Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-10-07
THE HAIR MERCHANTS STORY
What Resulted From an Advertisement for
Switch for a Countess-A Romance in
Real Life.

| II
| What Resulted From an Advertisements fol-
Switch for a Countess-A Romance il
Real Life.
[From the Philadelphia Times.l
81 had a strange experience once II
human hair" said member of the
firm of John E. LAHORE & Co., human
hair importers. GA French lady O.
noble blood, who has been my FRIEND
for years, wrote me Jew months ago
lnclosing a lock of hair, which was a
peculiar shade of drab and of silky fine
ness. She wanted me to match it. and
| set about doing SO.
Il inserted an advertisement in the
principal Philadelphia, New York and
Boston papers, offering a liberal re-
ward for asWitch Of the desired quality
and color. One day a woman of about
20 years, shabbily dressed, but with a
form and face that Venus might have
envied, entered my office.
"'I came in answer to your adver-
tlsement,' she said, and, remoY
ing her hat, unbound a luxuriant coil
OF hair that called from me an invol-
untary cry of admiration. will this
do 2 she asked.
II examined her hair and compared
it with the sample sent me by the
countess. The two were 80 similar
that when | mixed them together l
could not distinguish one from the
other.
"'This hair is exactly what want,
[ said, 'and l will give you 5000 an
ounce for it,
"'Take it off, she said, with a ner-
vous trembling of her voice that at
once attracted my attention. L am
starving, l and my baby, and what
you are willing to pay is q fortune to
u.s.
81 became interested and questioned
her. After little hesitation she told
me her story. Her husband had been
a sea captain and shortly after they
were married had sailed for the west
coast of Africa, His vessel was never
heard of after leaving port, and it was
presumed that she had foundered at
sea and all hands had been lost The
presumed widow had struggled to
maintain herself and infant child, but
with Indifferent success. Finally,
when suffering from the pangs of hun
ger, she had read my advertisement
and FASTENED to my place of business,
praying inwardly that her hair, which
had been her husbands pride, might
be of the required shade.
"Well, [ bought her hair, which
weighed four ounces, and paid her
$500 for it. / sent the switch to my
customer, the countess, and wrote her
the history of the hair. She is a
unIooJ, ne l4h
Of heart. Thereturn mail brought me
letter authorizing me to pay to the
poor little sailors widow $1,000 ex-
ira. | wrote an account of the affair
which was published. Oneday, about
three weeks after the publication of
the story, a man, who was bronzed
and bearded, came into my Office very
much excited. He held in his hand a
copy Of a New York paper and unfold
ing it pointed to my story.
"'Can you give me the address of
this woman?' he asked eagerly. 'She
is my wife. I thought her dead
"While | wrote down the address he
told me his story. His vessel had
been shipwrecked on the African coast,
and he and two others of the crew
dIOIS u1duCSSu W ISoCI1 UllO SAOIO. IL
was several months before they man
aged to reach a civilized port. He i'm
mediately sent word of the disaster to
the owners of the foundered vessel and
wrote to his young wife. From the
former he received a reply, but he
heard no word from his wife, and when
hr reached Philadelphia he discovered
that she had mysteriously disap-
peared. One day in looking over a pa
per he came across my story and had
hurried to my Office to learn fuller
particulars. l sent him to his wife in
my carriage, and you can imagine
what occurred at the meeting, for each
believed the other dead. [ wrote to
the countess, giving the sequel to the
story, and the result was that the
shipwrecked captain now commands
her yacht, and the wife who sacrificed
her hair to buy bread sails with him
on every VOYAGE