St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-04
: The Man Who Disappeared on
the Day of His We'd
ding.
He Wandered Away in a Fit
Of Mental Aberra-
ton.
Walrath's Creditors Claim
the Assignment Was Prob
ably Fraudulent.
No Indications From the
Grand Jury of the Usual
Big Upheaval.

James W. Viccars, the Minneapolis
bOokkeeper who disappeared on the 9th
of March, on the day set for his we'd
space, is not dead. He is alive and we'll
at mis- fathers home in Green Lake,
Mich, where he arrived one week ago
to-day, and has written to his Minneap-
oils friends.
1t is month ago, lacking but two
days. that ViccarS, young man en-
ployed as bOokkeeper in Smith & Nc
Leans commission house on Bridge
square, disappeared as suddenly and
mysteriously as if the earth had opened
and swallowed him up. No trace could
be found of him after the time that he
left his boarding house at $40
Third avenue south, shortly be-
fore noon on the day of his
disappearance, and indeed no one saw
him leave there. He came to the house
at about II a. m, and was seen to go
into the back yard and. fire two shots
with revolver; then he went back up
stairs to his room and nothing more has
been seen of him in Minneapolis.
THE MOST PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCE
in connection with his disappearance
was the fact that the day he left was the
day fixed for his marriage to Miss Hat
tie Il. Ray. most eStimable young lady
residing on Newton avenue, who was
the favorite niece of Mr.. Mclean. of the
firm by whom young Viccars was enl-
ployed. A search for the missing man
was kept up for days by the newspapers
and friends of the young fellow, whose
sudden departure, no one knew whittier.
babe fair to unSeat the reason of the
woman who was to have been his wife.
ConJectures were rife as to why and
where he had gone, and many believed
him to have
COMMITTED SUICIDE,
while others, knowing his peculiar tenn
permanent, believed that his mind had be-
come diSOrdered through broodlng over
the possibilities of misfortune in the
step he was about to take, especially
with regard to the monetary aspect of
the venture. This theory perhaps
gained more credence than the other,
as Viccars bad been known to be very
careful and conscientious young man,
who had a horror of running in
debt, and it was also known that he had
incurred debt of a few hundred dol
lars in furnishing the house hired for
his bride that was to be. His employ
ers and others were of the opinion that
in fit of mental alteration he
HAD WANDERED AWAY
and lost all idea of time and all men,
DRY of his own affairs, and such proves
to have been the case, and the theory
is proved correct by the state
ment of Viccars himself, who
is now in Michigan. Mr.. Smith, his
former employer, received yesterday
morning a letter from Viccars dated
Friday, and stating that he had arrived
home the day before after long, long
time OF weary wandering which seemed
nightmare, that even now that he was
awake he could not shake off. He re-
membered little about it, and did not
even state how or under what circum-
stances he had left Minneapolis.
WHEN HIS SENSES RETURNED
to him he realized that he had been
wandering long time. but he did not
know where or how. He went as soon
as possible to his fathers home, where
he arrived worn out and exhausted in
body and mind, and intends to stay
there for a time to regain his
strength and rest his mind.
He feels the keenest remorse and
shame for his action, and seems to
think he has committed a terrible crime.
He could not, he says, accept Mr..
hiISt oiC1 vi UuC pOSlOtOu uC
formerly occupied, as he could not bear
to come back and face the old friends
after his unexplained and, to great eX-
tent, uneXplainable freak.
In his letter to Mr. Smith he does not
mention Miss Ray at all, but the young
lady has received a letter from him, in
which he made much the same state
ment which he makes in the other let
ter to Miss Ray, who had given him up
for lost, and had tried to think of it
calmly and resignedly, is overjoyed to
hear from him and know that he is alive
and may some time return to
MAKE GOOD THE PLEDGE
she had thought broken never to be re-
newed. Mr.. Smith has written to Vic
cars asking for detailed account of all
he can remember from the time he left
the store on the morning of March 6 to
go to the court house for his marriage
license until he recovered sufficient of
his faculties to go home, and hopes in
this way to get some clue by which to
clear up the mystery of that month,
which seems to be blank in the poor
fellows memory.