Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-04-29
THE RECOGNITION
OF JESSE BADLEIGH
BY II. II. GREEN

their anxiety to find her.
'Oh! where can she have gone?
What can have become of herr"
they asked themselves, but no an
swer was given. Up and down the
river they went, over and over
again, always returning disappoint-
ed. Many footprints had been left
upon the sands Ey the girls, but not
one that gave the slightest clue to
the whereabouts of the missing
Frances.
Gould she have fallen into the
river, do you Think" asked Miss
Marcus.
No, the water is shallow all
along the shore on this side of the
river, if she had fallen in, she could
easy got out again, besides, as some
of us were always in hearing, she
would have called for help" said
| Hiram.
Il don't see what can have hap
pened to her." said Tiny Spitz, why
she was here only few minutes
SINCE
"Ach! many things they happen
yet so it is in a few minutes not, :"
replied Vera with a sorowful face.
| While Hiram and some of the
girls were searching up and down
the shore, the others were anxiously
exploring the bluffs. Far and near
they went in all directions, carefully
examining each nook and Granny,
peering into the crevices of the
rocks, scrutinizing every depression
in the ground, probing all possible
places where a body might be con-
cealed, thinking that she might have
lost her foothold and, falling from
some height, been rendered uncon-
scious, or perhaps, SO seriously in
jured as to prevent her from crying
out. Then, just as they were on the
point of returning to the camp in
despair of ever finding her. CLEAN
of hope was given them, which, for
the moment promised solution of
the heart-rending problem. 1t did
indeed furnish a clue to the manner
of her sudden disappearance, but
that only added to their grief, for it
rendered the fate of the girl so un-
certain, that it filled their minds with
all sorts of terrible conjectures. Close
under the bluffs, Jesse had discover
ed place where the ground had
been disturbed as though a struggle
of some sort had taken place there.
The grass was trampled, the leaves
scattered, sticks broken and stones
overturned. There were the foot
prints of girl, also the prints of a
much larger foot, evidently made
by the shoes of man.
/ Upon this discovery, the convic-
ton was forced upon them that
Frances had been attacked, over
come, and carried off; by whom, or
for what purpose, it could not be
imagined, for no one who knew her,
would believe for moment that
she had an enemy in the world. She
was so gentle, so kind-hearted, so
loveable, 1t was inconceivable that
anyone could wish her harm. Jesse
was wild with grief. The poor fell
low blamed himself for not keeping
watch over her, it was all his own
fault, he could never forgive him
self, if he had let the teamsters look
after the things and gone with her
it would not have happened. And
now We can't find her! Oh, what
shall do? How can go home with
out her? Poor Mrs. Armstrong, she
will never get over it If Frances is
not found unframed" And the
POOR boy gave way to his anguish in
food of tears, refusing to be COM
forted.
After this first outburst of grief,
he asked Hiram to take one of the
horses, ride back to town, find Mr..
Armstrong and gently break the sad
news to him, then let Petrie, Pettus
| and Inness know, also his mother,
Mrs. Badleigh; this done, he said
III shall stay right here and continue
the search, if she has been spirited
away, / may be able to find the trail
and follow them"
The other boys said they would
stay too and do everything in their
power to assist him, but as nothing
could be accomplished before the
next morning, 1t was decided that
all should return to town at once,
except Billy Christopher and Allan
Larson, who declared that they
would not leave him to prosecute the
quest alone.
When the news of the mysterious
disappearance of Frances was known,
the little city became the scene Of
an excitement such as it had never
known before. The missing girl was
a favorite with all classes of people,