The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-10-15
9euiza's
Letter..
Pathetic Stories
ofDsappezrznce
and Misfortune.

INV say romance has gone out
NM who knows anything OF q
II NJ great city like New York
"a " Novelists. who search for mo-
lives IN past centuries and re-
~ upon cavaliers, kings, troubadours and
irnnured princesses for sensation and 10
cal color are only shaking Up the dry
bones OF romance when the living reality
Is at the door. No day passes In this
busy city that does not unsarth some
hidden tale Of sorrow, more deep and ter
riole than the imagination could invent:
o. herotsm unacknowlsdged and barely
noted Of love and crime, exalted eour-
age and base deprayity. Perhaps the
most tragic, because most common. are
the stories OF mysterious 1lsappearanceS.
4 <
4 young couple. recently married and
very happy in little cottage in the sub
urbs. parted one morning with kisses
and lsughter-the young man To go TO
the office, where ne worked In the ca
pacity Of clerk, the bride 20 do some shop
ping. They agreed to meet for lunch
az well known downtown restaurant.
The husband was there on time, but the
wife did not come. She never came.
The distracted man hunted everywhere.
The brides relatives and friends were
visited, but knew nothing of her where
abouts. For three months the young
man searched; he haunted the morgue;
he wandered all over the hospitals. and
finally at Roosevelt hospital he was shown
simple wedding ring that he recognized
as the one he had given his wife at the al
tar The authorities. looking up their
books, said that a young woman had
been brought in unconscious from being
knocked down by a cable car, and had
died without disclosing her identity. and
the body was buried in potter's field; II
was his young wife, killed on her way
to meet him.
More than one person who mysteriously
disappeared has been found by relatives
In the hospitals. Frank E. Ehret, who
has been missing for week, was dis
covered this morning in a private hospi-
tai on West Forty-fourth street. suffer
Ing from the effects Of fail from q car
riage. He will recover.
x x x
In the morgue yesterday there was en-
acted the last act Of drama a little
bit out OF the ordinary for even that
place Of strange surprises. 1t was the
identification of the body of his wife by
blind brushmaker and the scene was
one 10 move the strongest to tears The
woman had died OF consumption at city
hospital and her body taken to the
morgue. Her husband was sent for. In
his agitation he walked directly in front
OF a cable car. He was rescued by
gentleman In yachting costume. who was
on his way home from the races. This
kindly fellow offered TO lead the blind
man TO his destination. and. though he
was shocked to learn that IL was the
morgue. he nevertheless stuck to his
promise. When ktsware explained his
mission the body OF his wife was placed
where the husband might identify IT. He
was greatly affected. He gently moved
his fingers over the dead woman's face
and then fell with a sob across her body
crying out In anguish. 1t was with diff
Guilty that the attendants took the old
brushmaker away from the body OF his
wife. One of the attendants asked kis-
ware IL he intended to let the city bury
tho body in potters field. Instantly the
griaf-str!cken husband replied:
mo. no. I'm poor. I've not much. but
every dollar have shall go TO save her
from that disgrace. / will care for ths
body. SIR. and poor Ellen shall have a
proper Christian burial"
He was as good as his word. for he went
at once 10 an undertaken and gave him
order to prepare the body for burial.
At the presen: momen. there lies at the
city rnorgue the body OF a woman. pre-
sumabiy lady of good position, from her
handsome clothes and jewelry. She IS
about IS years old. with slightly gray hair.
and was richly. though not extravagantlv,
dressed She was crossing a street when
she was taken suddenly sick and died be-
fore the ambulance arrived She carried
no letters or cards by which she could
be Identified.
y Xxx
one % the saddest and s.rangest facts
connected with these tragic stories OF
great city are the accumulation OF sorrows
that seem 10 fall upon the most defense
less heads. An anxious woman staggered
along West Thirteenth street yesterday.
carry ing child : years old in her arms.
She was taking her TO St Mary's hospital
70 be treated for dropsy. AS the mother
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