Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1897-11-05

% wife for a rovaI
300 and 4UO men and women drop out
of sight every year in this city-dis-
appear as completely as if the earth
had opened and swallowed them. What
becomes Of these people is a mystery
few detectives care to attempt to ex-
plain. Foul play is the explanation
advanced by their relatives in nine
cases out of ten, murder by footpads
being the customary plea, but in few
instances are the facts such as to
Justify this conclusion.
Men do queer things at times" said
former Captain Elliott in discussing
this subject, "and of all their freaks
that of mysteriously disappearing is
the oldest. Sometimes they really be-
come insane and actually lose their
identity, but as a rule those who drop
out Of sight are not afflicted mentally.
In nearly every instance where a man
of sound mind disappears, and no muir
der has been committed, close investi-
cation of the conditions will disclose
the fact that he has some real or
fancied cause for getting out of the
way. Wives are always positive their
husbands love them, but have known
instances in which men who to all
outward appearances were devoted
husbands were really weary of life with
their conjugal mates and quietly dis
appeared in order to get rid of them.
zone of the queerest cases of mys-
ferrous disappearance with which the
Chicago police department has had to
deal is that of John w Matthews, who
quietly dropped out of sight in this city
last November and has never been
heard from. An unusually vigorous
search was made for Matthews because
he was an intimate friend of Captain
Campbell, secretary of the department,
and the latter interested himself in
seeeing that the hunt was a thorough
one. Matthews lived in Monmouth,
Ill, and was a man of considerable
wealth. He came to Chicago about the
middle of November, wearing a new
suit of clothes and with $500 in cash
Here he met and talked with several
friends, all of whom afterward re-
marked that he was in fine health and
spirits. Two days later Matthews was
missing and no trace of him was to be
found
The police were baffied, when a
mindreader gave them a clue which
led to strange disclosures. This per
son said Matthews had been suddenly
taken insane in Chicago and had gone
to a hotel in Madison street, near
Clark, where he registered under his
proper name, but in an undecipherable
running hand, and had been assigned
to a room on the fourth floor. Before |
bedtime. however, he had taken a car
and gone to the lake near Jackson |
Park, where he drowned himself. |
Shortly after this, so the mindreader |
said. the body was washed ashore in |
the Calumet region, where it was
found by a fisherman, who appropriate
ed the money and valuables. and then
to save himself trouble buried the re-
mains in the sand.
The hotel the spot where the sui
eide occurred, the appearance of the
fisherman and the locality in which
Matthews body was washed ashore
were all QeSCTlDSu WIFI uUCu uluul6-
ness by the mindreader. His story
caused a great deal of merriment in
police circles until Captain Campbell
insisted it should be looked into, and
all the essential facts were found to
be correct. Actual suicide and robbery
Of the body were never established and
many of Matthews friends think he
Is still alive, but in other things there
was an exactitude of description that
was alarming.
Matthews signature was found on
he hotel register, and he had been as
signed to a fourth floor room, which
he had not occupied. Search along
he southern lake front revealed a spot
IDENTICAL with that given by the mind
'eader as the place where Matthews :
lad Jumped into the water and in the
Calumet country the officers found the
sherman they were after. There, also,
{ was easy to make out the mind [
eaders picture of the corpse-market c
each where the body had been cast I
ID. AS the fisherman stoutly denied {
avfng found such a body, however, l
ID no evidence could be had against i
i'm. the matter was dropped. 0