The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-09-13
The Disappearance OF VIZ. Richey.

The Disappearance OF VIZ. Richey.
AT 8 o'clock on Tuesday evening,
August %. Mir. Thomas Beall Richey.
of Woodstock, Va, walked u of the
Howard House, corner of Pennsylvania
avenue and Sixth street, and from that
N ha never been heard of. He
disappeared as utterly as if some ire
mendOus cataclysm had engulfed him.
He was Cancelled as completely as
though a CONFUSION of nature had
buried him. Nothing more mysterious
has ever occurred in Washington. A
man in the prime of life, a prosperous
merchant, a devoted husband, a sim
cere Christian, sober, of high repute
and influential family connections,
Thomas Beall Richey passed from the
Toward House into an OcculatiOn as
absolute as death itself. That such
a thing could happen in the very heart
Of Washington, at an hour when the
whole city was awake and under cir
cumstances of perfect public order and
tranquility, is as astounding as any
romanc ever concocted by Gaboriau
or Du Boisgobey. Indeed, it beggars
romance and takes rank with those
appalling facts which prove to us how
much stranger than all imaginable fic-
ton is the simple truth.
There are details and collaterals
which go to intensity the mystery. Mr..
Richey stopped over in Washington
for the purpose of locating or tracing
his baggage, which had gone astray.
He had set out from New York, where
he had been purchasing a stock of
goods, leaving his wife to pay a brief
visit to her family, but on reaching
the capital found that his trunk was
missing. On that cOu he put up
at the Howard House, awaiting the re-
suit of a telegram to his brother-in
law in New York, and, meanwhile,
wrote to his neice in Woodstock, ad-
vising her of his detention. In the
note he explained that he was waiting
for his trunk, and would take the train
for home as soon as it turned up He
closed his message by saying it was SO
warm that he could not sleep in his
room, and that he intended taking a
ride on the electric cars, probably in
to the surburbs, with a view to enjoy
ing the fresh air while the city cooled
oh' IhO OLi lhoDIC ldSI IA shl5 IOl-
nection is that while the letter itself
was in Mr.. Richey well known hand
writing, and exhibited not the slight
est sign Of physical or mental pertur-
baton, the envelope was addressed in
chirOgraphy totally unfamiliar to ev-
cry one of Mr.. Richey's friends and
relatives. The hotel stationery was
not used. There was nothing to in
dictate the locality from which it was
sent. But the postoffice brand on the
outside showed that it had been taken
up somewhere in Washington at 2:30
a. m. Wednesday morning. The
presumption is, therefore, that Mr..
Richey wrote the letter after leaving
the hotel-possibly sevesal hours af-
terward-and hat some one in whose
company he then was undertook TO
address and mail it. Another circum-
stance tending to complicate the my
stery is that inquiry subsequent made
at b Pennsylvania depot showed that
the trunk had reached there next day,
and the check had been presented and
the property removed. A telegram
was received at the hotel after Mr..
Richey's disappearance. 1t was from
his brother-in-law in New York, say
ing that the trunk had been forwarded
from the CORTLAND street ferry Office,
and it was opened by one Of the lost
mans brothers. The telegram gave
the number Of the check, and SO it "a
an easy matter TO ascertain that ii
had been taken up at the depot. II is
also a logical conclusion that the per-
son presenting the check must have
got it from Mr.. Richey. Could it have
been the same man who addressed
the letter which was stamped 2:30 a.
m, August "a, and sent to Woodstock?
Altogether this strikes US as one Of
the most remarkable episodes in the
history of Washington. Considering
all the circumstances-the time, the
place, the well known character of the
man, e~verything-it constitutes as
profound and ~perplexing a mystery
as ever figured in song or story. Mr..
Richey disappeared OF the night OF
Tuesday, the 23d-eight days ago
and up to a late hour last night not
a trace of him, however faint, had
been developed. His friends have
searched the city high and low. They