The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-23
Prof. Edgecomb Left His Handsome Home Two
 Months Ago.
Missing Teacher is Miss Katherine Martyr, Who Took Fairfield by Storm -EdgecOmb Was Famous Telescope Maker.

Aristocratic Fairfield is disturbed, IS it seldom is. by the absence of two of it's leading inhabitants. One is Prof. Daniel w. Edgecomb, a famous scien- tist and builder of telescopes, who is abroad than he is at home. The oth- CT is Miss Kathryn Martin, who was for some time teacher in the Holland Hill District.
 Prof. Edgecomb is 55. Miss Martin is somewhat younger. Prof. Edge comb is a married man. His wife is an estimable and wealthy woman, who enjoys large acquaintance in Fairfield, and who is esteem and her husband have lived in an at- tractive and finely equipped home in Fairfield avenue, and very happily, un- til quite recently, when Prof. Edge comb, without explanation, went away; where nobody seems to know; why, is a matter of conjecture only.
 There had been talk, in which neigh bors, who put one and one together, did not hesitate to say that something was wrong.
 Nevertheless the report that Prof. Edgecomb was no longer in his home was surprise to everybody when the news came out two months or more since.
 Then the attention of certain persons became fixed upon Kathryn Martin. She had come into Fairfield stran- ger But she was a stylish dresser. She was highly educated. She was talented conversationalist. She was was received into the very bosom of the local society. Few functions were regarded as complete without her pres- ence. In the Congregational church she was especially popular. Her devo- tion to church work. Her piety. Her kind heart. Her affection for the chil- dren. All of these things were spoken of to her credit.
 She became almost a fad. She start ed a fact that overran Fairfield as the thirteen puzzle did ten or fifteen years ago. This was basket making. She could make beautiful baskets of raia. So she started a class in rafiia basket making. A list of those who attended the class would read almost like the book of Who's Who in the town.
 Then a coolness arose. Certain prim married ladies reflected that they had husbands. The class in basket mak- ing descended to it's end as rapidly as it had arisen to be a. function that nobody could ignore.
 As for Miss Martin, her popularity waned. It waned largely because of the women who had been her friends. They began to talk and goodness knows women-some women-wilI and. do talk. Whether or no there is any thing worth talking about.
 After Prof. Edgecomb went away, Kathryn Martin left her school, with out obtaining permission of the school committee.
 Where she went, or what mission called her no one in Fairfield seems to know. But when she returned the school committee reached the conclu- sion that it would be well to have an- other teacher in her plrce.
 Then about week agD she left Fair field for the second time.
 It is now believed that the facts that are missing will be rapidly developed, as some of those interested have sought counsel, and inquiry is in pro- gress which will, it is expected result in interesting developments.
 Prof. Edgecomb it is said, drove the first trolley car ever in Boston. This was an honor conferred upon him by reason of his interest in the subject of electricity. He built, it is said, large telescopes at Yale and Harvard. The t telescope in the Jennings Observatory, on the Jennings estate in Fairfield, is also his work. He has done some Of the best work in Europe, of this kind, and has been consulted by scientists all over the world upon the subject of which he is master,