Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-23
THE MISSING SECRETARY.

We are now lnclnlng to the bellef
that Mr.. Hanchette is alive and will yet
turn up safe. The fact that the search
for him and the wide publicity given to
his mysterious disappearance have failed
to produce any tidings of him, dead or
alive, strengthens the hope that he is
still living. OF course. if he met with
foul play on his way to the Santa Fe
depot after he had been seen at Z O'Clock
on the evening he was to leave Chi
cago, his murderers would have
placed his body where it might be
impossible to find it. But lit
tie by little threads of information
are weaving th emselves together SO as
to produce strong impression that Mr..
Hanchette was, at the time of his dis
appearance, laboring under some kind
of mental alteration. The letter of Mr..
Smith, his cousin, would indicate this.
He had avoided keeping appointments
with him and his aunt on the last day,
and this conduct called forth gentle
reprimand from Mr.. Smith in the letter
he sent here for him and which his
friends opened.
Yesterday we had visit from Mr.. q.
F. Cole, who was the assistant of Major
Truman at the Chicago permanent ex-
hibit That gentleman, who has just
arrived from Chicago, had conversa-
ton with Mr.. Hanchette, on the after
noon of the day he was to leave for
home. He told him he had all his bag
gage at the depot ready to start at
moments notice, but that he would
wait until the last moment before going
in the hope that he could change his
pass to the Northern Pacific or to the
Canadian overland railroad. He spoke
as if he was not anxious to get home at
once, but wanted to stop over and visit
places on the road.
This corroborates the statements of
President Wells, who said that Mr.. Han
chette's conversation left upon him the
impression that he desired to make ex
tensive detours before going home. He
wanted to 90 to Texas to see about prop
erty that had been left him there; then
he spoke about taking the northern
route. and of fstopping off here and there.
Indeed he spoke like man whose mind
was unsettled and purposeless. Why is
it not possible that man in this state
of mind could have changed his route at
the last moment?
Let us take it for granted that the
man reported by the OBTAINING parcel
clerk as having called for Mr.. Hanchette's
baggage about 8 O'Clock on the evening
of the 7th, was really Mr.. Hanchette,
and that he started Tor st. Louis on the
$3.50 train, as the clerk said he told him
he would, then we may assume that he
went there for the purpose of taking
another route for the Pacific coast. He
had successfully eluded his relatives and
could carry out his vagaries at leisure.
Now, if 1he took the Canadian road
across the continent, he may have
stopped over at various points
or he may have kept on to Vic
toria, and, still laboring under the
spell of his wandering hallucination, he
may have sailed for Alaska, Honolulu or
oome polnI ldItllei oH. AHlS IHeOTy, vi
course, implies that Mr.. Hanchette's
faculties were not in their normal con-
dition, and the letter of Mr.. Smith, the
conversation with Mr.. Cole, and the i'm
pressions made by his talks with Mr..
Wells, all would seem to confirm that
supposition.
1t may be weeks or months before we
get the true story of his wanderings, but
it is a consolation that there is founda-
tion for the belief that he is still alive,
even:if he is pursuing somewhere an
aimless and erratic course.