Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-02-03
The Daily Story
STERIoUS DISAPPEARANCE-BY JOHN TURNLEE
Copyrighted 1914 by Literary

/ ged into an empty field nea- =
house. where the sick man was ~. ~
ing for him. Curiosity to know ~.
Henderson had contrived to ys+ =,
of the body here came in and 49,
| fuel to the fame
One morning just before davhr..
/ Henderson's wife heard the sonnS !.
! horses hoofs without. She awsgs.
her husband. who arose and ,oorss
out through the window. saw ths. =
house was surrounded by mou,s..
masked men. Then there was ran
the door
Henderson went down to ansvs-a q.
summons and asked what was wan.ss
A map-leader of the vigilance ~.
mittee-entered. forced Henderso. :
dress and despite the pleadihSs ~ I.
wife and children took him fror, !.
house and down the road for sho-,
distance. where they stopped under
tree.
Confess that you murdered Dr. A,
water" said the leader.
81 did not"
A rope was produced, placed srou,s
Henderson's neck and the other ana
thrown over limb of the tree. Thu
culprit was again called on to confess
but persisted in his innocence "a
was drawn up slowly until he becams
unconscious, then lowered and whs,
revived called on again to confess.
Believing that he would not I,rs
through another such ordeal. Hendsr
son to gain time admitted that he had
murdered Atwater, but that two otbs,
men were implicated with him. i,
they would give him a trial by law ba
would make plain the whole schem.
which was to force the doctor TO Ton
them where he had buried a large SIM
of money.
The committee-there were ten If
them-consulted together and agreed
that 1t would be well to get the whole
story and to do this had better sta,
the proceedings. So, taking OF thar
masks, which, now that Hendersa
had confessed, were not necessary.
they took him to the jail and turned
him over to the sheriff.
Henderson secured one delay after
another, while he sent out statements
of his case to editors all over the coun
try begging them to publish it in the
hope that DR.. Atwater would see It
and come back to save him. Several
months passed, and nothing came Of
this effort. At last Henderson could
find no excuse to put his trial of long
er and made up his mind that, having
confessed, he would have to swing
The trial came off, and. having in
vented the story duplicating Others, be
confessed az much. giving as reason
that had he not done so he would have
been put to death.
The feeling ran so high against hin
that, though the judge charged the
jury that there was no real evidence
against the prisoner and though four
of the twelve jurymen at first voted
for an acqllittal. a verdict Of guilty
was handed in by the foreman.
Scarcely was the word spoken when
a man was seen elbowing his way
the crowd, and when he broke
into the open space occupied by the
lawyers an exclamation of astonish-
ment burst forth. He was DR.. At
water. the. supposedly murdered man
Atwater had seen one of the notices
Of the position in which he had placed
the man who had befriended him and
FASTENED to save him. The reason Of
his coming to r. and of his disap-
)earance from there was that he had
lad trouble with his wife and had been
1frno fa6 l.x, 10 20 hoT
llimony which had loaded him with
iebt. To escape from further demands
lie had gone west and practiced bis =
profession under an assumed name
The letter he had received which had
him was from his brother
notifying him that his wife had learn
ID of his wherea bouts. When called
ut on the night of his disappearance.
instead of going to visit the patient be
lad travelled till morning. turning up
fter several weeks shifting, In an-
Their locality and under another name
Before leaving the courthouse Hen
erson entered a complaint against the
en- members of the vigilance commit
ee for ''felonious attack with intentto
ILL.," claiming $4,000 from each ana
very one of them for barbarous and
lhuman treatment. They We're all 81.
asted the same afternoon and lodged
! the same Jail in which Henderson
ad been confined. Some Of them Sc
ared bail and were liberated: others
in confinement until the mat
.r was settled.
Those who were free met togetAef
nd sent one of their number to hen
erson with a proposition TO pay MN
D behalf of all the committee % PEI
mt of his demands IL he would WIZ
raw his charge. He declined tne
opposition. A meeting of citizens was
lied and the full amount of the clam
Used by subscription. 1t was pau
-er to Henderson within sixty dass'
Id he withdrew his suit.
Henderson paid the doctors arres.s
r alimony. after which he. bis wiz
Id children and the doctor all disap =
jared and never were seen IN
:ain. 1t is said that Henderson
ape grower in California ana 'ua
e doctor is practicing medicine
me foreign country.
=