Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-20
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES

When q man CT a woman is whisked away at moments notice, when he or she leaves his or her office or house to go to the next street and thereupon vanishes from the face of the earth. there is peculiar fascination attach ing to the case. There was MT Conant, editor of Harper's Weekly. He left his office one day to go to his home in Brooklyn and from the moment he crossed the threshold of his office to this moment no living eye has seen hiEi as far as can be found out. He stepped into Franklin square and was swallowed up utterly.
 In big cities like New York and Lon don hundreds of people vanish in the course of year. A considerable num- Der of these :'vaniShments' are for cause. but others are lacking in d mo- tive and are weird ill their mysterious ness. There are plenty of disappear ances in which the character and en- virOnment of the victim absolutely pre- clude any supposition of d voluntary effacement.
 A few years ago the disappearance of George Fitch. q wealthy stock broker, startled London. The missing man was of quiet habits and had q substantial balance at his bankers. So far as is known he had no domestic worries. There is no reason why he should not have lived ''a prosperous gentleman" but he left his office one evening for his home in the suburbs and disappeared. He never reached home, and, though he was well known no person was ever found who could swear that they had seen him after he had passed the door of his office. No trace of him from that day to this has ever been found, though a reward of $o.OOO was offered for any clew that might throw light on the mystery.
 A few years ago a romantic and painful case of mysterious disappear ance was engaging the attention of the British foreign office. c. FitZger- aid. an English newspaper man of re- pute had set out on q journey from Sofia, Bulgaria. to Vienna. He never reached his destination, and although every effort was made to trace him. his movements and his fate after he left Sofia remain {: mystery to this day. 1t is said that he was carrying import ant dispatches for the Bulgarian gov ernment and if this is true the mys- tery remains a mystery no longer, for he probably fell victim to one of those oathbound political organiza ations with which that turbulent principality is honeycombed.
 FitzgeraldS case brings to mind the case of Benjamin Bathurst. d kinsman of Lord Bathurst. who fell off the earth'' early in the last century He was sent on a secret mission to Vienna at the time when England wished Austria to declare war against Ma poleon as q diversion from the cam paign in Spain. On reaching Prele- berg, in Brandenburg. q couple of sen triaS told off tp nd in, in, which he rested. On setting forward on his journey toward nightfall Bath urSt thanked the Sentries and told them that they might withdraw. They did so and while the people of the inn were on the alert to see him off he walked beyond the circle of lights and van ished as completely as if the earth had swallowed him mp. England offered $10.O0O and Prussia half that sum for any clew that would lead to solution of the mystery, but none was ever forthcoming.
 But a more weird and uncanny dis appearance than these is the case of an English farmer named Williamson living in Surrey. One morning he started to cross a big meadow near his house to give some instructions to workmen on the other side. He trudged along whistling and singing
 
 suddenly and unaccountably vanished. There was no wall, no ditch. no bush even. that could have concealed him for a moment His wife. who was standing at the door of the house, with her baby in her arms, was watching him and she suddenly screamed out: Hes gone. What an awful thing.' and fell to the floor unconscious. When she revived her reason had fled. Two enighbors. who had been looking over the field when Williamson started to cross it. also saw the strange occur renee and were so frightened that for weeks afterward they were unable to work. No light was eyer thrown on this mystery, and the memory of it haunts the neighhorhood
 Another uncanny case which is well authenticated, is that of q boy. Charles Ashmore. He lived on farm in Sussex. England. and one day was sent to bring q pail of water from q we'll agout 100 yards from the house. He did not return. and the family be coming anxious, the father went out with q lantern to seek the boy. X light coating of snow covered the ground, though none was falling then, and the tracks made by the boy were plainly visible up to q spot half way between the house and the well. At this point they suddenly ceased and nothing but the unhroken surface Of the snow was visible. Nor was any trace of the boy found from that day to this. He never reached the well, for 1t was found frozen over. and the ice had not been brOken.-New York Press. --~--