Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-01-08

/ lid fallen on The young girl with crush
ny 8efectss.as is6ssatdden disappearance
I n her lover, the arfessof her brother or
! the charge of numbering him, almost
! drove her insane. e.-She however, shared
the popular opinion that young McKin.
ley had been murdered, and that heI
! brother was guilty of that terrible crime.
I Urged for a reason for her belief, she
ffnfally admitted that it rested on the
Slender foundation of dream. She
added thaty~en the night succeeding
the day upon which Charles Mckinley
| disappeared she had dreamed that she
| saw her brother and him in violent
| quarrel. The men were in dark ra-
vine; there was a mountain to their
right, ands deep, dense forest to their
| left. She heard their words; she. saw
John strike Mckinley with the butt of
his rifle and fell him to the earth. That
blow was fatal. The young man never
spoke afterwards. John hid the body
| in dark cave in the mountains, and
there it still remained! This dream
made powerful impression upon the
young girl, and though many were dis
posed to laugh at it, even while admit
ting it told tremendously against her
brother, nothing could shake her faith
and confidence in its horrible reality
She insisted that it was true, though no
trace of the body could be found in any
of the numerous mountain caves after a
most rigid search, and the vision rested
only upon her individual statement.
But her faith gave it tenfold power;
her acts seemed to confirm her belief.
From that moment she was Il changed
woman. Slowly she pined away. The
color faded from her checks, giving
place to death-like pallor; her step,
once light and elastic, became slow and
languid: her eyes lost their tender
glance, and sparkled with an unearthly
luster; she uttered no complaint. Like
the gentle girl who loved the unfortu-
nate Irish patriot, Robert Emmett, she
passed to her early grave, forgiving all,
beloved. by every one, the victim of a
broken heart!
f John Mason broke jail and fed to
Texas, his brother David going into ex-
lie with him. This settled all questions
or doubts as to his guilt or innocence.
Flight was accepted by one and all as
confession of guilt. Liberal rewards
were offered for the capture of the broth
ers, David being considered an accesso-
ry to the crime, but neither were ever
apprehended. From the Lone Star State
they went to Louisiana and in New Or
leans fell victims to that dread scourge,
yellow fever. Letters now in the ia
theirs possession contain the most fervent
protestations of their innocence, and
subsequent events clearly exonerated
them from completely in the taking off
of young Charles Mckinley. For, years
later, when. the main actors in this
episode slept in their quiet
graves miles and miles apart; when in
terest in the scenes we have related had
almost died away, or was recalled with
awe at the hunters winter fireside, the
mystery surrounding the Disappearance
of the young man was brought to light!
A party of hunters, while chasing Il bear
in an adjacent county, found his remains
in a cave in which the animal they were
pursuing had established his lair. There
was only ghastly looking skeleton OF a
man, rusty rife and, rudely carved in
the yielding rock upon which it rested,
these words: &c Lost cant find my way
out Chas Mckinley That was all, but
it told its own story. 1t solved an enig
ma that darkened many lives. 1t cleared
from the foul stain of murder, though
too late, John Mason and his brother.
This was the lifc-history-a record
which, by the way, is authenticated and
can be verified by other living witnesses
the old man told us, one evening as
we sat beside the glowing fire in the big
fireplace of his lonely cabin. The night
wind swept down the deep mountain
gorges with the roar of an angry sea, the
stars twinkled dinfly overhead, the howl
of the wolf echoed dismally far out in
the shadows of the woods, while the
darkness of night filed all space.