St. Landry democrat., 1885-07-04
OPELOUSAS, LA. SATURDAY, JULY A. 1885.

Not the slightest intimation of his fate
has ever been received. He, too, was
lawyer, man of contented DISPOSE
ton, the soundest sense, vigorous
health and perfect balance. He was
| devoted to his wife and had every Yea-
son to enjoy and preserve his life. It
that will explain this case, which is one
| OF the strangest on record. To disap-
pear eternally and untraceably from
doorsteps in crowded street early in
the evening, within the shadow of ones
own home, and in such garb as any,
body must notice, defies all probability.
Such an incident put into work of tic-
ton would be pronounced absurd.
O'Neill, very well-knoWn boot and
shoe dealer on Sixth avenue, middle
aged. man of family, sober, intellis
gent habits, prosperous, disappeared
twelve or fourteen years ago, and left
no more vestige than if he had leaped
into g blazing lme-kiln. He jumped
on passing horse-csr to go down
town on business and that was the last
seen of him by his friends. Liberal re-
wards were offered for any intelligence
of him, but none was obtained. He
was engulfed in impenetrable mystery.
Seven or eight years ago a ,well-to-do
grocer in Third avenue named Digman,
| if we remember, started in the evening
to visit the house of a friend, a few
blocks away, intending to be absent
but half an hour He had an
appointment with another friend at his
own home the same evening and he
was one of the most punctual 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, to
mortal eyes. He was man of high
animal spirits, regular habits, warm
affections and of a thoroughly practical
turn. No clue was got to his disappear
ance, and its obscurity has deepened
with the passage of time.
Ralph Keeler, Young man who had
lived in California and had come East
to earn his bread by his pen, after
many adventures and varied expe-
riences in different parts of the country,
disappeared some twelve years ago in
the most enigmatic manner. He was
I at one time an assistant of William u.
| HoWells on the atlantic. and had de-
/ cided talent for description. But he
was so much of rover that he could
not be content to stay in one place.
| He contributed to the newspapers here
and published various articles in the
magazines. He finally decided to make
a trip to Cuba, and he was traced, il
| was thought, to the Havana steamer,
but after that he could be traced no
further, even inferentially. Many per-
sons doubted that he ever went aboard
the vessel or quilted New York. Div.
ers opinions were formed about bis
disapp pp4arance-s asserted that he
| had destroyed himself; others that he
/ had been murdered-but not one oi
them rested on reasonable basis. He
was very amiable and agreeable, bub
bling over with sangtlineness, and had
like most of his tribe, too little money
to excite the cupidity of rascals
There has never been any solution tc
the mystery
George A. Laxev's disappearance il
too recent to require particularization
Nothing could be more mysterious cl
impenetrable. A girl named Lins
Grietman, daughter of a German cigar
maker, disappeared from Avenue. {
some years ago and was never after
wards heard of or from. She wa!
nearly thirty, quite plain, and not very
intelligent. Nothing about her made
it probable that she could have beer
abducted. She was employed in {
shop in Eighth avenue. and set out t.
go there in the morning. She neTe
reached there, and was not seen b!
any one acquainted with her after leav
ing her fathers house. We Nigh
name any number of cases if we hat
space.
Young women frequently disappea
here, and if they belong to the Poore
classes not much effort is made, from
lack of means, to discover their fate.
N. 7. World.
tn r. G1HE