The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-09-19
The Mysterious Disappearance
of q Frerch Parish Priest. A
LEAN HUNGRY HYENA
Has Been UnIo0sed to Smell Ont the
Body of the Priest Who Is Thought
to Have Been Mu der.
ed, Robbed aad
Buried.

ter10uS dNf ppearanco ex;lGod 81
interest tina thS, Ct tho Abte Del
ar Q, cure of the little parish ot
Chatenay, near E.amIe France. I,
is assumed that = foul n urder has
be. n committed.
All the paraphnalia Of detective
work. all the midnight sleuthing, al
the imaginative reasoning that mark
ed the unravelment OF murder mystic.
ries in tho works cf Gsboriau, Sue and
Edgar Allen Poo have b en- exhausted
in connection with this affair, and the
modern crime hu tors have now hit
upon Z device beside which tho meth.
cd, suggested by those famous author
i5ies n crime pale into tameness and
insign!ficanoe-
A live hysns Of the desert-an AMI.
NAL expert in bunting for all dead
things-has been employed to fad tie
priests body.
The disapp aranoe of The Abbe Del.
arue was rtainly q. astonishing A.
fair. lie rode out of hi. parish on
bicycle into the night and never cane
back. He loft hardly trace of any.
thing that could point to the cause OF
MS disappearance
The Abbe was an extremely popular
man In his parish. he el dyed q good
income. He was in exc.lient health
ard spirits. he had just been plan
ming visit to bis mother in Paris.
There was no discoverable reason vi ,
le should have committed suicide or
voluntarily run away.
He had, however, 725 francs In
money on bis person when he disap
peared, and the most obvious course Is
to suppose that he was murdered for
She sake of this money.
Whatever be the truth, 1t iS at
present wrapped In mystery.
The Abbe Delarue left the town Of
Esampes at about O'Clock 10 the
evening, riding bis bicycle. He was
returning to bis parish. At five min
utes past nine he was seen rapidly
riding along the road by . locksmith
wing at tho farm of Longuetoise.
he wss seen by It ne or two other per.
sons just before this time, but never
again.
After his disappearance the police
OF e ,ampes, q sleepy country town,
showed great negligence In investigat-
ing the case. This fact, together with
many other remarkable circumstances
reused tho attention of the Partisan
newspapers and thoy began to invest
,ate with extraordinary enthu. iasm
and ingenuity.
Tic Natin was the first newspaper
to begin operations. Two member:
of it's staff went to the spot and spent
money lavishly In emplo. ing loca'
searchers.
Tho country whore the Abbe wss
lost is marked by some remarkable
physical formations. 1t contains mar
shy ponds OF great extent and also
great beds Of loose sand known as
''sablieres."
Both tbe ponds and the sand beds
would offer very favorable hiding
place for dead body. The sand
could be turned over by hand until .
hole g.; "a ,lently dep had been made
to bury . body, and then the hole
could be filled In by the same means
and smoothed OVER so that 1t would b.
extremely difficult to detect any dis
turbsncs Of the surface.
On the other hand, there are the
ponds. The lorgest is known IS the
E ang des oulineaux. 1t Is sur.
rounded by reeds that grow to twic
tho height Of . man, and II the Grim
NAL could have carried the boay
5hrough there without breaking them
down extensively he might have dis
posed of 1t very Effectively.
The Matin offered . reward Of l, 900
franc for its discovery and also en-
Iaged force Of sixty beaters at day
wages to search the country for the
oody. The first discovery they made
vas the broad brimmed hat Of the
priest, which was found In q field of
he roadside, torn and soaked witt
mud
Then the Patrie Of Paris entered
into the contest with Hindu fakil
named Ravah. This man is skilled
n all the mysterious esoteric leaning
II the Orient. He is reputed to pos.
sess tho gifts Of second sight and pro-
phecy. He can peer into the future,
md his vision passes through mater.
lal OF j.cts. Rsvah ran through the
woods and over the sand beds, pick.
ing up pieces Of earth and leaves and
smelling them. On the second day
his intuition led him into . wood Cff
hollow unfrequented road leading IT,
tho Chateau de Valnoy.
Hero he made the first important
discovery Of the search-the p,iest't
bicycle. 1t Ia generally assumed tina
5he murderer had hidden 1T there sf
ter killing him.
At about tnis time many newspap
ers appeared on the scene with occul,
experts, among them being the Magus
Alvis, Madame FlauberG, who, al
though Of French birth, has spent
many years absorbing the mysteries