The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-07-24
4 Rich MANS WIFE
ELOPES With another
Continued from First PaSe)
among the dead-weak, but not foul
Goodbye forever.
(Signed) IDA
ONO DIV ,JATI

(Signed) IDA
RING BY NAIL
The ring alluded to came by registered
letter at 10 o'clock. having been mailed
il Greensboro. and is engraved John tG
Ida, 1882 Chief of Police Scott recalls
seeing Mrs. Stafford at the postofiie in lne
afternoon, evidently mailing this package
at time when the special delivery would
not be made until morning.
Investigation shows that j. z. Harding
ard Mrs. Stafford took the midnight train
in separate coaches. Tickets were bought
by another for Washington, but it has
beer learned that trunks We're checked for
Lynchburg. and wire from there TINS
evening indicates that the couple took the
Chesapeake and Ohio train for the West.
Every effort is being made by Stafford. to
find them: a large reward is offered, and
State Solicitor Brooks says that the North
Carolina law Of 1901, making kidnapping
a felony, will bring Harding back If
caught.
Stafford declares he had no suspicion
whatever of his wifes infatuation. look
ing upon Harding as clever friend. He
boarded at his home for several months,
mere as a guest than as a. bCarder
THE STAFFORDS.
The Staffords neighbors all say that
her conduct was exemplary. She had
fortune from one of her brothers. ana her
fUSDGnO Is a lUdli u liiISpS4itSiil iiiSe'Aio'
She met him while visiting her brother
here in 1882 when fifteen years of age;
she was married in 1854. and no breath OF
iisparagement has ever been heard.
She was Ida Alsop. of Richmond. Va.
Her brothers. Walter D. and George W.
Alsop, were engineers on the fast mail
between Richmond and Atlanta for many
years. dying about five and ten years ago.
She is thirty-five years old. locks twenty.
Eve
hundred and fifty pounds, splendid suit OF
dark brown hair, large blue eyes. Cupid
bow lips, speaks quick and animated. She
leaves four boys from seventeen years to
eight Years old and will be a mother in
October.
THE MAN IN THE CASE
Harding is the son of one of the most
prosperous merchants. farmers and flour
ni,lers in the county. twenty-five years
old clean shaven, blue eyes, light hair.
five feet eight, weighs one hundred and
eighty pounds handsome but fer abnor-
rally short neck, which droops between
his shoulders He has been confidential
boCkneeper at the Revolution Cotton Mills
fcr years.
In Harding's handsome bachelor quar-
ter. to-day were found several articles.
showing that Mrs. Stafford had carried
them. presumably for packing joint
trunk. She had been seen taking bundles
to the mill office which he carried to his
apartments. On q table in a closet was
found new Greensboro Loan and Trust
Company check book with only one stub
and that showed a draft on July 21st of
81 22ll0
DISTRESS BEHIND.
'r!,is amount was received by him a
week ago on a sacrifice sale of factory
stock. and he drew every dollar of it
Tuesday His books at the factory are all
right and there is salary amounting to
SIS due him.
Stafford in the past thirty days has lost
father and mother. aged eghty-four and
cighty-two years, leaving large estates.
He is a strong. powerful man, but almost
crazeG with grief and shame.
Harding's father arrived tonight. but
refuses to talk. beyond expressing amaze