The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1884-10-18
OUR LETTER FRoM BRoADBRlM


And the grass Ger his grave is green.
!. :
OUR LETTER FROM BROADBRiM.
Mysterious Disappearance of Women
Sad Fate ofKleina Lena's Mother-John
McCnllough's Malady-NIr. Beecher's Err
=, ratio Political Course--Fan Fashions,
etc.
New YORK, Oct. 4, 1884.
EDITOR CHIEP:
"What's got into the women ?" said a
friend to me the other day as I stood
gazing at that marvellous steeple on top of
the Tribune Office where sits the youthful
successor of Horace Greely, looking down
upon a naughty world. "What do you
mean2" Isaid. Why, haven't you OBJ
served" he said, that number of women
have suddenly disappeared of late and
of whom no clue has been discovered" )"
and it suddenly occurred to me that had.
It is some years since had occasion to re-
fer to this very subject, but at that time it
was the disappearance of men, and it is
not until you 60 to the police. headquarters
that yon: find out how frequent the disap-
pearanoes are.
1t seems to be very terrible thing to
have a. man or woman suddenly blotted
outof existence, yet a number of such cases
have taken place within the past few weeks.
To refer to the past: A gentleman we'll
known on the Stock Exchange started for
home one day just after the adjournment
of the Stock Beard. He walked up Broad
way with friend as far as St. Paul's
church; there he stopped and conversed
few moments, then crossed Broadway to
go down Fulton street on his way to his
home in Brooklyn, and that was the last
that was ever seen or known of him as far
as this earth was concerned. He was
man past middle age, of strictly temperate
habits, of ample fortune, with a happy
homo, a loving wife and affectionate child
ren: his business relations were of the best,
all his accounts were square, his health was
good, no signs of insanity were ever seen
in any of his family, and yet the man was
utterly blotted out from the face of the
earth and has never been heard of from
that day to this. A still more remarkable
case occurred in Brooklyn in the case of
well known artist. He was sitting down in
his studio just at evening, awaiting his
supper. He sat there in his smoking cap,
dressing gown and slippers. A ring came
at the door bell; it was the news carrier
with the Brooklyn Eagle. His wife asked
him to go down to the door for the paper;
he went, and no mortal eyes, as far as we
know, have ever seen him from that hour
to the present. The list is a long one, and
as long as it was confined exclusively to
men it was bad enough but now the case
is altered. We have not lost man in a
month that we could not reasonably ac-
count for. There was either woman miss
ing about the same time, or he had been
speculating in Wall street with somebody
else's money, or he was short of his en-
ployer's funds. But there is not one of
the ladies who has disappeared for the
past few weeks who was not of the highest
respectability, and like Casar's wife, above
suspicion. One of them. an unmarried
woman of thirty, an only daughter and
one of the most estimable ladies' in Brook
lyn-honored, respected and worthy of it
who had everything in this world to
make her happy, and she went out of her
home early the other morning and has
never been seen since. Her parents have
been almost distracted for weeks past; they
have the sincerest sympathy of the entire
community; they feel that it would be re-
lief if they even knew that she was dead.
Last week lady by the name of Hart
disappeared and she has not been heard
from.
One of the saddest cases was the mother
of Little Kleina Lena that used to play
with Joe Emmett in Fritz in Ireland
She was sweet, cunning little creature
and she died during the performance of
the piece. The child was the idol of her
mother and her death so preyed upon her
mind that her reason fed and last week
she wandered away from her home, but
was fortunately discovered by friends after
an absence of several days. Whenever she
was left alone she would get out little
Kieina Lena's little dresses and shoes and
weep over them by the hour, begging her
little lost one by endearing names to come
back to her. At last her reason failed and