River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-05-28

slippers. and without Noise entered the
room Miss Merwin had occupied. He
pointed to a crevice, which he had
evidently made in the partition, and
looking through il saw the detective,
in the next apartment, lneeling by his
open carpet-bag, from which now
protruded the identical buskins-I
could not mistake them-which Miss
Merwin had worn. Spread out before
him, he held five thousand dollar
bond-evidently the one which my son
had given the young lady.
''You see!' he whispered. "Was |
not right? He has'murdered herr
Low as the whisper was. the man
evidently heard it, for he pushed the
buskins, 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 force which
broke the lock and admitted him into
the room. He flew at the man, elutched
him and shook him, when the fellow
drew dirk, but in his futile struggles
to use it-for held his wrists and soon
disarmed him-his beard fell off, show
ingit was false one, and at the same
time his shirt bosom was torn awayabout
the throat. Then both Tom and l ut
tered a simultaneous cry of surprise ON
perceiving that this pretended detective
was a woman over thirty-five years of
age-or, in other words, it was Miss
Merwin, herself, deprived of the cos
metics 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 YOungson, 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 and others marked with that
of her victim. In fact, afterward,
while i'll, she confessed to being Mary
YouDgson.
Her motive in Disgusting herself was
apparent. She had feared, after | dis
covered the strange shortening of her
stature, that / might suspect who she
really was; and, besides, the ruse
would, she thought, enable her the bet
ter to escape from Tom and get off
with his 5000. The mystery of her
having, as Miss Merwin, looked so much
taller than she was, we found explained
by her buskins, which proved like those
sometimes worn by actors on the stage,
to be provided with very thick cork
soles, to give an appearance of eleva-
ton to the stature.
On the night she So astonished me by
the difference in her height, she had, in
her hurry and alarm, come up in her
slippers. having forgotten to put on her
buslSins.
1t is hardly necessary to say that the
detectives warrant she had shown me
was forged, written by herself; nor
scarcely need il be mentioned that Tom
was now disguised with this woman
and entirely cured of his infatuation.
Subsequently she died of a malignant
fever while bc.ng conveyed prisoner
back to England-thus escaping the
punishment she 90 richly merited for
her odious crime although there were
not wanting those who stoutly main
tanned that the charge had by no means
been conclusively brought home to her.
However, after Occupying the public
mind for more than the proverbial
nine days. the "Youngson Case" as it
was called, gave place to fresher SEN
sation.-Edward Helms, in Gentlemaa's
MaUazina