The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-10-22
tcopyrieht. 1891 by the Author)

mountains. and he had made the acquaint-
ance OF the American on board the Atlantic
steamer According 10 Starkweati;er the
American was the very best Of good com
pany. and he had invited US 70 meet him,
assuring US we should pass n most delight
ful evening. We were not toll whether
the man WAS millionaire. a huGnoresl. or
a buffalo hunter. into which three classes,
as / have been given To- understand. the
entire population of the American states Is
divided. and. a. he never spoke during the
whole OF the dinner. except 10 ask Tor -
decline some aStici. OF food or drink. l oid
not find him a particularly entertaining
person: but when we had arrived Al cigars
the American gave a sigh of relief, ultet
hack his chair on its rear less. aud looked
about him with a conteutesl expression and
\ general air 81 having l1lt aside business
AMI prepared himself Tor pleasure.
We were speaking ~ tse mysterious dis
appearances Cf "a man. Who. according 20
the newspapers. had lett iris house ih
bloomsbury squire fortnight ago 10 post
letter. telling his wife n would return
II five minutes. but who had never since
been heard or
There j. something in these disappear
ances that 1 cannon understand said
Brown Every now and then some man.
who has not the slightest reason Tor COM
hitting suicide for running away, walks
out of his front door and disappears utterly
aid forever. Say that II these men "A GER
tain percentage GJes commit suicide. or does
Eun away. and that Of the rest another per
centase Is Knocked on the head and dropped
into the Thames. there viii still remain
large number Of dissipDearauces To which
We can attach TO explanation Take this
bloomsbury man. FOR example. / know
man who knew him intima yely. aud De tells
me that n better mar never lived. Tie had
not an enemy in the woFij. and he was de-
Npgeily attached T. hiS wife and children
lie had comfortable income and did not
owe a penny. Ee was an exceptionally
hard-headed. clear-brained man. AMI the
hypothesis that he suddenly went mad Is
out of the question. - is the theory that
he was murdered 1t O'Clock on = summer
evening between Bloomsbury square and the
corner OF Southampton row and this Is
only one OF hale dozen similar cases that
have come 90 my own knowledge"
Starkweather and j agreed that the sub
l-ct was mysterious one. ami that ,a-re
80 b. some explanation f5- these di-ap-
Arauces which no one la2-vet tacG-E- 81.
= IL was then that the American sCtt. r!y
broke silence. and hrsaa UonOiostse
which lasted for thc rest OF she evening
''Gentlemea.' le Le-tn. Eve have just
such Disappearance in the states. ar
course when g cashier Or broker distQ-
pears We all know that his 5ia-e for clos
ing UP mis- business affairs and taking his
securities across the border into Canada
has come: but. Eooc. cUiet. honest people.
been describing. disappear with us mOrc
often. / reckon. than they 10 with YOU
have lest TWO Intimate friends IN that way,
and IL naturally made -ssc th.ul. a good deal
abuu- the thing. That's thu way 1 came
90 ind ont the truth about &C.. though /
have never told Twins soul. knowing that
there is nothing 50 CfelU.rus as a human
being. and that III Z told what / knew nine
people out o. ten would think 1 was "a iu-
matte or a liar. But over this side find
that people believe things twice easy rs
they do with us Just think. for minute.
how all you T.ngIishmcn believe in your
-. But there guess we don't want 10
talk politics tonight However. FIa going 10
tell YOU wha; L knov. about mysterious dis
appearance. because calculate suat yoU'u
De- liable 10 hcli-ve H. and because I'm go
ing TO Paris tomorrow. ami as L don't eN-
pee. t. come hari- % Lon ion again. il wont
80 much matte. whether you believe IL o.
not"
lie paused FOR q moment and drew three
or four times SD i-- r.--r w he-s.i E.ru
by al means 10 80 ,u v5fa l.- ~ls-y. aud
Is / was feeling ltti- .rsas-. sa. .hv
mans voice was soothing BEE .t- iauUp-uuou-
infection j rather Thought taat ai- story
did prove ,ilesoal- could sleep through
nj least a part % 70.
u WAS living 5n Chicago. @eut'emHn.'
resumed tine american. .-ssr.l tse Ir~t of
nv friends disappeared. he vas % r,ai
estate agent. and WAS making suoDe- hand
over list. with nothing on the face rI tac
earth 10 worry hiul-haEiuS hss2 happily
divorced only thaJ very year I!c had b-tn
spending tie eveniEE AZ nay house and
about 10 o'clock he started isr his LODGINGS,
which were Ia the next street. not la1 ya.4s
away. He had "a sore throat at the time.
and he said as he left ne tnat be- should
stop in at the druggists on hls May nome
and get some medicine lie dill 81. AS / ar
tervar,is found on iu4uirina of the lr5..slst,
druggists shop. no man ever beard or
nut from the moment that H. left thr tine
t4r4IuS uSJq 1AUU lsuU II --2G-l -"r s-cp
loosely in the pocket. ur lis. tt could Lgt
saw him asain. ana no man eyer foi-ud tie
least trace o. him % any sort. size or de-
scriptiOn-
..-Tl,.. was. say. ten years ago Two
years later another friend VINO had been
married only three weeks AMI Was the
manifest man 1 ever struck. disappeared.
RS wife wasn't feeling very well one san
dav evening, and he insisted upon going
<1r ths. doctor. 1t was about o'clock IN
rhe evening. and IL was = bright moonlight
right The doctors office Was In the same
e.veat about three blocks away. and the
..-.s. v.as always fun OF people AZ that
r,u- But from the lime my friend shut
rss front door behind him. ne vanished
s--nuleteIy He never went ID tac doctors
gH-, % lar as We could lind ou;. and the
only trace OF HIN that was ever found was
the evidence OF "A boy in a druggists shcp
f-7e-d's house and the doctors Office The
b,v rather thought tina. a man answering;
u the description Of the missing rasa had
come into the shop at o'clock. and bought
AN ounce o. cnIorate OF potash, bat as he
diiu'r know my friend hc could not. al
course be sure that il WAS ne from 'l't
day +, This nothing was ever heard % julius
F5.L,t- which was the name Of my miss
ing friend. aud his estate has been settled
by the lawyers. and his wife has been mar
ricd al least once since then
II E1t into q way Of thinking over The
disappearance OF these two men. ana trying
10 invent some theory tiat "''i.a .ie,'.iii'
for it f,ventei hale a dozen theories.
bat every one OF them broke down was
abSolu,ei, certain that the men had neither
ran away nor committed suicide for l
knew enough about both Of them to know
that this was simply impossible. Then
again, tie chances were az least Hiili'0h