The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-05-22
The details of the singular disappear


from various sources. Some slight dis
crepancies in dates have been enabled
to correct from an old volume of the
Saunders News Letter. BY the kindness
OF the authorities of Dublin Castle I
was permitted to inspect and take cop
les of the official reports sent in by the
police subinspector of the district.
Along with these reports found tied
up number Of letters of a more pri-
vate character written by the same po-
lice officer ard addressed to the same
superior to whom were forwarded the
official reports.
I had at first intended to tell the story
myself. With that intention wrote to
each of the four brothers who separate
ly and together figured in the singular
events hereafter described, requesting of
them more exact information than al
ready possessed. They replied not only
at such length, but with such unexpect-
eddy vivid realism that their various
narratives, in spite of some literary
shortcomings, seemed to me to need only
little editorial revision to fit them for
publication. perceived that would
more prudently play the part of editor
than of original author. Accordingly 1
decided and let the brothers Freeman
tell their own story. When their mar
ratives overlapped, I simply used the
scissors. When too minute or too wan
dering, I struck my pen through the re-
dundancies. or what appeared to me to
be such, endeavoring to secure little
more brevity and conciseness.
CHAPTER 1.
CHARLES FREEMAN's LETTER.
In the month of July, 1854, my eld-
est brother, John Freeman, suddenly and
most unaccountably was taken from us.
One fine afternoon, being in good health
and spirits, he went fishing and never
returned. At lunch he was very pleas
ant and even jocose, making us young
sters laugh SO immoderately that my ia
Their was at last obliged to interfere, and
one Of my brothers was sent out of the
room in disgrace. All the events of
that terrible day are imprinted on my
mind with the clearness of visuality. l
can still see the funny faces with which,
when my father was not looking, he
threw us into uncomfortable laughing
fits. He had but just returned from
Trinity college for summer vacation
and was full of all sorts of joyous plans
and projects for spending a good time
at home. Poor fellow, he little knew
what this vacation had in store for him.
For boy like my brother, and indeed
for all of Us, few rural neighborhoods
could have been more delightful than
OURS. There were mountain streams
Astounding with trout, and streams
which needed only night IS rain, some
times merely heavy shower. to supply
good fishing. When the streams were
not flooded, he often brought home a
good basket of brown trout and white
taken in the pools and holes with a
mere shrimping net which he made
himself and was something like large
and long handled landing net. There
were good trout lakes, too, in the noun
tains. OF sea fishing, both from boats
and from the rock, he was very fond {;
he was at the latter sport-viz, fishing
for Gunner from a rock-when he 80 mys-
teriously disappeared. The Atlantic,
beating against very wild and almost
ironbound coast, lay less than a mile
from our home. Ny father, clergy
man of the Church of Ireland before the
world suspected it to be "a upas tree"
was incumbent Of very large parish
in fact, three parishes rolled into one
which extended many miles along the
seacoast and far into the interior.
There were no resident gentry and NJ
preservation of game. No one but my
brother had gun in all the country
side, SO that the shooting was all ours,
and there was shooting in summer as
we'll as winter, for in summer we shot
curlews, cave pigeons, rabbits and
hares. Puss abounded in the region,
and while there were no barriers and
no greyhounds Jack was, in fact, not
only a great sportsman, but the only
sportsman in the country. Enemies he
had none, SO that his mysterious disap-
pearance could not be ascribed to any
personal malignity. ALL the country
people were fond of him, and I think
proud of him. They were always bring
ing him news of 1.-The whereabouts of
offers, badgers, coveys of cartridges,
ETC., and would run across the fields
leaving their work to learn the contents
of his bag, or would shout from afar
when they saw him returning with rod
or gun, "Well, Master John, what
luck?" No, we never suspected for
moment, not until months after his dis
appearance, that he had been made
away with by an enemy or had met
with any foul play. And yet in broad
daylight, less than mile from the rec
tory, my brother suddenly disappeared,
vanished as utterly as if he had been
sucked down into the bowels of the
earth or drawn up into the sky.
The day was the 10th of July, and a
singularly fine day even for that time
Of the year. 1t was the day after his
return from college, and he was quite
running over with spirits. When /
awoke early that morning, heard him
whistling outside the windows on the
lawn. The air was "Vilikins and His
Dinah," a song much in vogue at the
time. He always came home with
new tune and never seemed to tire of it
till he got another. When looked out,
he was walking to aud fro on the lawn
taking the twist out Of new fishing
line. He had fastened one end of it to
little holly tree standing there and was
diligently engaged in taking out the
+ l.