The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1894-11-24


circumstances connected with their dis
appearance have been, as Il rule, so mysti-
flying, that the matter would seem to call
for special analysis outside the usual
methods employed to account for such
occurrences.
The object of this article is to record
some facts in connection with case of
mysterious disappearance in person and
under circumstances well known to the
writer, and torerer to psychological features
associated Herewith.
CASE ONE.
He was man passed middle age,
muscular, but of angular outline, of
strong powers of endurance, in rugged
health and, so far as known, free from any
personal or inherited homeopathic faint.
For a number of years he had resided in Il
thriving town suburban to Philadelphia
and, by strict application to his trade that
of tinSmith and plumber, had accumulated
considerable means. As his SONS grew up
they shared in the business, and at the
time of his disappearance had materially
assisted him in the execution of some large
contracts, from which plumber like he
realized handsome profits. For years he
had enjoyed ordinarily good health and was
not known to possess any cccentricities or
morbi tendencies. His domestic relations
.,,,in1 than
ever before, his financial ditto, and he was
not known to have any secret, immoral
or Illicit indulgences of any kind whatever.
The Sunday of his disappearance he had
remained in the house all day as it was il
dull. gloomy November day, engaged
mainly in reading and in play with his
younger children, to whom he was greatly
attached. Along about four o clock in the
afternoon he got from the lounge on which
he had been reclining, reading changed
his house jacket for an ordinary business
day coat slipped on an easy pair of shoes
and to his wife's questions, stated that he
was going out for a short walk on the street
"for little fresh air. Noting the time
she cautioned him not to go far as accord
Ing to the 1.-TWO meals on Sunday" custom
they would soon have dinner He promised
not to keep them waiting, declared he'd
surely be back in a few moments, and that
he was only going for a little turn on the
main street on which his combined house
and store faced. He quietly and leisurely
stepped outside the door and, although Il
conspicuous figure in the town and perfectly
well known to nine tenths of the people
OF the vicinity, he disappeared as myster-
''vanished into thin air" None of the
townspople saw him, although the streets
were alive with the usual Sunday afternoon
strolers and inquiries We're instituted
reasonably early. His absence continuing
the next day, the most vigilant searches
We're instituted, detective agencies We're
and the search became more and more I'M
avaling every possible means of apprehen-
sion was resorted to, but with singular
fultilty. No one could be found who had
seen him after he left the house on that
fateful Sunday. He left no trace, no clue.
He simply stepped out into the great I'M
known" One of the most singular
features was the fact that-although the
town contained some 5000 inhabitants,
that the country thereabouts was most
thiclly settled in all directions, that he
was well known to the people of the
country villages, owing to his long resd-
ence in that section of the State, especially
intimate with the trainmen on the rail
road connecting with Philadelphia no
one recalled having seen him after he left
the house on the Sunday in question. Re
wards proved unavailing. Innumerable
theories We're advanced by wise-acres and
amateur detectives, but they, after being
run to the ground, only served to make the
affair more ineNpilcable-to render confus-
ion worse confounded. Months passed,
and still no sign-no clue. Being
necessary to wind up the affairs of the
establishment, it was found that he had
taken no money, but that his wife and
family were handsomely provided for. In
due course of time the business was finally
disposed of the property sold, and the wife
and family removed to Chicago, one of the
older sons settling on the Pacific coast, The
family gave up all hope of ever finding
even clue to the long lost husband and
father.
Two years had almost passed when the
following startling circumstance was en-
acted in tin shop in a town in one of
the far Southern States. A number of men
were engaged at their trade, when suddenly
one of them dropped his work and cried,
as he pressed his hand to his head in dazd
bewildered way: 'lIy God! where am Il?
How did I come here? This isn't my shop.
Where am /? What does it mean?'
Al first the men were disposed to laugh
at the tall reserved man, who had worked
for several months so quietly by their side
and of whose history not a word had they
been able to learn, but when they saw his
changed expression, the perspiration stand
l., Il,