Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-23
CASE OF MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEAR.
ANCE.

VI ZIG DusA4cso hCiCs oAAA ~
his management. He was quiet and rather
a reserved man, but one of warm social quail
ties, and drew to him many friends. He
built fine residence and took promi-
nent position among business men. He
was some two years ago, by earnest solicita-
ton. induced TO accept a position as mem
Der of the City Board of Education. but after
a few weeks Of the annoyance and worry 10
cident to the position, resigned. In August
Of last year Mr.. Knights suddenly and unac.
countably disappeared. 1t was stated that
he had gone on trip to Elko and other
places in the State of Nevada on business for
the frrn. II was expected that he Wou!d re-
turn in about two weeks. at the end OF that
period, however, he did not appear. and no
communications were IN the meantime re-
ceived from him by either the business house or
his family. It was then that there appeared to
be any mystery connected with his absence.
Anxiety gave place to alarm as the weeks
went hy, and still no word was received from
the missing merchant. Even before the lapse
of the two weeks he was expected to be away
| from home, his friends began TO feel uneasy
because of the non-receipt of Letters from him
by his family, which was much distressed
when it became known that he had been
heard of by one. They were, however,
| QOl6sGu Dy The uOpS llO hoo pSSh SnASN
| to some point where the mail facilities were
such that no speedy communication could be
| had.
| At the expiration of the two weeks
Sloss & Co. telegraphed and wrote to
various points where he was supposed
to have gone on the business of the
house, but no responses were received &C.
counting for him. The firm then dispatched
one of the attaches of the house TO go over
the route Mr.. Knights was supposed to have
taken, and trace him up. At Elko the agent
| learned that Mr.. Knights arrived in due time,
and had gone to the hotel, but Immediately
| left and boarded the same east-bound over
| land train that had brought him to town.
All further inquiry and search as to his
whereabouts for long time proved futile.
| Nothing could be heard of him, and the suffer.
! ings of his family and friends became more
acute Shortly after the return OF the agent
| from Elko, ?. l.. Hickman, of this city, who
had been East on visit to his old home in
! Pennsylvania, returned to Sacramento and
reported that he had met Mr.. knights in the
depot at Omaha, had had brief CONVERSE
ton with him there, and learned from him
! that he contemplated going on to Chicago on
| business. Inquiry of Sloss & Co. failed to
reveal any reason for his going so far east,
and it was ascertained that the house could
| give no clue whatever to his disappearance
/ There was no irregularity or complication in
business sufficient to account for his depart
ure from Elko. or for his remaining away
from this city. Inquiry of his fam
! strange ac5 resulted equally as uusatisfacto.
rily. His family were as much in the dark
as any one else. Some of his most intimate
| friends, however, on being closely pressed,
gravely shook their heads, and intimated the
possibility Of mental arrangement, or depres-
| sion and Encouragement, growing out of the
failure OF certain private business enterprises
to meet his full expectations, and that this
depression might be aggravated by the fact
that Mr.. Knights was sufferer from neural
gia, and also from nasal polypus, with which
he had been sorely afflicted for several years.
It now turns out that these copjectures
were correct. His friends then made
renewed exertiOns to ascertain his where
abouts. They wrote to every imSgin-
able place where they thought he might go,
aud took all steps they could devise to trace
his course. This was all the more difficult
to do. because of the retiring habits of Mr..
Knights, and his rather unc0mmunicative
spirit when among strangers. He was one of
the kind of men who would be quiet and un-
obtrusive travellers. Many of the letters they
sent were returned to many they received
replies, but no one could give any satisfactory
clue to the whereabouts of the missing man,
until about the middle of January of this
year, when the diligent search prose-
| cuted resulted in the obtaining Of
a clue, giving foundation for the reason
able belief that he had gone to Australia.
Yesterday this theory was proven to be the
true one, by the receipt of letter from him
written at Melbourne, Australia, under date
Of February 10. 1882. In this letter Mr..
| Knights explains the whole mystery. He re-
! hat ta bod NO iptention ID hon he left
| Sacramento for Eiko, of going anywhere else
| than where the business of the house demand
ed but he remembers that he entertained an
! indefinite motion" that he ought to take
| with him more money than he had originally
provided for his business journey, as, per
haps, he might go further than at first con-
templated. He bought bis ticket for ElEco,
and left the train there with the full intention
of remaining there. according to the original
plan, until the business he went upon
was concluded. But when he saw
other passengers returning from the hotel to
the train, he could not resist the impulse to
return with them, and he went back with the
others, bought ticket for New York city
and went on. He says he YVES then in such
a depressed frame Of mind that he had no
definite intention of going anywhere in par
ticular. He was suffering severely, felt i'm
PEELED to go on, and went. He says that
| alteE lie Hdu Decu BDue run paCEAlueEkO
about one month, for the first time he real
lied what he had done, how strangely he had
acted and what pain he must have caused to
his friends. He felt chsgrined beyond meas
ure, and was sorely distressed by his condHct.
He would have turned about at that moment
and have returned home, but it was out OF
his power to do so-he was OH board e
ship in mid-ocean, bound for Australia. On
arriving in Melbourne he placed himself IN
der medical care and treatment for his dis
ease, but his physicians advised him to go to
England and submit to an operation for the
removal of the polypus. This, under advice,
he determined to do He thought he would
probably be in England within the next
fortnight after that date, and as soon as the
surgical operation could be safely performed,
and he is permitted by his physicians to
travel, he would return to his home. He
thinks that in all probability he will arrive
here by the lat Of July, and possibly before
that date. The many friends of the so-long.
missing man will be rejoiced to hear that be
is alive, ard expects to return, and will gladly
welcome him home again.
AUCTION SALE.-D. J. Simmons L Co.,