Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-05
the most persistent efforts of the detectives
failed to solve the mystery.


failed to solve the mystery.
A few years later another prosperous
| New York business man, James Digman.
a grocer on Third avenue, told his wife he
was going to see a friend and would be
| back IN a few minutes, as he had an, en-
| gagement at home. The friend never laid
eyes on him, the gentleman who CALLED
according to appointment never saw him,
he disappeared as utterly as if the earth
had opened and swallowed him up. Ralph
| Keller, well-known journalist, was an as
sistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly In
| 1872 He had made all his arrangements to
60 to Cuba and write up that island for
his superior. Mr.. ". D. Howells, sent his
baggage to the steamer, babe good-by to a
large circle of friends and started for the
| wharf. He never reached the wharf or
has never been seen or heard of since.
The husband of Mrs Margaret E. Sangster,
the present editor of Harper's Bazaar, was
a thriving lawyer and lived in Brooklyn
On July 4, 1870, he complained that the
din of the hre-crackers had given him A
headache and went out on the front stoop
of his house at 9 In the evening to get a
little fresh air. He was clad in a dressing
gown and smoking cap. As he remained
out for some time, Mrs. SangSter went
out to the front door to call him He was
not on the stoop. He was never seen again
One might have supposed that the sight of
a man on the street In dressing gown and
smoking cap would have excited some at
tention, yet no one could furnish clue as
to his whereabouts. This case is all the
more striking because Harper's establish
ment contains another lady editor, Mrs
al ~ Il, L
wife or widow Her husband, S. B. CO.
nant, editor of Harper's Weekly, left his
office for home one summer evening In the
early part 1885 and was never seen again.
Three weeks later dead body was found
thought to be that of the missing editor.
the best efforts Of the police were exhausted
In vain.
A very strange story, and yet an appar-
emily we'll authenticated one, is that of the
disappearance of Charles Ashmore. He was
a young man, living with his parents on a
farm near Quinsey, Ill. On November 9,
out with a tin bucket to get some water
from the spring. Minutes passed, quar-
ter of an hour, and still he did not return
His father called repeatedly and received
no answer. Then the old man lighted
lantern and went in search with his daugh-
ter Martha. A light snow had fallen, OBJ
literating the path, but every footprint In
the young man s trail was plainly defined
Suddenly, at distance of some seventy
yards, the trail abruptly ended. The last
footprints were as distinct as any, the
very nail marks could be readily seen if
the lantern was held close to them, but all
beyond was smooth unbroken snow. Mr..
Ashmore looked upward The stars were
out; there was not cloud In the sky; he
was denied the explanation that suggested
itself-a snowfall with limit so abruptly
defined. Yet the trail had come to full
stop. Careful search revealed no other
tracks. The morning light showed moth
ing more. Smooth, spotless, absolutely
unbroken, the shallow snow lay everywhere.
-Four days later the grief-striken mother
went to the spring for water. She came
back In great excitement and told how. ON
passing the spot where the tracks had end
ed, she had heard her sons voice and
had answered it. going hither and thither,
as she fancied the voice to be in one place
or another, until she was utterly exhaust
ed. She could not tell what the voice had
said, yet the words, she insisted, were per-
fectly distinct. In moment the entire
family were at the place, but nothing
further was heard. They decided the
voice must be hallicunation, due to the
mothers disordsred nerves. But they
were soon converted. Next day and for
months afterwards, at regular intervals of
several days, the voice was heard not only
by the mother, but by various members of
the family and also by their friends. All
agreed that it was Enthusiastically the voice
of Charles Ashmore; that it seemed to come
from great distance, family, but with
perfect distinctness of articulation. Yet
none could determine its direction or re-
peat its words. The intervals of silence
grew longer and longer, the voice fainter
and fainter; by midsummer it was heard
no more.
WILLIAM S. WASH