St. Paul daily globe., 1888-11-28
He LOVED NOT WISELY
Mysterious Disappearance Of
Brainepd's Eccentric Mar
ket Gardener.
Two Women, Each Claiming
to Be His Wife, Bob Up
Serenely.
They Want Either the Man
Himself or Some Of His
Money.
Dakota Sends Greeting to
Blizzapd-Stricken Vermont
and Tenders Aid.
Special to the Globe.

Speclal TO the GLOBE
BRAINERD, Nov. 27.-William Will
Jams, the market gardener, who was re-
Gently reported to have come into a
large property in Virginia, has mystic
rously disappeared under circum-
stances pointing strongly to murder or
suicide. The latter theory is inclined
to on account of somewhat startling de-
velopments which connected two women
with Williams affairs. claiming to be
his wives. The whole case was devei-
oped the past day or two by the arrival
here of an agent or representative of one
of the women. The agent was one Mann,
of Fargo, who came, as he stated, upon
the order of one OF the women, Josie
Williams, who resides at Hudson, Mich,
and who formerly lived at Fargo. Mann
claimed to have proofs of a legal mar
riage of this woman to Williams, he
having married her out OF a variety
theater at Fargo. Mr.. Mann's client
had heard that Williams had been left
fortune, and sent Mann to investigate,
but she had
PREVIOUSLY BECAME ALARMED
at not hearing from him. and had re-
ceived letters from Brainerd stating
that William had mysteriouSly disap-
peared. This Mrs. Williams letters of
inquiry were full Of alarm and anguish.
Meanwhile, also, since this supposed
windfall, Mrs. Williams, of Minneapo-
lis, through J. n. Bearnes, an attorney,
has been in quest OF him, claiming also
to be his wife, but more in quest appaT
emily of his fortune, or a part of it, than
Of himself. However, these facts were
uncovered by Mr.. Mann in his investi
cations, the sum of what he found out
being as follows: The property re-
ported to fall to Williams proved
to be an individual heirship,
one of nine heirs in something over 1U0
acres of the old Virginia ante-bellum
home, worth no considerable amount.
However,, the brother who found this
long-lost heir, who lives in Missouri,
secured an option Oh the inheritance
and was given power of attorney to dis
pose OF it, and has since sold it. About
Oct. 3 this brother sent William a sum
of money, stated by William to be
small, and William was
PROCEEDING TO BUILD
on his homestead near Mile Lacs lake.
He made some purchases for it and sent
them out, and was going out himself on
the Sunday following. On that day his
old employer gratuitously carried him
out part way; he left this wagon to walk
the rest of the way, since which no per-
son who ever knew him has seen or
heard of him. Letters sent to this Office,
where he received mail, were returned
unclaimed, and finally this Mr.. Mann
went there, returning to-day, and says
he has not been seen there, and his
place is apparently as he left it. Mr..
Mann and others, who knew all the facts
think he has made away with himself
by drowning in the lake. OF by suicide
in some remote place, perhaps in the
dense Mile Laos woods, and that
reasons therefor would be his fear of
trouble about the two women, and of
bitterness at his treatment by his
brother, assuming that the latter had
got away with the property belonging
to him. Williams was quiet, inOffens-
ivn man, but given to mOrOSeneSS and
fits of
MORBID ANXIETY
He was a soldier in the war of the
rebellion in the Twelfth Kentucky,
while all the rest of his family, includ-
ing the Missouri brother, were in the
confederate army. AS stated in the
original account in the GLOBE, this was
the first time the brothers had met since
before the war. When the Missouri
UIOlllcl lOuliu ullll. dltST long search,
last September. William had been in
this part of the country nearly ever
since the war, and was we'll known
among lumbermen. He was of medium
height spare, wore whiskers, and
was troubled with weak eyes, and
was upwards of fifty years old. 1t
was believed by some that the body re-
ported found by a Daggett Brook man
was his, but it could not have been.
There are some who think Williams has
gone into the lumber woods, but inquiry
has been pretty thoroughly made and
the best supposition is that it only re-
mains now for the two women to settle
which Of them is his real widow.