Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-29
DENIS FOUND,
But MYSTERY
GROWS DEEPER
WRITES TO HIS WIFE FROM
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
SPEAKS OF SECRET FAULT LONG
HIDDEN
Wife Declares She Knows of No Such
Error or Any Reason for
Husbands Abrupt
Departure

A family skeleton, released from its
hidden closet after the lapse of years
to threaten with publicity the unre-
vealed secret held so closely in the
breast of w. w. Dennis that even his
most intimate friends were denied his
confidence, was responsible for the dis
appearance Saturday of the young
deputy, on account of whose uneX-
plainable absence one of the most Wig
orous searches ever carried on by
county and city authorities has been
made.
With the receipt by Mrs. Mary e.
d. Dennis, 1917 Trenton street, the
missing mans wife, of a letter at so
o'clock yesterday afternoon, the search
ing parties which have spread over
county and city and fingered with iron
tentacles the oceans bed, were called
off. The letter was from Dennis, and
his disappearance, instead of being
explained, is made a more puzzling
enigma by reason of the contents of
the missive. The letter, which was
mailed at Roseville, Cal, six miles
north of Sacramento, q little junction
point where connections are made be-
tween Portland and Los Angeles trains
and the overland flyers for the east, is
undated. The envelope, however, bears
the date October 25, indicating that
Dennis left Los Angeles about 11;30
o'clock Saturday night. The letter
was penned with a steady hand, prov
ing that Dennis left. the northbound
trian at Roseville, and it is presumed
he boarded the eastbound overland
leaving the junction point three hours
after his arrival.
Send Money to Wife
orders for 500 each, payable to his
wife, reference to this inclosure pre-
ceding the body of the message.
The letter is as follows.
"This money I received for my
Spring Tire stock; find all other stock
indorsed. Money order 28275, $100;
money order 2S276, 500.
"Dear Mary: I presume by this time
that you know the reason for my not
returning. An error of mine has come
back to walk this life like the ghost,
and I am going away, maybe never to
return. 1t would be well to keep up
my old line insurance, for you cannot
tell when you may draw it. I wanted
to tell you over the phone Saturday
night and could not find the courage.
However / will think of the years
we passed as husband and wife as the
happiest of my life. Don't forget to
draw my salary the first of the month.
mclosed find order on Auditor Welch.
"Goodby; may God bless and keep
you. WILLARD"
That Dennis was laboring under a
mental strain when he wrote his letter
is evidenced by his conflicting the
name of Auditor H. G. Dow with Tax
Collector Welch.
Immediately after her husbands let
ter was handed to her Mrs. Dennis
notified Under Sheriff Robert T. Brain
and Chief of Police Dishman of it's re-
ceipt. Whether it was because she has
schooled herself by experience as a
physician to regard the vagaries and
accidents of life with equanimity and
to be prepared at all times to meet any
event, or because she, too, knew her
husbands secret, Mrs. Dennis had up
to the time when she received the let
ter manifested little emotion.
Wife Is Mystifled
She explained this yesterday on the
former hypothesis, denying she had
any knowledge concerning any incident
in her husbands life the revelation of
which would cause him to leave home
Mrs Dennis, however, showed some
feeling of grief yesterday after read
ing her husbands letter. With tears
Continued on Page Two