Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-21
AFTER MANY YEARS.
A Romance of the West.

On the 29th Of September, 1865, six
teen years ago, James Baxter left Stone
county, Michigan, with his wife, intend
ing to emigrate to Louisiana. Some
place along the border he fell in with
| man who gave his name as Isaac Young,
and who obtained permission to join the
Bakers, as he claimed TO be travelling
In the same direction they were going.
Young was about thirty, very plausi-
BILE, and quickly ms ratiated himself in
the good graces of Baxter and his wife.
He conided to his companions every
thing regarding his financial resources
and future plans, and Baxter, in return,
made q similar revelation. Among
other things he informed the young man
that he had sold his farm for two thous-
and dollars, and chat he carried the
money, in twenty-dollar gold pieces, in
a belt strapped around his waist.
Some time after this the emigrants
camped one night at point between
Dykes Mill, La, and Magnolia, Ark.
The spot selected for camp was ct the
head OF a lonely glen, which was shaded
on either side by tall pines and thickly
carpeted with luxuriant grass. A spring
of clear, cold water gushed from ledge
of rocks halfway down the glen, and
number of fallen pine logs furnished
ample material for fuel.
When simple repast was prepared
and eaten, Baxter lit his pipe, and say
ing he would return soon, strolled down
the glen. Young and Mrs. Baxter re-
NAMED seated by the blazing fire, talk
ing about the incidents of the days
travel.
An hour passed. Baxter did not re-
turn. His wife grew uneasy, and Young,
toquiet her fears, as he expressed it, start
ed down the glen, saying he would bring
him back. The woman waited impatient
ly. One, two, three hours went by, yet
neither appeared. Mrs. Baxter was now
thoroughly frightened. She called
loudly for her husband, but received no
response. Only the echo of her own
voice came back to her, borne on the
night wind which swept down the val
ley and through the tops of the swaying
trees. She ventnred down the glen,
trembling, calling, listening; but she
neither heard nor saw anything. Both
her husband and his companion had dis
appeared as completely as if the earth
had suddenly opened and swallowed
them up.
Almost distracted, she returned to
the camp, where she paced to and fro
until morning cameS then, mounting
one of the horses, she fastened to the
nearest house, and soon had a body of
men securing the country in search of
the missing men. The search was con-
tinued nearly week without finding
trace of either Young or Baxter, when
it was abandoned. The men engaged
in it told Mrs. Baxter bluntly that the
affair was preconcerted between the
two men, and that her husband had
heartlessly deserted her. The wife, SO
strangely bereft, would not accept this
theory. She insisted that her husband
had been murdered by Isaac Young, and
that time would show that she was not
mistaken.
Acting on this supposition, she re-
turned to her former home, and gather
ing all her available means, instituted
thorough search. She advertised, en-
ployed detectives, scattered handbills
with accurate descriptions of her hus-
band and Young, but oil to no purpose.
Nothing came of it, and the affair seemed
mystery which no human skill could
unravel.
Years went by, and still she remained
in her mountain home, hoping and
praying for tidings of her missing hus-
band-or even clew that would point
to his fate. The suspense in all these
years had been trying. Since that mem
orable night she had become an old wo-
man. By the sale of nearly all the eff
fects which remained to her after her
husbands disappearance, she had been
enabled to buy little cabin and few
acres of ground, and have enough money
remaining to keep her, with close econ
omy, from actual want. And alone in
that little hut she waited for tidin9s CT