The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-05-20

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grave alone could solve the mystery
They had seen the young man placed
there who now stood before their eyes
they would know if the grave had given
up its contents.
Condor and his lawyer were in the
crowd when the grave was reached.
The marble head and footstones were
torn from their places, picks and shovels
went into the grassy mound Silence
yielded only to the noise of the tools.
81 can't bear this. it is too horribler''
whispered Condor to Brown, as the picks
began to thump with a hollow sound
against the box containing the coffin.
For Gods sake be calmr' was the
cautious reply; every thing depends
now on your calmness. You lad better
go back to the hotel and wait for me,
this is no place for YOU"
AS the casket was being raised to the
surface Of the earth, Condor slipped
away unnoticed to the village. All eyes
were glued to the coffin. Not whisper
stirred the air, scarcely a breath was
sssSfhr % unS6ise hands ats tbf. Hero of the lid
shook as with palsy.
The lid was removed. A skeleton
was there.
''Great God" exclaimed some one.
Low mutterings swelled into a great
sound-wave and round up from the null
titude.
Another trick calculated Brown,
turning impatiently away and preceding
the stupefied crowd to the village. When
the others reached the hamlet, it was
found that the strangers had taken their
leave.
Four days passed. The widow, firmly
reiterating that Condor was her SON,
was i'll almost to death. The villagers
talked, thought, dreamed Of nothing
else.
Then Hardy received letter; it read
IA follows:
NEW YORK July 10, IS
HARDI TELFoRD, ESQ.,: Dear Sir: I beg
pardon for writing you anonymously. When
you have read this letter, you will under
stand why do so.
Having read the newspaper reports Of the
remarkable circumstance in your family,
feel that IL Is my duty to write you OF an &C.
currence which may bear slightly on the
mystery. Twill be as brief as possible.
/ am q physician. At the time OF your
brothers burial was a student in a me ical
college In this city. i required a body for
dissection, and, on the morning following
the published date of your brothers inter
ment, the body of young man in a most
remarkable state of preservation was
brought me by man engaged in such a vo-
cation.
ordered il taken TO a room used by my
self and some fellow students. When We
went to the room the following night, we
found tn at the door had been forced open
and coul find no trace of the corpse.
We were greatly disturbed, fearing that
our retreat had been discovered by officers
of the law, and said nothing to any one about
the matter. To this day have had no ex-
PLANTATION of the mystery. But since reading
of your dilemma, am constrained to think
that my subjet may have been your brother;
notwithstanding that the finding of the skel-
eton in the grave is strongly contradictory
Hoping to hear of your success in the inves-
tigation, am ANoSYMoUs.
AS may we'll be conceived, this COM
munication did not cool the fever of
sensation at Melrose. 1t was followed,
on the next day, by another from the
same source, the contents of which
caused even greater establishment. 1t
ran:
NEW YORK, July II, is
HARDY TELFORD, ESQ.,: Ny Dear Sir:
Again 1 ask pardon for not signing my name
TO this communication. Since writing you
yesterday, have seen the man who brought
me the strange body.
He had been reading the news about this
matter, and found him quakIng in fear Of
prosecution. 1t was only by assuring him
doubly that he should not be known In the
matter, that induced him to speak freely.
He says that the body brought to me was in
Aand In hat M hor
pened to have In his possession the body Of
a man too badly decomposed to sell So
when he opened your brothers grave the
night following the burial, he exchanged
the bodies, bringing your brother to me.
Again / remain, ANONYMOUS
Just after reading the above, Hardy
was informed that Brown and the So
called Condor were in the village at the
hotel. Excitedly, he repaired hither,
meeting the lawyer on the sidewalk.
The lawyer coolly read the letter which
Hardy handed him.
beyond all doubt. my client is your
brother" he said. Then he briefly re-
lated the most marvellous adventures Of
Washington Telford.
He was discovered in the streets of
New York with no more mental strength
than that Of IN infant. At first 1t was
thought that he was an irretrieyable
imbecile. He was taken to one Of the
public insane asylums, and every thing
possible was done to discover his friends
and relations
Soon he began to talk and showed
such an aptitude for picking up learning
that the physicians admitted that they
had been mistaken In his case. Inves-
tigation proved that his mind was sound
enough in the present. but that he had
forgotten all his life up to the time OF
his supposed death.
A very wealthy physician became
deeply interested in the young man.
He took him to his home and gave him
every advantage that wealth could pro-
cure, and when he died few years later
it became known that he had willed all