Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-11-20
TIE GIRL IN WHITE.
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE or LIZ
zlE CLARK TWENTY YEARS AGO.

Fully 20 years have passed since Liz
zie CLARK. an orphan with q heritage.
disappeared from hotel ia Dallas City,
MIS- as completely as ~ tho earth had
swallowed her up. IN all that western
country there has never been q stranger
case than The disappearance Of that girl,
and thoro has never been a greater ghost
mystery than has boon and still is occa-
stoned by tho evidently diseinbodied
spirit Of the girl
Tho story Of Lizzie Clark has been
county history. She was an orphan and
had some property and money. A guard
fan had boon appointed, and Lizzie,
being ambitious to add to hor little
store, set about to work in a hotel hnrd
by the rivers edge. Through tho dining
room Of this hotel runs the line between
Hancock and Henderson counties, 50
that often q guest reached from Han
cook into Henderson county when after
butter. A country swain and his lass,
II seated opposite each other az this
board, are IN different counties Many
a man wanted for some ofense in Ham
cock county has sat at this table in Hem
dorson county and grinned at the sheriff
Of Hancock county.
II was one afternoon about 20 years
ago that Lizzie Clark, who had been
washing dishes ia the kitchen, stepped
out into the yard Of the hotel. She was
seen to leave the kitchen by several
working around the house, who paid no
attention to tho girl, but that was the
last ever seen Of her. Those who saw
her step out into the yard heard no
scream, no stifled moan, no struggling,
but there are people yet living who be-
lieve that the girl was suddenly seized,
strangled, concealed in the house until
dark and then cast into the dark river.
30 that as It may, the murderers, if
they remained in the same locality long,
have been amply tormented since.
1t is said that the murderers did not
leave the locality for some time there
after, and yet, again, others say the
girl was never murdered, but drowned
herself, and that her ghost Is not u Of
a murdered persons, but one Of a sui
eide. All one can gain from the differ
emit stories and theories is that the girl
was dealt with foully in some manner,
and that her ghost still haunts the To-
cality. OF course every effort was made
to ferret out the mystery. Detectives
hunted high and low, money was spent
to no purpose, md finally the guardian
Of the girls estate turned her money
and property over to the county authori-
ties, In whose hand it remains to this
day because there is no kith OF kin to
claim it.
The girls ghost was first seen in De-
cember, 1887, when a party Of duck
hunters were returning to Dallas City
from the islands. An excursion steamer
had become disabled late in the season
and was lying ON the bank of tho island
across the bay. She was in arather bad
fix. 1t was expected to leave her there
during the winter. AS the hunters
neared the craft a form in white was
seen to run out upon the upper deck. 1t
was a young girls figure, and she was
evidently being pursued, for from
across the water came screams, and then
the following words: Leave me alone,
leave me alone, or l will drown my
solfI' With that the specter flung itself
into the river. There was q splash, and
the cold waters closed oven the white
body. Several times during that winter
the ghost Of Lizzie Clark was seen al
night and at early candle light around
tho disabled steamer. When the steamer
was taken away the next spring, work.
men and steamboatmen heard pitifu.
screams from the willows on shore a.
the boat moved away. The spirit di;
not leave the island, and it is believed
now that she was buTied on the islani
after tho murder.
OF lator years, however, the girl
ghost has been seen in a sliR at night
and it was only a few evenings ago tina
one Of the st. Louis and st. Paul fas
steamers ran into the spectral thing
The pilot did not 500 the ghostly Graf
until too late. He says he saw a boat o
white that looked more like floating
fleece than anything else. In the boa
was a young girl in white raiment, Blu
there were blood olots ON the whit
dress. "She was rowing swiftly. Whel
the PROV of the steamer struck this frat
craft, 1t cut through it like mist TIL
ghostly occupant only laughed a sort o
uncanny laugh-a half scream-an'
when we had passed / saw the spectra
craft dancing ON the waves behind.
doubt If an ordinary skiff could hav
lived In the waves Of our steamer, RICH
under the paddles. Thus spoke th
pilot, and he is q man Of few words AM
sterling integrity.
Have You seen Lizzie Clark boatf'
Is now the question that goes from ON
mouth to another during tho summe
season. The question is not asked 80 Of
ten in winter from the fact that tn
poor girls spirit docs not seem to roar
so much. Hunters have come into Dial
las shaking with fright and calling 70
a dram to brace their nerves, sayin
that while coming down from the is
lands above on the Toe they had met Liz
zie Clark walking rapidly toward them
She always wears that white dress, an
the blood stains on tho neck are plain
The girls eyes arc always staring wild
open, as If sho were being ~sufocated
Her spirit has been known TO step on
from behind q olump Of dead trees a
the head Of tho island and face passers
by. She will give them q terrible loo
and then scream piteously. In an IN
slant more tho spirit has disappeared
Chicago Times.
A Knockout.
III fs-...hTg..T-l k.w