Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-05-21

young lady's height AS / proceeded, l
observed that his keen eyes seemed to
grow larger, while the thick beard that
covered the face of this singular man
kept twitching, as if every hair was in
stinct with life.
Give me time" he said, solemnly,
when had finished, land l will solve
this mystery. In few days l may be
able to do it-perhaps not for week"
| left him and went on deck. Tom
was there, looking SO downcast and
forlorn that l resolved to acquaint him
with the presence of the detective, and
tell him what he had said, and SO, per-
haps, brighten him up a little.
l did so, but my words had an effect
had not expected. Rejecting a mo-
ment, he cried out: Father, l believe
that man is humbug! But, whether
he be detective or not, / now suspect
that he is a thief and a murderer; that
he knew of Miss Merwin's having that
S.. 200 bond, and that, in order to pos
sess himself of it, he has killed her and
thrown her body overboard!'
l stared at him in amazement, and
told him l feared that his grief had dis
turbed his reason. How was 1t posi-
BILE, asked him, that the man could
have got the body overheard without our
knowing it?
He could have choIed her to death,
carried her to one Of the open cabin
windows, and dropped her through
that" he replied.
impossible, I answered, without
the splash being overheard by the man
~ ii hy-c
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 it
could have been done, owing to Miss
Merwin being so slender, and, in spite
of all my efforts, I could not entirely
rid his mind of that horrible idea.
Days passed, for we had head winds
which 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 whole affair.
A strange affair enough. Never be-
fore had had such an experience, or
anything approaching to it, in any
craft 1 commanded. The passengers
all aboard the ship. AS for Tom, he
grew paler, thinner, wilder every day.
At last, one afternoon, when we had
entered st. Georges channel, he came
up to me, and said, in a husky voice:
1T is as 1 thought! Quick! l have
something to show you! Make 10
noiSer'
| 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 apartment, kneeling by his
open carpet-bag, from which now
protruded the identical busl1ins-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
sYou seew he whispered. WAS /
not right? He has murdered her!"
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 1 could hinder him, Tom
rushed out and threw himself against
the detectives door with force which
broke the lock and admitted himinto
the ROOM He flew at the man, clutched
him and shook him, when the fellow
drew q dirk, but in his futile struggles
to use it-for l 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 simultaneous cry of surprise on
perceiving that this pretended detective
was woman over thirty-tive 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, l 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
Youngson.
Her motive in Disgusting herself was
apparent. She had feared, after l dis
covered the strange shortening of her
stature, that l might suspect who she
really was; and, besides, the ruse
would, she thought, enable her the bet
for To aScaDp from Tom and ppt off
with his So, OOO The mystery of her
having, as Miss Merwin, looked SO much
taller than she was, we found explained
by her busllins, 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
buskins.
1t is hardly necessary to say that the
detectives warrant she had shown me
was forged, written by herself; nor
| scarcely need it be mentioned that Tom
was now disguised with this woman
and entirely cured of his infatuation.
Subsequently she died of malignant
fever while being conveyed a prisoner
back to England-thuS escaping the
punishment she so 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
! 1,a sol