The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-03-21
4 VERY STRAEGE STORY.
4 lTrS;e:'y IL Williamsburg.

! where your ltepOftef HIt u couNtIStltIcli
with him this morning IN reference to his
wife
In the outset Mr. Williams said that the
fate Of his wife was just as mucha mystery
as ever; that he firmly believed that she
was murdered because Of her knowledge OF
| the Rome tragedy, but stated that there
were certain facts connected with the home
tragedy not Vet made known to the publ!c,
which convinced him of this beyond
doubt. These fac;s he IS thinking: Of pub.
fishing. bat has not yet fully Gese:mlned
/ whether to do SO or Tot
The history of the case is briefly as fol-
lows: Ms Williams LEFT here last June to
visit one A;.ude Beard, al Knoxville Tenn.
an alleged cousin, whom she had casually
met il the waiting-rcom at Rome, Ca, while
returning from a visit to her home IL Lou!-
S;ana. There Miss Beard accosted her
and cxcased herself by referring to the Strik-
ias resemblance between them, which Mrs.
Williams et oace perc ived, and which Size
afterwards told Nj Williams was almost
complete. After a short interview Mrs.
! Williams believed this woman to be the
| daughter Of az. aunt Of hers. Mrs. Williams
t went to G2orgctcwH where she left her little
child will Mr. Williams's relatives, she be-
ing in very poor health at the time. She
left ner "runk at Fores:on until her return
Oh the following day.
Dr.. T. P. Bailey, lis wife and her SIS
! ter -,ttiSs Williams, accompanied Mrs.
| Williams as far as Columbia. This
was, the last seen OF her by any OF her
people She left there for Atlanta, where,
! BY previous agreement, this Naude Beard
WAS to meet her and accompany her to the
latter's home in Knoxville. 4 few days
after this Nj Williams received letter
signed with his wifes initials, the hand
writing being SO similar 70 hers as to make
him believe the letter TO have been written
| by her own hand. This letter stcted that
she had there been met by NaUde's broth
er, a lad Of about fourteen, who informed
her that his sister had been suddenly called
back to the bedside OF her sick uncle at
Knoxville, with whom she resided, leaving
this Young man to accompany her. One
expression n this letter troubled Mr.. vii
lians considerably ct the TINE. It was to
the effect that he should not be uneasy if he
failed to hear from her for some time, as
she had been confronted by O new mystery
which she was determined to Unravel. This
letter Nr Williams low believes to have
been written By Maude Beard for the pur-
pose OF delaying search. The next heard
from Mrs. Williams was letter from Chae-
tanoooa written by MaUde Beard. stating
that his wife had been -ery IL, but assUr-
ing him that size had the best medical at
tention end WAS better, ard that 3 change
for the worse would De promptly telegraph
ed. I further suggested that he write to
his wife. but not to intimate that he knew
Of her illness, as she had exacted promise
fror, Mauda not to tell him Of It. He &C.
cordinclv wrote both to his wife and to
Maude Beard, thanking the latter for her
atte6tio1 to his wife, and begging her to
telegraph or write Immediately again. Both
these letters have been returned to nun
from the department at Washington.
STRANGE to saw, the letter to Maude was adj
vertised as Minnie" Beard, which name
Maude Beard has subsequently assumed.
stranger still, Mr. SoUthall, OF the North
eastern Railroad Company, tracing Min
ME" Beard, and Mr.. Williams tracing
s.Msude," both arrived at Chattanooga,
| though neither knew that the other was on
a similar errand. Here Mr.. Will!ams's
efforts we're rendered futile by his arrest on
! his arrival there as one Catacact, charged
with obtaining money under false pre-
tences from several banks in South Carroll
na. This arrest was made, notwithstand-
ing the fact that Mr. Williams he'd been II
; correspondence for some weeks with the
mayor OF that city in reference to his er-
rand.
It appears that on Mrs. Willians's de-
parture from Columbia she got hold OF the
wrong check, AMI consequently received
the wrong trunk on arriving ct Atlanta.
! Tie trunk that Mrs. Williams got, 1t
seems, belonged to q lady at Eastover;
South Carolina This lady, failing to get
her trunk, complained to the railroad ~su-
thorities, who proceeded to Investigate the
matter. The efficient agcnS IN charge OF
the affair, Ny Southaf, went to work and
traced the trunA checked for Mrs. Williams
through Atlanta, 70 Chattanooga. Here ne
founG: I:.at it had been left at a hotel by a
)!-70Ung woman to pay for bnr board, and had
been sold by the propr;etcr. Ir. Southa!i
saw a portion Of the contents ct this trunk
; and identified it as the trunk lost by TIE
lady ct Eastover. The clue that led to the
discovery OF that trunk was lette- furnish
ed to the railroad authorities by the LADY al
Eastover. Il was written, beyond doubt,
by Mrs. Williams and signed by differ
ent person at later date, with the name
). Minnie Beard This letter w&s taken
by Mr. Southa,l to the Smithsonian !nstl-
tute at Washington, where it was critically
examined and found to have been written
! bv one party and signed by anoth-
er some days later. Mr.. Southah then
found q trunk which IS believed to be that
Of Mrs. Williams IN this trunk was
found q tag Of q New York clothing kocse;
3Iy. Soctbail took this Tag to New York and
asked the Sryn if they had ever received
aav orders from '.SIinnie Beard" whose
name was signed TO the letter above men
toned. and several orders were found to be
on their 4i)es. The writing on the orders
wes g fac sim;ie Of the signature CT the letter
submitted to tie Institute. These orders
were al dated e. Utah. Ala, ut which place
respectable and well-to-do family by tnat
! rsme resides. IN this family there Is. il
5 seems, 6. Minnie Beard" On returning
home Mr.. Southall visited Mr. Williams,
family at Georgetown, and made known
these facts about the trunk aLd letter, and
the family recognized the handwriting os
: the letter as Mrs. Wiilianls's, and pro
nourccd the signature spurious.
The Minnie Beard w.:o cia med 10 be E:S
wife in Chattanooga is or inbecile. and IS
now in the hospitl! tEore. Mr.. Williams
, has IN his possession a letter from the Rev.
DR.. ;. P. NcFerrin. q Methodist minister 0!
Chattanoc. "a. to tbs effect, ard It's corrob'
Grated by the lieutenant Of police there.
She is the one that attempted to commlt
: suicide in April, before Mr.. Williams lct;
: homo