent in mourning for lost son; adver-
tisements of tie death we're inserted in
the newspapers, and the legal reprensen-
tatives, after decent interval, proceed
ed to the distribution Of the supposed
dead mans effects. Among these were
certain policies of Insurance, and it be-
came necessary for the father to apply
on the LIST of April of the present year,
or six months after the disappearance,
for a grant of administration on pre-
sumption of death. Insurance compan-
es are notoriously-and perhaps justly
sensitive in paying up policies without
the actual proof of death, which in this
instance it was impossible to hand in un-
less the sea delivered up its dead. But
the facts appeared to be 80 clear TO the
court, and the details of the case were go
distressing, that the grant of administra-
ton was accorded. The natural SUPPOSE
tion was that the man was drowned, and
the president of the court, in spite of a
previous case tried before the late chief
baron, in which the insurance company
resisted claim, and the jury found for
the plaintiff under almost precisely SINH
Ter circumstances, did not hesitate to
give the legal representatives. the benefit
of the doubt.
Here ends the first act of the drama.
The scene changes in July of the pre-
sent year to San Francisco, where there
arrived Mr.. Donald Drysdale, mer-
chant of Mincing lane, who having
known the Payne family intimately, was
able to recognize the form and features of
their favorite son; and, almost the first
person Mr.. Drysdale met in San Frau
cisco was Randolph Payne. There was
no disguise; the recognition was instant
and complete. The city merchant had
left his old friendsin England mourning
for their boy; he had probably read the
obituary advertisement and seen the
commemorative headstone; he might
we'll have added his generous comfort to
soothe the natural sorrow of the dis
tressed mother; he was familiar with
the convincing details of the clothes left
on the shore, the watch and rings found
in the room, the ordered breakfast, and
all the presumptive evidence of an acct
dent; while all the time here was Ran
dolph Payne, the truant, living under
an assumed name in San Francisco,
careless of the agony he had caused, and
satisfied with the "death in life" which
he had wilfully and deliberately assum'
ed. The explanation of this strange pro.
ceeding was very simple. The runaway
was in pecuniary difficulties, and unable
to face the exposure Of commercial dis
grace. What he did was done deliber
ately and with consummate art. The
morning bath, the deserted jewelry and
the anticipated breakfast were all parts OF
a skilfully arranged plot, while double
suit of clothes, both hidden under a.
ulster with which the bather went down
to the sea, completed the materials tol
deception. There can be no doubt that
every trick of the kind is attended with
certain risks. No man, for instance, who
was habitually accompanied by q
servant, or whose wardrobe was
periodically overlooked, could wisely