The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-08-07
SEARCH FOR T.P. CONANT,
FOR YEARS MANAGING EDITOR
OF "HARPER'S WEEKLY"
The Story His Son Tells of His Ex-
perienees In Looking for His
Missing Father.

my mind" said Thomas P. Conan
the son OF S. s. Conaut, the long mist
ing managing editor of Harper
Weekly, yesterday, 10 your reporter
while l was engaged in the constan
and active search for my father
shortly after bis disappearance, wa
the large number of per. ons engage,
in the same sad and sickening cccups
ton. Quite a number OF prominen
men bad disappeared st about In
same time, and frequently met thei
friends at hospitals aud morsues ali,
at places where the bodies OF drowned
men had been found. There alvey
sprang up sort Of sympathy between
us, and we would compare notes ant
discuss the best mode OF procedure
in prosecuting our search, ant
was also impressed will
ire seeming similarity Of thC
circumstances surrounding al
other cases with those of my own
Mr. Couaut IN young man Il educa
ton and talents, and stIor ely resem
bIes his father, though not 80 tall He
10 an e.ectriCi1n and is eng lged with
the Cumulative EleGuie Light Com.
dany, at No. A Broadway. Tbs story
of his seatch that has been made &
find his father was both inieie tirp
aud pathetic. 1--WE had made all ar.
Engagements to q 10 Albany the day
he d sap cared" faid young Mrs.
Conant, "and ! called al his flee at
Harper's the evening before, and he
gave me instructions regarding the
packing OF his saChel for tho trip. He
tod me when leIt 10 come home that
he ih-u.d he late and TO have the
family wait dinner for him until about
& o'clock. We did wait for him, and
have been waiting ever since. For
several days we tracked him from
place TO place, and several times heard
OF his whereabouts, but when we got
where he had been, be had Just gone.
He went TO the United States
Ho'el, in Fulton street, New
York, where he cot some
OF the hotel note paper, which he took
to a hotel in Hunters Point, and from
whence be wrote us letter biddip o
ue good bye and telling US we should
nev,r see him again. The letter was
a plain envelope and was mailed at
one Of the uptown stations in New
York; then he came back TO Brooklyn
ana stayed all night at the Futon
Feiry Hotel, and the mes. Singular
psrt Of that circumstance Yves that |
WINS in the hotel while he WAS upstairs
in bed. That was esry in the morn
ipg, and went there because he has
stopped there over night before, when
detained late by his business in New
York. He came in the night before,
when there was nobody about but the
hall boy, who did not know him.
asked for room and went TO bed
without registering his name. Then
he remained in his room until noon
the xt day, and when he came
down tNe clerk, who knew him,
was at his dinner. The hall bow
asked him to please register his
name, and he did so; and when
| called later in the day his name was
on the book, but he had gone. After
that he wandered about for a day and
a night on Qoney Island, where he
sold his watch for 81, giving a recent
Tor the money and taking another Tor
the watch. There is no mistake about
that Tor l eaw the receipt, which was
in his handwriting, and the watch.
which was one OF my own that had
leaned while he was having his own
repaired"
Are you sure he ever left Coney
Island?' Mr.. Conant asked.
GA, yes" was the emphatic reply,
" lound the conductor who Drought
bin To the Brighton Beach depot at
Bergen street, and slso the driver of |
Tue Bergen street horse cars who took
him to Hamilton Ferry. The driver |
knew him well ysight snd described |
him accurately"
Did you trace him beyond Hamil.
lon FeriyP"
1--WE did not; all trace OF him was
COST at that point, and we
have never heard any thing that was
reliable from him since That he Ia f.
Ooney .land | think absolutely Ger.
air, and have no eason 10 think no
ever went back there again, A body
was found in CJney lslsnd creek in
ne spring that was at iret positively
Identified as his, bu. when | saw il
became convinced, ana 80 did my
nc ther, that it vas not The resent
1lante from ex'ernl appearances, ap.
larel, etc, was sta'tlir e. and after tx.
ming 1t | was puzzled. 1t was hor-
loly decompoEed and mulilated be-
'ond recognition. After looking at IL
went away undecided. Finally re-.
rendered that my fathers INNER
ront tee h were false end set In A
''ate. ] went back and examined the
eeth in the drowned man and Il uud
hat they were his natural teeth. set
gid in the gums. That settled II, and
We cane away convinced. The
ody was alttrward identified as
hat of a missing williamsburg
ian and claimed by his irieods.
hen there was a, other body found In
le X II Won Kull that was also pcsi.
vely identified as that Of my father
man who knew him, and recoR.
IL d the shoes he wore. They had I.
'et IN shoe store snd bought a nalr
shoes exactly alike, aud the body
'und had a pair Of those same shoes.
went down there and saw the body,
at tie man looked no more like INV
ther than you do.
Il have had some very strange ex.
'Iiencss in following up clews, con.
nutd the young man. "Sbortlv
ter my ihther disappG AIRED friend of
10 lamuy overheard two sailors con.
srslng on a d)ck in New York. One !!
them said to the other, i know
here that missing Conant went He
in Aus ralia.' My friend questioned
m, ald he reiterated the statement 4
wing the name Of the ship he sailed /
!, the date she slied and the mort
hither she WAS bound The friend q
Id me ABOUT it, and | inyt stipated /
q ma tar am found out that such n !
ssel Id sailed on the date ard /
the poit given by the sailor 7
Tro,e there and tent tbs letter Inv
'anei which arrived ahead of the
ss-l. When the vessel arrived she
" bonded by newspaper men and
tettives snt thoroughly searched. 7
y no such man was on board, nor y
ID there btea at sny time during her q
yage. Tben man turned 10 in {
usville, Ky, de bad visited a ne wa. I
per ciiice lite way from Louis y