Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-01-19
VICTIM OF WANDERLUsT.
Alfred o. Heustls, Who Had Wandered
All Over the World, Again Felt the call
and Left UnceremonlousIv

A victim of the "wanderlust," always
at the mercy of the call" Alfred O.
Heustis again was unable to withstand
the lure of travel, that had twice car
ried him around the world, and yester-
day morning left Brattleboro for parts
unknown, leaving his wife practically
penniless in town to which she was a
stranger less than five months ago
Heustis came to this town in Sep
tember and entered the employ of Bond
& Son as embalmer. He and his wife
began housekeeping in the Barber build |
ing on Clark street. Heustis was q good
workman and during the first month or /
two of his stay here apparently was sat
ished and often remarked to friends
that TINS was a good town in which to
locate, especially for man who had
been travelling practically all the time
since he was nine years of age. But as
time went on he became dissatisfied
talked much about his adventures and
travels and appeared to long for some
of the excitement through which he had
passed. He told stories of life in for
eign lands, of how he dug for gold in
the Australian bush, of working in the
Chinese customs service in northern
China, of being tried in San Francisco
for nearly killing a negro sailor, who
had refused to climb aloft in a bowling
blizzard in the sea of Japan and of los
ing his second mates license for the as
sault, of rough life in the mining towns
of the West, of days in England when
he nearly starved, of working in Bos-
ton at all sorts of occupations, of strike
breaking in San Francisco, of numbering
on the Columbia river in Oregon and of
days at sea when storms threatened to
end his days of wandering.
About 10 days ago he rented the
apartment on the first floor of the house
at l Walker place and made arrange
ments this week to move there yester-
day. Wednesday night he drew his pay
for the week and later went to the I'M
dertaking rooms and took his clothes
with him. He returned home early and
about l O'Clock a telephone call was re-
ceived from the Memorial hospital He
went to the hospital, took the body to
the rooms and embalmed it. About 6
O'Clock Mrs. Heustis called him on the
telephone and asked what time he would
have breakfast and he told her he
would be home about o'clock. At 7.3O
she became alarmed as she received no
: answer to repeated telephone calls to
the office, and calling w. II. Bond she
asked him to go to the office and see
where her husband was. He went there
and found on the desk Mr.. Heustss key
and piece of paper on which was writ
ten, Goodbye" On the first mail Mrs
Heustis received a letter, as did Mrs.
Fred c. Sargent, a neighbor who had in
their goods would be in their recently
rented home on Walker place. In Mrs
| Sargents letter Heustis asked that she
| go to his house as Mrs. Huestis would
like to see her. In the letter to his
wife the missing man said that he was
| sorry that he was deserting her but that
he was failure, that he might never
| send for her but when he got a little
money he would send her some. The
| letters were mailed Wednesday night or
early yesterday morning.
Heustis was about six feet tall, with
light hair and a fairly heavy reddish
moustache, wore dark clothes and a dark
| overcoat that reached about to the
knees. He carried his undertaking case
and kit with him and his extra clothes
He is temperate in his habits, in CONVEX
sation wanders from subject to subject
which often are not related, and when
not working has a habit of walking with
his hands in the pockets of his trousers
with his head down.