The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-06-29
po1nY DAVIS, pounLE.
stlIl Unidentlhed--Hor Bogus Husband in
JaIl-The AIystery Decpeas.

still Unidentihed-HeF Bogus Husband In
JaIl-The Mystery Decpeus.
TARRYTowx, June 2s.-The circum-
stances attending the utter collapse OF
all alleged identiacations of the beauti-
full drowned girl found in the river at
Croton week ago this morning only
enhance the mystery Of her personality
and her sad fate.
That shewas not the yiyacious actress,
Dolly Davis, was proven by the appear
ance OF that young woman in life and
health. That she was not the wife OF
Drummer Frank Atwood, OF Philadel-
phia, is now demonstrated by the fact
that all statements made by the alleged
Atwood are found to be flctions.
This man came to Tarrytown Thurs
day night, with three-year-old girl, and
told the coroner that he was Frank At
wood of Ill Vine street, Philadelphia;
that he was commercial traveller for q
Cleveland hardware firm; that he had
married q girl whom he had met on the
train, without inquiring into her an
tecedents; that after their child was
born she had disappeared from her
home, and that be had sought her all
over the country, and after examination
he asserted that the dead woman in
Yanderbilts morgue was his long-lost
wife.
His story was so plausible and so cir
cnmstantill that it was generally &C
cepted, and everybody was relieved that
the mystery had been solved.
Before the coroner's jury the claim
ant described his alleged wife, men
tioning broken tooth, mole on her
neck and scar from burn on her
knee.
These marks were oil found on the
body, though the scar had escaped no
tice until mentioned by him. He mem
toned several people whom he referred
to for his own Identification
Something in the mans manner ex-
cited suspicion, and his statements
we're thoroughly investigated, with
startling results.
1t was developed that his name was
not Frank Atwood, but Victor George
Herdling; that he was not q CONNER
cial traveller, but an employe of the
New York Central railroad; that lie
had not lived in Philadelphia, but that
his home was on West Twenty-hfth
street, New York; that he had not vis-
tied morgues all over the country with
his little girl seeking for her mother,
but that the mother is very much alive,
and that he had taken the little girl
out Thursday, saying he was going to
Coney Island.
The climax OF the exposure came
when the young mans father, George
P. Herdling, proprietor of the United
States Hotel, on Fulton street, New
York, took the witness stand, and, after
relating the facts stated above, identi-
fed the putative Atwood as his son:
SIS that man your father?" asked the
coroner.
d refuse to answer, replied the iden-
Landlord Herdling leaned forward
with a stern look and said:
"What! Do you deny your own
father?p
The look and tone were too much
and the young man faltered:
"You are my father"
His Identification as Victor Herdling
was completed by the evidence OF his
mother, whom he strikingly resembled.
Neither Landlord Herdling nor his
wife could recognize the dead woman.
They had no recollection OF ever having
seen her.
Victor Herdling was locked up over
night by the coroner for contempt The
young mans relatives are entirely at n
loss TO account for his actions. They
had seen but little OF him. His wife
had visited her .father-in-law yesterday
to inquire If he had seen her husband
or the little girl.
The description Of the Atwood child
in the papers had led Mr.. HerdliRg to
telephone to his brother, druggist in
Yonkers, who replied that Victor and
the little girl had been there, and that
he had loaned s. to Victor.
The name Frank Atwood, Mr.. Herd
ling said, was that OF man who had
once been in his employ at the hotel.
A woman called at the West Thirty
seventh street police station in this city
about 8 o'clock last evening and asked
Captain Cross if the police had any
knowledge OF her husband, Victor Herd
ling.
She soid she was a milliner, and
worked in store. leaving her little girl
ut her rooms in West Thirty-fifth street.
That her husband had taken the child
out Thursday forenoon, saying he was
going to Coney Island for tho day, and
she had heard or seen nothing OF them
since.