Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-04-26
Jennie Shemeld'S
Secret.
lOriginal.]


to bring out what was troubling her.
She went about as one in a dream
Nothing interested her. She might
, have been courted by young people Of
her own set, for she was pretty, intel
igent and generally attractive, but
she declined to have anything to do
| with any Of them.
Under advice of a physician Mr..
; Sheffield made preparations to give
Jennie change Of scene. He deter
mined to take his family abroad, to be
gone two years. From the moment the
trip was announced Jennie's despond-
ency increased. She declared that she
would not 60. A family council, the
doctor included, was held, and it was
decided to treat her as an invalid,
even as demented person, and force
her to the proposed sojourn in foreign
lands, with the expectation that change
Of scene would soon do away with her
aversion to being away from home and
result in her ultimate recovery.
Passage had been secured and all
was ready for the departure when sud-
denly Jennie disappeared. 1t was
supposed that in order to escape
tour which for some mysterious reason
she dreaded she had gone away to
some relative or friend. All possible
refugees were looked into, but the girl
was not to be found. Then it was
feared that her trouble was insanity
and that she had committed suicide.
At this point a clew to her strange
depression was unearthed by CORE
spondence with her former school
mates. Her roommate revealed the
fact that she had been in correspond
ence with Henry Emerson, who during
Jennie's last year at school had been
a member of the senior class at a
ne1ghboring college. But, if hers was
case of unrequited love, why she
would not give it as a reason for her
dependency no one could understand.
That she was very sensitive girl and
extremely conscientious her parents
were aware, but sensitiveness would
not account for her morbid condition,
especially for her disappearance.
Emerson was investigated. He adj
mftted his acquaintance with and love
| for Jennie Sheffield, but nothing more.
i Nevertheless he seemed very much
troubled. While he was being pressed
! for information he, too, suddenly dis
, appeared. Then Jennie's parents as
sumed, with good reason, that he was
i the cause of her trouble, her strange
acts and especially her disappearance.
! The very day Emerson was missed a
man fishing in a lake not far from
| where the Sheffield family lived caught
his hook in a cloth garment and pulled
; up woman's body. Mr.. Sheffield soon
, heard of the find and went Immediate
ly to see it, dreading lest it might be
/ his daughter. When he arrived, he
: found the features swollen beyond rec
: ognition. The height, color of hair
and the teeth correspondent with those
Of Jennie. He took piece of the
dress home, and Mrs. Sheffield identi-
fed it as one Jennie had worn, though
not for long time. This was conclu-
! sive. Jennie was dead. Had she COM
mitted suicide or had Emerson murder
ed her?
The search for Emerson was pushed
vigorously, but he had contrived to
hide himself where he could not be
found. Now that the evidence was so
strong against him there was no trou-
| bic in accommodating proof that his
character was very bad. People who
only shook their heads before the dis
covery of the body now volunteered to
come forward in case the criminal was
arrested and tried to testify against
him. Nevertheless the police failed to
elicit any information bearing on the
case directly, except the evidence of a
love affair given by Jennie's room
mate. The funeral was announced for
3 o'clock in the afternoon. At 10 the
postman's whistle sounded, and Mr..
Sheffield went to the door himself to
receive the mail. Letters of condo
lence We're coming in, and his wife in
sisted on reading them, only to make
her more frantic with grief. There
was but one letter handed in, and as
Mr.. Sheffield received it he started It
was addressed to him in his daughters
handwriting. For moment he looked
at it dazed, then tore off the envelope
and read, dearest father and moth
er." In an instant his eyes went down
to the signature, "Your loving daugh-
ter, jennie
! Not daring to take the letter to his
wife till he had read it, he did so hur-
riedly.
I have been very silly and may have
worried you some by going away. will
now confess. While at the normal school
I met Henry Emerson. He made love to
me, and I refused him. Then when
went home I was sorry and acted like a
ainny. You proposed to take me abroad,
Ind didn't ~ant to go, hoping that Hen
~ would ask me again. OF course I
couldn't tell you this, for I didn't know
that he would, and If he didn't it would
have been very notifying, you know.
So I went to M. and boarded with a
farmers family. I wrote Henry that I'd
run away from you to escape going
abroad. He came right up and told me
all the terrible things for which I am
responsible. The most important thing 1
have to tell you is that he has asked me
again. If he hadn't been so silly, all this
ho1 ~ ia