Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1881-01-22
THE MISSING MAN.
y STORY OF a FACT.

She was a curious sort of woman. I
could never quite make her out Ev-
Identity she had "a past, but she would
| not tell me much about it, until a mere
accident opened II all up. L viii not stop
to relate how knew her. but come To-
| the point at once.
L was dawdiiag one morning over the
Tunes, when my eye fell upon an ad-
vertSment about missing man: forgot
how 1t ran, but he had disappeared in
some mysterious way, had never been
heard of, and that sort of thing: was
supposed to have hid a large sum OF
money about hlm. and a reward was
offered for such information as might
lead to his discovery, etc.-you know.
the usual business.
Wen, can not say why, but 1 hap
pened to read this advertisement out 10
my llend. and as L Went Oh, glancing
down the paper. | said:
AN poor fellow, he will never be
heard OF again; robbed and murdered,
no doubt; these disappearances are all
undiscovered murders, suppose"
heard her move uneasilv and SIGH.
and, as l continued reading to myself,
there followed sob and moan. Look
ing up, saw TO my surprise, that she
had buried her face in her hands, and
was crying bitterly.
Kissing and crossing the room, l asked
what WIS the matter.
1t WAS long time before she could
speak; at last she said, through her sobs,
Ill kind Of absent way:
Ill
not all"
"Why, what in the name of mischief
do you know about such things % | i'll
quired. ''What has come to you, poor
child? Calm yourself. How should YOU
know whether they are all murdered or
not 2"
because, she went on presently, and
looking at me IN strange, sad manner,
her pretty brown eyes filled with tears.
"because L have too much reason. But
there, it's very foolish of me; have no
right to bore you in this way-forgive
me-; and she rose To leave the room.
l stopped her; L saw | was on the
brink Of revelation; did not intend to
miss 1t, for l was fond of her and conse-
quently Interested. So pressed nv adj
vantage, the end being that 1 elected
very strange story; true, / have not the
least doubt. Briefly this Is it. though I
shall only give it in her words when it
serves me best TO do So In its narration
she once or twice grew SO dramatic that
l will try to remember exactly what she
said.
Her husband must have been a man of
good family, but an utter scamp, gam
bier, spendthrift, and drunkard; all his
own people turned their backs on him.
Dropping lower and lower, he reached a
very low ebb, indeed, at last, and she
had bad life of it with him They had
been living somewhere In Yorkshire, he
racing. betting-heaven knows what.
The Doncaster meeting was coming
round, and he found the region getting
too hot for him, so he made bolt Of it,
and came TO London, bringing her with
him (they had no children); came. as
understood, with a couple of portman-
teaus, and under an assumed name-of
course. she never told me his real one.
He took a small, old-fashioned. furnished
cottage for three months; a dilapidated |
place somewhere near Klburn, quite on |
the outskirts. and where the new neigh |
which has now sprung up, was
only then first beginning to be thought |
Of. There were a few new roads led out.
and here and there an odd house or two |
erected. with the shells Of others incoui-
know the sort Of place. all |
scaffold poles, cabbage gardens, dead
cats. battered tin kettles, and stagnant
pools.
They had been in this precious abode