The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1916-02-25
ROBERT C. CROW
LEAVES ARMY TO
REJOIN FAMILY
Former Postmaster at Caru-
thersvilIe Writes Wife He
Has Been Discharged.
DISAPPEARED IN 1914
TO ESCAPE AFFINITY
Wife Tells How Daughters Grief
Forced Him to Write
Home.

Robert G. Grow, the former Post
master of Caruthersville, Mo-, who dis
appeared from his home, December q
1914, in order to free himself from
Mrs Bessie Halliday of limo, with
whom he had been associating for
several years, is expected to return
home within few days.
Two days after his disappearance he
Joined the United States army at New
Orleans and was assigned to the Coast
Defense in the East. In a letter to
his wife, written from a city in Massa-
chusetts, two days ago, he said he had
obtained his release and was return
ing home to regain his lost reputation.
Mrs. Crow and her husband have
been corresponding for almost year,
but it has only been a few months
since this fact became known. For
several days after his disappearance,
his brother, Charles A, Grow, former
Congressman, remained in st. Louis,
lOUhlIlB lOI IllG IlilSSlllS llldil
Crow disappeared from the Pontiac
hotel in that city one day after he had
promised to meet the Halliday woman
there When last seen he carried sew
eral hundred dollars in currency and it
was believed that he had been murder
ed for his money. Finally he was Civ
en- up for dead, ana Mrs. Grow made
request for the amount Of his life
insurance, but before the companies
had made arrangements to pay the
claim, Mrs. Crow received a letter
from him and cancelled her request for
the money.
The fact that she had learned his
whereabouts was kept a secret, but
when Crow expressed a desire to re-
turn to his wife and family and was
forgiven by Mrs. Grow, she notified his
relatives and friends that he was in
the army.
Crows story of how he came to
communicate with his wife was told by
Mrs. Crow to close friends only last
week. One month after he joined the
army and was station in the East, he
had soldier friend write TO the Globe
Democrat in St. Louis, asking for cop
les of the paper containing stories of
his disappearance.
In one of these was 4 statement
that his seven-year-Old daughter,
Ruth, had suffered a nervous collapse
over his strange absence. This so
affected Grow that he wrote to his
wife, notifying her of his whereabouts
and requested her to write to him. She
complied and he answered, telling her
of the circumstances that had caused
him to disappear.
He had been associated with Mrs.
Halliday of Illmo for several years, he
wrote, and was unable to sever his re-
lations with her. She wanted him to
marry her, he told his wife, and on
two occasions she had visited Caruth-
ersviIle, to compel him to we'd her.
In order to keep his relations with
her from his wife, Crow says, he
wrote the Halliday woman, asking her
to meet him in St. Louis. He tried to
effect a means for breaking off his re-
lations with the woman, but after
meeting her in St. Louis, he decided
the only way to save himself and fam
lily from disgrace would be to run
away, creating the belief that he had
been slain.
Crow pleaded with his wife to take
him back, promising never to stray
from the narrow path again. She
wrote a pathetic letter, forgiving him.
He then began working to obtain his
release. His brother, former Con-
gressman, went to his aid and induced
members of Congress to assist. He
was discharged last week.
Irs. Crow and her two small chill
dren are anxiously awaiting his home
coming