Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-05-29

sex, and in no case has any Chew eve
l come to light as to their fate. They
t We're seen in town or near it and thel
? suddenly We're not seen or ever heard %
again. That is the matter as it ''stand.
before the police today"
ga serious affair." / remarked.
"Seems to me | have read of such things
, in novels. Is there a tumbled down old
inn i'll the vicinity where beds are made
up over trapdoors?'
His smile was a mild protest against
my %tipparcy.
II have visited the town myself.
There is no inn there, but a comfortable
hotel of the most matter of fact sort,
kept by the frankest INC most open
minded Of landlords. Besides, these dis
appearances as rule did no take place
at night, but i'll broad daylight. lmag-
inc this street at noon. 1t is a short
one, and you know every house on it,
and, you think, every lurking place.
You see a man enter it at one end and
you expect him to issue from it at the
other. But suppose he never does.
More than that, suppose he is never
heard of again and that this thing
should happen just here on this one
street six times during five years"
II should move" l responded dryly.
would you? Many good people have
moved from the place l speak of, but
that has not helped matters. The disap-
pearances go on, and the why and the
where are just as much a mystery as
ever"
lyon interest me-" l said. Come
to think of it, if this street were the
scene of such an unexplained series of
horrors as you have described, l do not
think l would move."
II thought not, he responded curt
ly. "But since you are interested let
me be more explicit in my statements.
The first person whose disappearance
was noted''-
"Wait," l interrupted. Have you a
map of the placer
He smiled, nodded quite affectionate-
ly to an old friend of his on the mantel-
piece, but did not produce the map.
"That detail will keep" said he.
"Let me 60 on with my story. As I was
saying, madam, the first person whose
disappearance there was noted was q
peddler of small wares, accustomed to
tramp the mountains. On this occasion
he had been in town longer than usual
and was known TO have sold fully half
of his goods. Consequently he must
have had quite a sum of money upon
him One day his pack was found lying
under a cluster of bushes i'll IA wood, but
of him nothing was ever again heard.
1t made an excitement for IA few days
while the woods We're being searched
for his body, but nothing having been
discovered he was forgotten and every
thing Went ON as before. till suddenly
public attention was again aroused by
the pouring in of letters containing in
quiries i'll regard to Il young man who
had been sent there from Duluth to col
lect facts i'll a law case and who after a
certain date had failed to communicate
with his firm or show up at any of the
places where he was known. Instantly
the village was in arms. Many remem-
bered the young man, and some two or
three Of the villagers could recall the
fact of having seen him go up the sire
with his hand bag in his hand as if on
his way to the mountain station. The
landlord of the hotel could fix the very
day at which he left his house, but in
at the station failed to establish
the fact that he took train from there,
nor were the most minute inquiries into
his fate at that time or afterward ever
attended, Ir tha 1on CT ,.ncr,1f tIn yrop ,,t
known to have carried much money, but
he wore a. very handsome watch and
chain and a ring of more than ordinary
none of which has ever shown
up at any pawnbroker's within the
of the police. This was
three years ago.
1.-THE next occurrence of a like charac- {
ter did not take place till a year after, ]
This time it was a poor old man from l
Hartford who vanished almost as it t
we're before the eyes of these astounded t
villagers. He had come to town to get
for a valuable book issued I
BY a well known publisher, He had been I
more or less successful and was looking {
7ery cheerful and contented when one
morning, after making a sale at a GER {
ain farmhouse, he sat down to dine with c
hem, it being close on to ~ O'Clock. 5
He had eaten several mouthfuls and
vas chatting quite freely when sudden, L
y they saw him pause, clap his hand L
70 his pocket and rise up very much 5
disturbed. 4 have left my p~ocketbook '
behind me at Deacon Spears said he. l
/ cannot eat with it out of my posses ,
ion. Excuse me if l go for it, And -,
any further apologies he ran l
of the house and down the road in L
he direction of Deacon Spears. He U
ever reached Deacon Spears, nor was L
le ever seen in that village again or i'll
lis home in Hartford. This was the >
most astonishing mystery of all. With
q a half miles distance in a p%opulous
ountry town this ran disappeared as .
{ the road had swallowed him and Il
losed again. 1t was marvellous, incred-
BILE and remained so even after the best q
fforts of the county police to solve the
had exhausted themselves. O
after this the town began to acquire a
ad name, and one or two families NOV
d away. Yet no one was found who o
willing to admit that these various C
had been the victims of foul u
LAY till a month later another case -
anne tt light of a young man who had i
eft the village for the hillside station v
"a bod pax-ar arrived at that or any u