The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-07-27
WHERE IS ags. DUNBAR
The Strange Story Of Union Hermit
and His Sick Wife.


ELIZABETH, Jnly28, 1s90.-The inhab-
itants of the pretty village Of Union.
more particularly that portion Of il
known as Connecticut Farms, are greatly
agtafed over u MYSTERY which "a its
features closely resembles that of the
famous Denmaad sensation case some
years ago at New Brunswick.
About thirty years ago Frank Dunbar,
then . young man Of thirty, came TO the
place with his wits and engaged in the
occupation Of village school aaster. He
taught the school iar fourteen YEARS and
IS said 10 be a nan Of fine arIainmenrs
and quite writer for magazines
and periodicals. For. the past fif-
teen years he has depended chiefly
on this as his mode of livelihood
he is connected with the noted
Wade family OF Union, and about year
since obtained q check Tor 81 ,99D from
some wealthy member OF the family who
Is In the West for writing up history of
I the family or preparing a chronological
| tree OF It's various braucllea he has
I an1assed much valuable real estate II Tic
| township, and has besides considerable
money IN bank. He is ciose-m0uthed
is quite taiker.
A year ago his wife took sick and was
stricken with paralysis, she becoming
speeches.. Her name was Mary Jane
Duntar. She had been seen by the neigh
bors until three weeks ago. when she
seemed to have strangely vanished
Since that time 70 one has seen her, ana
upon enquiries being made of her hus-
band he has told contradictory stories
which confirm Ia the minds of the
people OF the village that there is
Something wrong. ana the question now
heard on all sides is. What has bes
come Of Mrs. DunbargH To some neigh
b3rs Dunbar has said his wife went away
in q coach, while to others he has said
that she walked away, while third story
he tells is that he sent her to Connect
cut. as the woman was an invalid none
of these statements IS believed, and the
people are fully Impressed with the opin-
ION that Mrs. Dunbar is dead, whether
from natural causes or otherwise is a
mystery yet TO be solved
Grewsome stories are told regarding
Dunbar's eccentric actions de leads the
life of a hermit, no one ever visiting his
place, nor does he call on anybody The
neighbors say That no washing has been
done on mis- premises in a year, and that
he wears a shirt until it becomes SO filthy
and ragged thai he cannot use il any
longer, when he discards the garment and
buys another
some weeks ago he said TO neighbor
that when he sold his field of oatf he was
going to leave the place
-
a man named Smith, and the Inhabitants
expect any day TO hear that he has
skipped. They are determined. however,
that he shall give an accounting Of his
wife's whereabouts. Yet SO great is the
awe in which he is held by the VILLAGERS
none of them have the courage TO tackle
HIM and demand an explicit answer.
Even the minister Of the village is IN
dread to approach him, as Dunbar is said
to be like tiger when MS wrath is
aroused The attention of the authori-
ties and the county detective, however,
has been drawn to the strange case. and
startling developments may be looked
for In few DAYS. About six months ago
Dunbar started to build a new house.
He erected a frame and enclosed 1t, but
since then it has remained in the same
condition, work on it being stopped for
months. 1t is whispered among the vii
layers that the body Of Mrs Dunbar is
probably within this building, and none
of the inhabitants win venture to pass it
at night Dunbar is a small, thin man,
OF high nervous temperament. He lives
near the Connecticut Farms Church and
close TO the postoffiee. A man who came
from Union this morning says that there
is quite hue and cry in the village over
the disappearance OF Mrs. Dunbar, and
that every movement of her husband 5s
being closely watched. The couple never
had any children.