The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1918-03-19
MODERN ROMEO TRUE
TO DEAD SWEETHEART
LOVER STEALS INTO MoRGUE
TO PLACE ROSES ON GIRLS
BIER. DIED Is YEARS AGO.

In the corner of cold, forbidding
room, attached to one of the largest
morgues il st. Louis, lies the body
of beautiful girl of 20. She rests
in a glass-covered coffin, with feat
ures as carefully preserved as they
We're when they pulsed with life and
love and hope some Is years ago.
The body has, remained unclaimed
through all the years, though not
forgotten, for at regular periods a
lover, whose identity has remained a
secret, quietly slips into the dreary
and grewsome death chamber to de-
post beautiful roses upon the casket
and gaze at the face of the woman
he had loved in life.
The young woman, fair and win
some, left her home in an Illinois
town to become the wife of a pros
porous merchant, much older than
herself. The love she craved was
withheld, because her husband was
wrapped up in business affairs. One
night the young bride stole silently
away and, though she was sought
and ultimately found, she refused to
return to her husband and took up
her life in st. Louis, where she found
work and supported herself meager-
ly, too proud to appeal to her hus-
band for the care he would have Civ
en- her. =
Met a Younger Lover.
One day she accidentally met a
young man, a struggling youth who
was ambitious to become a lawyer.
but was without means aside from
his pittance obtained in an attorneys
office. Their friendship ripened into
love, as they were drawn together
by mutual understanding of each
others struggles and difficulties. The
girl planned for a divorce and the
young man pledged his scanty funds
to aid her purpose.
One evening the young man called
at the girls shabby apartment. He
found her dead. An autopsy reveal
ed that she had died from natural
cause, a malady of the heart. The
newspapers told of the finding of the
body of the young woman, and few
hours later the deserted husband APP
peared and identified the remains as
those of his young wife. He promise.
ed to return later to arrange for the
burial and requested that the body
be carefully embalmed. Then he dis
appeared and never returned.
Lover Made Strange Request.
The body, with its glass-covered
coffin, was placed in a corner of the
death room and some hours later a
mans broken voice came over the
telephone, requesting that the body
of the girl be held until further or
ders. That night the death chamber
had visitor and on the casket re-
| posed bouquet of roses and note.
| The contents of the note were not
divulged by the undertakers, but the
body of the girl remained unburied.
That. was Is years ago. Through
some mysterious potency of the en-
balming fluid the girls body has re-
manned as it was in life. Twelve times
during the 1 3 years the undertakes
! have found fresh flowers on the glass
above the girls smiling face. Each
time the lid of the case has been
found open and the hair revealing the
touch of caressing hand Occasion
ally note is found, word of thanks
for keeping the promise to save the
body from the tomb. The undertake
ers declare they will never bury I'M
til the faithful lover either reveals
his identity or eventually fails to re-
turn to pay his tribute of love to all
that rom aims earthly Of +bo ono ba
loved and lost.