, 1885-03-26
A
some STRANGE CASES WHICH HAVE
eAFFLED THE DETECTIVES.
A Mysterious Occurrence of twenty-five
Years Ago Margaret f. sangster's
Husband Ralph KeeIer's d
depart urs-fyoung Women.


New York world.l
The mysterious disappearance Of Stillman
S, Conant has naturally drawn attention to
disappeariness or that kind in this commnn-
ity. 1Iiy htvs been so startlingly frequent
hereof late that numberless wivos are nery-
Jus ON the s~upject, fearing every morning
when their husbands go away that they may
not return. This refers, Of course. TO such
women as are harmoniously married. One
instance. Il prominent and published, up
pear TO produce Others, and such an effect
Is explicabie by cerebral laws Mysterious
disnr IsnTsulros have Leen a feature Of the
winter. Il i extraordinary how many PR
sons OF position, character and influence dis
appear. Their disappearance creates a com
motion at hrst; the newspapers are full of It
for q day Or two. Then some other, porhap,
a greater sensation, arises and the disappear
ance slips out OF the public mind.
Twenty-Five years ago the husband of a
lady, now Wiley known as al author and
editor, went out TO luncheon from his law
office in lower Broadway, expecting to re-
turn in Lslf an hour, and was never seen
again alive. Not tho least trace OF him
could be found, although the police and de-
t~sctivos labored for months on the case.
The moment be reached the street he seemed
to be swallowed up, as IL the earth had
opened and gulped him down. A good while
after. his body was discovered in the bay;
1t would not have been recognized but for
certain papers on his person. Whether he
had committed suicide or fallen into the
water and been drowned, or robbed and
thrown into the river, nobody could tell
There were various theories on the sub
ject, though none OF them was sat
isfacrory. We refrain from mention
ing names. The bereaved lady is still a
widow and still laments her loss.
The husba nd of another literary woman,
Mrs Margaret E. Sangster, disappeared
from Brooklyn fifteen years ago, and the
mystery has never been dispelled. He hal
been suffering from a headache-it was the
evening OF July 4-and the noise OF fire.
crackers, pistols, and small arms disturbel
him sorely. He said, the weather being hot,
that he would 90 out on the stoop for a
breath Of fresh air. The hour was 9, and he
had on a dressing-gown, which was enough,
one might think, to distinguish him any
who're. He did not expect to cave the stoop.
But where he went or what became OF him,
continue. to be u dead secret Inquiry,
searca, rigorous investigation were fruit
les. Not the slightest intimation OF his
fate has ever been received. He, too, was a
lawyer, 4 man OF contented disposition,
the soundest sense, vigorous health and
perfect balance. He was devoted to his
wife and bad every reason to enjoy AMI
preserve his life. IL is hardly possible to con-
struct n the jry that will explain this case,
which is one OF tho sirangest on record To
disappear eternhlly aud untrnceably from
door-sters in n crowded street early in the
evening, within the shadow OF ones own
home. AMI in such garb as anybody must
notice. deties all probability. Such an Incl
dent put into a work OF fiction would be pro-
nouncei absurd. 1
nfA.uf q. .--.~ ...n t. H.
dealer IN Sixth avenue, middle-agei, a man
OF family, sober, Intelligent, Industrious, OF
excellent habits. prosperous. Disappeared
twelve or fourteen years ago and left no
more vestige than IL ho mad leaped into a
blazing lime-kiln. He jumped on a passing
horse-car te go downtown on business, and
that was the last seen OF him by his friends
Liberal rewards were Offered for any intelli-
gence Of him. but mons was obtained. He
was engulfed in ~impenetrable mystery.
Seven or eight years ngo a well-to-do
grocer In Third avenue named Digman, II
we remember, started in the evening to
visit the hou.e OF a friend a few blocks
away, inteniing u be absent but half an
hour. He / ad an appointment with another
friend at his own home the same evening,
and no was one Of the most puncrual OF men.
Neither friend ever saw him. After parting
with his wife, TO whom he had been married
less than six months, he became invisible, So
far as known, 10 mortal eyes. He was a
man OF high animal spirits, regular habits,
warm affections and OF a thoroughly prncti-
cal turn No clue was got to his disappear
ance, and its obscurity has deepened with
the passage of time.
Ralph Keller, a young man who had lived
in California and had come east TO earn his
bread by his pen, after many adventures
and varied experiences in different parts OF
the country, disappeared some twelve years
3 in the most enigmatic manner.
He was at one time an assistant
OF William ID. howells on The Atlantic and
had decided talent for description. But he
was so much of a rover that he could not be
content to stay in any one place. He con-
tributed to the ne wspapers here and pub
lished various articles in the magazines. He
finally decided to make a trip to Cuba, and
he was traced. it was thought to the Havana
steamer, but after that he could be traced
no further, even theoretically. Many pcr-
sons doubted that he ever vent aboard the
vessel or quilted New York. Dryers ~opin-
ions were formed about his disappearance>
some asserted that he had DESTROYED
himself; others that he had been
murdered-but not one Of them rested
on a reasonable basis. He was very
amiable and agreeable, bubbling over
with -sanguineness, and had, like most Of his
tribe, too little money to excite the cupidity
Of rascals. There has never been any solu-
ton to his mystery.
George A. Laxer's disappearanee Is too
recent to require particulariza ton. Nothing
could be mora mysterious or impenetrable.
A girl named Lima Grietman, daughter OF a
German cigar-maker, disappeared from
Avenue c some years ago and was never
afterwards heard OF or from. She was
nearly 20, quite plain and not very intelli
gent. Nothing about her made 1t probable
that she could ave been abducted. She
was employed in q shop in Eighth avenue.
and set out 10 go there in the morning. She
never reached there, and was not seen by
any one acquainted with her after leaving
her fathers house. We might name any
number of cases IL we had space.
Young women frequently disappear here,
and IL they belong to the poorer classes not
much effort is made, from lack OF means, to
discover their fate. When young women
occupy any social rank their disappearance
Is kert as secret as possible for reasons need
less to name. The fear is that they are not
dead; many parents would be comforted by
such assurance. This shows tho peculiar
tho wrotched, relation of the other sex TO
conventional society. When they are missed
their parents and their dearest friends are
afraid to breathe the fact, which is denied to
the last moment, even after denial has be-
come useless m
A sponge measuring eight feet in circum-
ference has been taken of Key West. and II
Is said to be the largest in the world.