River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-12-30
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEAR
ANCES.

asked by a Mail and Express reporter
yesterday at police headquarters.
.'Well, that is hard question to
answer. Some leave the country to
escape their families and others are
killed in dives about the city"
''Oo many return after several
years?'
Yes, have known many eases
where people have been missing for
twenty years. where their wives have
married again, and they have returned
to surprise much more than delight
those who at first mourned their loss.
How some people disappear was eX-
planned to me several wears ago in
case which never became public. A
young man, who was studying for the
clergy, was standing one night in front
of Wallack' ; Theatre, waiting for the
time when the performance should be-
gin, when a young girl, shiyering IN
thin dress and a shawl, which scarcely
covered her shoulders, touched him on
the arm and begged him for Gods
sake to give her some money, as her
mother was starving, and she had no
means by which to obtain food for her.
The gentleman told the girl that it was
against a rule he had made ever to
give money to peopleon the street.
The girl looked at him with pitiful
expression and begged him, if he did
not believe her story. to come to the
house where she lived, which was not
far away, and see for himself if the
story she had :old him of the starvation
and want of her family was not true.
Touched by the girls pathetic look,
the young man decided to follow her.
She took him around the corner of
Thirteenth street, nearly to Avenue A.
To house with no blinds i'm the win
dows. with shutters tlmblingfrom their
fastenings. and with battered front
door She took him up one fight of
stairs To a room which was utterly bare
of furniture except one broken down
bed, which stood in corner. On Il
maEtel-piece sputtered tallow candle,
which only gave light enough to show
the deep darkness OF the corners.
she told him she would 90 into the
next room and tell her mother that
kind stranger had come to see her.
While she was going she asked him TO
sit on the bed. which was the only seat
She had to offer. The young man, hor-
rife at such poverty, and never think
ING ufanv evil results TO himself seated
himself on the edge ofthe bed. Scarce
" had he done 50 when two arms
reached out from under it and seizeu
him by the legs.
With All his force he could not keep
himself from being dragged under He
threw himself back and attempted to
grasp the edge of the bed, but in the
position in which he was he could do
nothing. Slowly but surely he felt nim-
self dragged downwards by the power
fill arms As his hand slipped from
one hold in the bed to the other they
happened to touch the heavy walking
stick which he carried. As a last resort
he seized the cane and with all his
strength thrust it under the bed. The
heavy iron ferule with which the end of
the cane was loaded came in contact
with something soft. 4 horrible curse
filled the room. With desperate energy
the young man again and again thrust
the cane into the darkness under the
bed Slowly the vise-like grip of the
hands which held his legs relaxed. He
made one final and desperate effort and
found himself free He rushed down
stairs and from the house
When he reached the corner he
thought that. dsheveled and hatlcss
as he was. il was impossible for
him to 90 home. Seeing a policeman
on the next block he went to him and
told him of the experience he had had.
The officer laughed at him and insinu-
ated that he had better 90 home and
take nothing more to drink. But when
he found the Young man was really in
earnest he called for help and at once
returned To the house which the young
man pointed out a. the one in
which he had been assaulted. When
they knocked at the door it was opened
by "A man who had every appearance of
just having been awakened from
sound sleep. The young man insist
ed on going upstairs. and followed by
the police. he rushed up and into the
room which he had lately left. In It
there was nothing that he could recog-
nize or indemnity A carpet covered
the floor. pictures were hanging on the
walls. n piano stood in one corner, and
everything looked as if it had re-
Gently been occupied by women of
refined tastes. The young man was as
founded by the change and tried to ex-
plain that he must have got into the
wrong house. The police returned to
their original theory that the young
man had been drinking and again adj
vised him to 90 home.
There is no question in my mind
that if the young man had not been sue
cessful in breaking away from the grip
of the man who held him from under
the bed another unknown body with
nothing to identify it would have been
found floating in the river and would
have been buried in potter's field, un-
known and uncared for while another
one of the mysterious disappearance
which So often thrill the New 1ork pub
lie would have had its nine days run OF
wonder and then have been forgotten
did YOU ever hear anything more Of
this case2"
Yes. Only few days ago the same
Young man who had told me Of his ex-
pcrience of four wears ago met me. and
| asked him if he had ever, while wan
dering through the streets Of New
York. seen anybody whom he could
recognize a the poorly clad girl who
had let him into the house. Once. he
said. only a few weeks ago. while walk
ing up Broadway, he had seen girl
beautifully dressed. and with every APP
pearance Of wealth about her. but with
the same unmistakable pathetic look in
her ewes He started when he saw her,
and he thought that an imperceptible
change came over her face.
With her was man, handsome, well
dressed but with horrible SCARED
forehead. Deep grooves ran from the
edge Of his hat down into one csc,
which was evidently glass one. The
couple passed him. and with them
passed the last yestige of an incident
which nearly cost the young man his
lite and the city one Of its ablest clergy
men. / could recall dozen other in
staAces.' said the old detective. "of
men who have not been 80 lucky in es-
capitg the traps that were laid TOR
them. / have no doubt that the young
Yale divinity student whose body was