Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-11-12
THE MURDER OF MARY ROGERS
A Mystery That Never Was Solved
How Poe Preserved 1t In a story.
New York Times.

for his story of The Mystery of Marie
Roper.n The unfortunate girl was
employed by John Anderson in the
little tobacco shop on Broadway, and
as was revealed by the testimony of
ex>State Senator Msttoon, IN the trial
Of the will case, the millionaire was,
during his latter days, possessed o.
The delusion that he held almost con
slant communication with the spirit
of the murdered girl At the time of
Mary Rogers mysterious death, sus-
picion attached to many people of be-
ing her murderer. Amoag those sus~
sected vas John Anderson, though
there was never a scintilla of evidence
that he vas the guilty person.
In the days when Poe was young
man in New York the mother of Mary
Rogers kept boarding house on
Nassau street Mary's father had long
been dead, and Mrs. Rogers only
fortune was her fact and ability to
make both ends meet. Mary was
possessed Of a beauty Of form and
feature that made her well known in
the city, and when John Anderson
engaged her services as saleswoman in
his tobacco store ms trade was mas
terialiy increased. l. was considered
the proper thing for all young men OF
fashion to buy their cigars and tobacco
at Anderson'5 and to be on familiar
terms with Mary r gers. Bot there
was not q breath of suspicion against
the good character OF Mary, and ell
the town was wild with sur
prise when she suddenly disappeared
from bshind John Andersou's counter
and NO one knew what had become Of
her Conjecture had almost ded out
when one day the pretty cigarseller
appeared al her old place behind the
counter, aAd TO oil lnquj les answered
thai she had been on visit to an aunt
in the country. Things went along
in their old way for a while. The
young 6looos with ruff d shirt>frOnts
ana nigh coat collars bought their
cigars az Anderson's and laughed and
talked with Mary But the maiden
glee and sporin Of the beautiful girl
seemed a. to have left her since her
visit TO her aunt In the country, and
she had q strange rreoccupIed air OF
sadness
One Sunday she left ner mothers
house, saying She was gong to Gallon
q relative who lived IN another part
of the city. pacre was 81 young man
boarding. with her mother at The time,
named Payne. He was the accepted
sutton OF Mary, and when she went
out that Sunday she told him to call
for her al the house of her relative is
the evening. 1t raihed that night aaG
ne did not 60, surprising that Mary
would remain st her relatives house
over night, as she had often done be-
fore.
The aged Mrs Rogers seemed to
have a presentiment of what was about
to happen, and said soon after her
daughter left the house: 81 fear |
shall never see May again. The
next day Mary did moi return, and on
inquiry at her relatives house it was
found that she had not been there. All
trace o. her was lost until four days
after, when her body was found hoat~
ing in the Hudson river, near We
hawken. The marks on her body left
no doubt but that she had been muir,
dered A great sensation was caused
and the detectives followed up every
possible clew. In a thicket on the
Jersey shore near where the body was
! found, were discovered the parasol,
gloves, and part Of the clothing Of the
murdered girl, Ii appeared ct first as
if the thick-t had been the scene of a
struggle, but on close inspection it
was decided that the place had beea
arranged carefully to give 1t that ap
pearaGce.
Just before this time mysterious
boats had been seen on the Hudson
One of them was manned by a gang
of rougAs who committed all sorts OF
outrages Anonymous letters were
sent to one Of the daily papers point
ing to this boats crew as the murder
ers of Mary Rogers. 1t was also dis
covered that Mary had been in the
habit of meeting secretly a man with
dark beard, and that she was in
company with this officer when she
first disappeared from Anderson's to.
bacco shop on what she subsequently,
said was a visit to her aunt. After the
murder a rudderless boat was picked
up on the Hudson near where the
murder was supposed to have taken
plscs and taken to the barge effice.
From there it my ste;iously disappear
ed. Mary Rogers was last seen alive
on Sunday. On Monday an empty
boat, with the sail and oars lying in
its bottom was seen floating down the
river below Wehawken. The young
naval officer accounted for his where
abouts from the time Mary left her
home until her body was found, and
the mystery of her death became
deeper than ever. For a long time
the detectives worked on the case and
the people talked about it, but a;
time wore away with no clearing OF
the mystery, it was gradually forgot
ten and would have shared the fate oil
other mysteries of a great city had
not Poe written his story OF marie
Roge. r" Finally it transpires thai
the unquiet spirit of Mary Rogers was
in the habit of haunting her old EN-
ployer in his declining years. The
mystery of her death was never solved