Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-08-12
AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY.
What a Trained Nurse Didn't Learn
About Patient.

Next to a physician says trained
nurse whom many Washington famil-
les know, Il suppose a woman OF my
profession sees most of the seamy side
of life. | shall never forget an expert
ence OF mine few years ago here in
town. it sounds like the first chapter
J OF penny dreadful, but it's entirely
true. | had just come off case and
was at home, tired out, one night, when
| heard the bell ring. | answered it,
and there at the door stood man in
| livery. His face was in a shadow, but
| | didn't take the trouble to look at it.
He said he had a carriage waiting to
take NE to an emergency case. He
mentioned the name of physician,
whose cases | had frequently nursed,
SO | hurriedly put on my uniform and
coat, ran down the steps and took my
heat in the carriage waiting at the
curb. We started off at swift pace
and had gone some little distance be-
fore saw that a man was sitting OPP
posite me. | spoke to him, but he
merely grunted in answer. We drove
for a long time, but as the carriage
curtains were pulled down l couldn't
tell where we were going. know
Washington so well, however, that l
| could give a guess as to what part of
town we were in by the way we cross
ed car tracks and went down declines.
am sure we drove in a roundabout
way.
Finally the carriage drove in along
a short driveway and stopped. The
man opposite sprang out and in an
other instant he and the coachman
had hurried me through door and up
a flight of steps. | had not time to see
what kind of a place we were in till
they threw open a door at the head OF
the stairs, and then the coachman went
away, leaving me in a bare-looking
bedroom. The furniture had the look
of having been set UP hastily, and
am sure, from the smell of the place
that the room was over a stable. To
my amazement, l saw that the man
who had come in with me had hand
kerchief over his face as mask. l
told you, you know, that it was all like
"a penny dreadful There was another
man in the room and he, too, was mask
ed. He was bending over a bed, on
which lay a woman. A handkerchief
was spread over her face, too, and not
once while / was there was it lifted.
The man bending over her was sur
geon, and not at all the man the coach
man had named to me, though | am
quite sure know who he is. The wo-
man on the bed had been shot, and
well, there was critical operation to
be performed. The surgeon worked
without word, and | did nv part
without one. The man who had been
in the carriage with me walked the
floor
Il have no idea who he was, but
began to make guesses as to who the
woman might be. When the operation
was over l was taken away as | had
come, but l caught one glimpse of the
coachman's face. That gave me
very good clew as to the identity of
the wounded woman. ! found $10O in
bills in the pocket of my coat when |
took it off at my home. l watched the
papers for days expecting to learn
more of the mysterious affair. The
second day read in the society notes
that the daughter of one of the most
prominent men in town had slipped in
going down stairs and broken her
kneecap. Weeks afterward the same
young woman was taken to Europe
where she stayed for months. All
that was ten years ago, but I've never
ceased to wonder about it, What the
necessity was for so much mystery I
| have never been able to guess. Wheth-
er the girls family knew about the
| matter, who the man who walked the
floor was and what was the story of
the shooting are things | shall never
know but whenever see the name OF
7 lff lTl i
often in accounts OF fashionable enter
tainments-l can't help wishing | could
solve the mystery. Washington Post.