The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-16
Many Celebrities Like DR. Cook Have Vanished and Are
Never Again Heard Fronn-4 Of Mystery Nloqlrned For

a : 3
lnolshinE an old building IN q once
fashionable section OF the city came
npon scaled dungeon. ten feet below
the street level. Breaking through q
brickcd over trap door they entered
-tliia prison, finding two connecting
| chnmbers, each containing q skeleton,
one that OF man. cronching In al
corner, md the Other that of u young
woman, lying OF clill length.
Tho adjacent housc dated back to
tho fortiea aud had been used success
siroly us IL fashionable dwelling hotel,
club. hospital aud tenement, but to
which Of these periods the skeletons
belonged no one can as yet determine.
That hey were alive when Imprisoned
is evidenced by the discovery OF cook
ing utensils found with their bones.
But their imprisoncr took care that
their crieg should not reach the outside
air as the careful sealing Of thei-
dungeons show. They seem 10 have
been doomed to die togethor-p perhaps
by .jeHous husband or Jealous loyef.
WHO knows? Out OF the lives Of their
loved ones they once "mysteriously
disappeared" and perhaps their vanish
ing was chronicled at the time.
4 similarly nncanny discover ( made
was that OF the charred skelton Of a
woman. In the lons-closed attic OF an
abandoned insonc asylum. This
woman. who had evidently been burned
while trying to escape--pcrhaps forty
years ago---was missed and Srieved Tor
by some one near and dear to her. and
at the time she was doubtless heralded
III the public prints as having mysteri-
,,u1, ~ Y1{s ,sH &
Men of Mystery.
A man of mystery" died last year
in the Owen county farm at Sptncer.
Ind. About ten years before nd had
was man OF culture and TO the poor
house authorities he related his travels
and ontidcd that he had been born In
Ohio Wesleyan University. Send my
body to a medical college," was the
only Will and testament of this man.
who had long been missed and grieved
after by some poor suffering soul WHO
loved him.
And lately there appeared in san
Diego. Cal. m artist and musician who
| could remember only that he had lost
his sweetheart and six close relatives
| by death: that the sorrow had wrecked
| his health and that he had been taken
/. to a sanatarium. where his hair turned
white, though he was but .thirty-fve.
1 He was known as Alfred Lawrence"
no better than that OF his home town.
| or even his home state. He, too has
| mysteriously disappeared from sonlc-
! where.
And how strangely arc some OF these
lost ones found. In October, 1899 Prof.
Mark w. Harrington, once brilliant
meteorological and former chief OF the
/ United States Weather Burau, kissed
his wife and child goodbye at their
home In Mount Vernon and said that
he was going to New York. For ten
years thereafter Mrs. Harringt ton vain
4 " searched for her distinguished hus-
band. only to find him some months
| ago entered as John Doc. No s." In an
/ asylum at Morris Plains. where he was
/ being treated for loss OF memory.
Years ago the son OF Robert II. Burn
4 ham, q wealthy ranchman of Reno,
! New. went to New York, plenttfully
! supplied with money with which to
seek his fortune in Wall Street. For
a time he led gay life. then he lost
| his all and to keep from starving found
/ n Job as walter. Shame now interrupt
/ ed his letters home and he became lost
to his mother. Then his father died.
/ leaving a fortune, of which ne was
/ ignorant But last summer that good
afternoon tea at the Hotel Aston AMI
! through strange fling Of fortune her
son was assigned to her table 81
| course he was forgiven at once and his
! fortune was restored to him. Yet had
this chance meeting not occurred he
! would still belong to that vast throng
the ''mysteriously disappeared
4 Copyright, 1910. by John Elfreth Wat-
.