New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-19

strange shortening of the young woman's stature
il seemed to Inc to partake almost Of the super
natural -. I'll,
May she not have gone on deck last d nisne
and fallen overheard ?" inquired one OF the pasSci
impossiblel" answered. " 1t was clear NOON
light. / was on deck all night; anu pe m T'bc
had good lookouts posted about the snip inc
thing could not have happened unknown 10 US
We looked to see il we might not iind @ ho'e
or something explanatory, but In vain. oao
Then / ordered thorough search 10 De Inauo
throughout the ship This was done; put ho,
she was not TO be found, though every nook ana
corner was looked into.
Then IL occurred TO me to speak TO the de-
tective about it, and, as soon as / could DO SO
unobserved, / knocked at his door. lie cautiously
opened it, button seeing who was there he lnVi'eu
me in. ,...
/ told him what had happened not even emitting
to mention the sudden change | had previously
noticed in the young lady's height. AS 1 pro
cceded, | observed that his keen eyes seemed 70
grow larger, while the thick beard that covered
the face of this singular man kept twitching, as
If every hair was instinct with life.
"Give me time, he said, solemnly, when mao
finished, land | will solve this mystery In
a week"
left him and went on deck Tom was there,
looking SO downcast and fororn that l resolved
to acquant him with the presence Of the detective,
and tell him what he had said, and 80, perhaps,
brighten him up little:
expected. Rejecting moment. he CRED 9ut,
Father, / believe that man is humpug Bnt
whether he be a detective or not, now suspect
that he is thief and murderer; tnat ne knew
of Miss Merwins having that $4,000 BOND, ana
that, in order TO possess himself of IT.. he has
killed her and thrown her body overheard
| stared at him in amaZement. and told MN
I feared that his grief had disturbed his reason.
How was it possible asked him. that the man
could have got the body overheard without our
He could have choked her to death, carried
her to one of the open cabin windows and dropped
her through that, he replied.
Impossible, answered, without the splash
being overheard by the man at the wheel, or Dy
some one on deck. Besides doubt If he could
have squeezed the body through either of our
cabin windows, which, you know are very small
Tom, however, seemed to think 1t could have
been done, owing TO Miss Merwin being so slender,
and in spite of all my efforts. could not entirely
rid his mind Of that horrible idea It'll,
Days passed, for we had headwlnds when
kept us off our course, but as yet the detective
had nothing to tell me, though he Said he soon
might be able to explain the whoAg affair
A strange affair enough Never before had L
had such an experience, or anything approaching
to it. in any craft l commanded. The passengers
equally puzzled it was the talk Of all aboard
wilder every day. At last, one afternoon, when
we had entered St. Georges Channel. he came up
to me, and said, in husky voice 1t is . as
you Make no noisel"
| followed him. We both wore light slippers,
and without noise entered the room Miss Merwin
had occupied. He pointed to crevice, which he
had evidently made in the Partition. and looking
through it, saw the detective, in the next apart
ment, ktneeng by his open the carpe5 cSf
cal busSlns-I could not mistake them them
which Miss Merwin had worn Spread
out before him, he held $1,000 bond-evldenty
the one which my son had given to the young
lady,
He has murdered her."
Low as the whisper was the man evidently
heard it, for he pushed the buslSins, and after
them the bond hastily down into the bag, which
he then closed.
Before | could hinder him, Tom rushed out
and threw himself against the detectives door
with q force which broke the lock and admitted
him into the room. He flew at the man, clutched
him and shook him, when the fellow drew dirk,
but in his futile struggles to use it-for held
his wrist and disarmed him-his beard fell
off, showing it was false one, and at the same
time his shirt-bosom was torn away about the
throat. Then both Tom and | uttered stimuli
taneous cry of surprise on perceiving that this
pretended detective was woman over thirty-tive
years of age-Or, in other words, it was Miss Aler-
win herself, deprived OF the cosmetics and other
appliances which had, while in the natural attire
Of her sex, made her look so much younger than
she was.
The whole truth broke upon me at once, This
woman, / suspected, was in reality Mary Young
son. the murderess, for her face and height now
answered to the description | had of her; and
we found, while looking for my sons bond in
her carpet-bag some articles bearing her name
In fact afterward, while ILL., she confessed to being
Mary YOungSon.
Her motive in Disgusting herself was apparent.
She had feared, after l discovered the strange
shortening of her stature, that / might suspect
who she really was; and, besides, the ruse would
she thought, enable her the better to escape
from Tom and get Off with his $4,000. The
mystery of her having, as Miss Merwin, looked
so much taller than she was, we sound explained
by her busllins, which proved, like those some
times worn by actors on the stage, TO be provided
with very thick cork soles, to give an appear
ance of elevation to the stature.
On the night she so astonished me by the differ
ence in her height she had, in her hurry and
alarm, come up in her slippers, having forgotten
to put on her busllns.
1t is hardly necessary to say that the detec-
tives warrant she had shown me was forged,
written by herself; scarcely need it be men,
toned that Tom was now disguised with this
woman and entirely cured Of his infatuatiOn.
Subsequently she died of a malignant fever
while being conveyed q prisoner back to England
thus escaping the punishment she so richly
merited for her odious crime, although there were
not wanting those who stOutly maintained that
the charge had by no means been cOnclusively
brought home to her. However, after occupying
the public mind for more than the prOverhial
nine days, the "Youngson Case" as it was called,
cave place to fresher sensation-tEdward Helms
in The Gentlemans Magazine.