Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-06-08
Strange Cases of Disappearance.

The numerous mysterious disappear
ances which have been reported to the
police in the past few weeks in this
country recall some remarkable cases
that occurred a few years ago in Eu-
rope.
One OF these-uhe disappearance Of a
Chester governess-bears a striking re-
semblance to a famous case which oc-
Cured in the middle of the last cen
fury. A domestic servant named
Elizabeth Canning suddenly disappear
ed from her home at Aldermanbury
about 8 o'clock on the first night Of
1853. There was not the slightest
clue to her whereabouts, and every
search made for her was in vain. Spe-
cial prayers were offered in churches
that the girl might return to her home.
Four weeks passed, and then, on Jan.
20, hungry and half clad, the girl
knocked at her mothers door. She told
an amazing story to the effect that
she had been carried off by gypsies to
a lonely house, where she had been
starved and cruelty treated by an old
woman, and at length two gypsies were
arrested. They appeared before Hen
ry Fielding, the novelist, who was at
that time a magistrate at Bow street,
and were afterwards sentenced at the
Old Bailey-one to be hanged, and the
other to be burned in the hand. The
lord mayor was, however, by no
means satisfied as to the truth of the
girls story, and caused fresh inquiries
to be set afoot. The whole town was
moved and the people were split up
into "Canningites" and "Gypsyites, "
just as France is now divided over
the Dreyfus case 1t created as much
excitement throughout the country as
the Tichborne case, and ultimately the
girl was tried at the Old Bailey for
perjury. The gypsies were set free,
and after a trial of eight days, in
which thirty-seven witnesses on one
side contradicted twenty-seven on the
other, Elizabeth Canning was trans
ported for seven years. But nobody
ever found out where she had spent
those four weeks.
The disappearance of the Archduke
Johann, of Austria, is, perhaps, the
strangest story in the strange annals
of the Austrian court. There are
those who believe the archduke to be
alive today, but his fate will probably
remain mystery. He married an op-
era singer in London, in spite of the
fact that he was nephew of the reign
ing emperor, and set sail from Liver
pool for South America, in a ship which
he bought and christened after his
wife. The vessel was reported from
Montevideo, but since that time moth
ing has been either heard or seen of
the archduke. He has disappeared in
to space, and although repeated
searches have been made by order OF
the Austrian emperor and the Hun
garian government, no news has been
received of his whereabouts since.
many years ago, his ship was seen at
Montevideo. His mother, who died
not long ago, believed at the time of
her death that her son was still alive.
The circumstances surrounding the
disappearance of Sir Arthur Curtis. a
Hampshire baronet. are very peculiar.
He left England with a gold mining
party bound for Klondike and disap-
peared from the camp after some tri-
fling dispute about the cooking. He
left the camp on foot, without food or
weapons, at a place fifty miles from
any other habitaiton. A thorough
search was made. but no trace could
be found OF the missing baronet. and
Lady Curtis has obtained leave to pre-
sumo that he is dead. But it is quite
within the bounds of possibility that
the baronet may walk into his house
one of these days