Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1922-09-22
TO THE MEMORY
OF THE

TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
FEMALE STRANGER
Whose mortal sufferings terminated
on the fourth day of October, 1916.
aged twenty-eight years and eight
months, this stone is erected by her
disconsolate husband in whose ARM
she breathed out her last sigh, and
who, under God, did his utmost to
soothe the dull, cold ear of death.
That is all-and the most deter
mined efforts of the residents of
Alexandria during the first half of the,
last century, failed to throw the
slightest light upon the mystery.
The facts in the case are few, but,
such as they are, they are supported
by the unassailable evidence of a num-
Der of persons who were eyewitnesses
to the brief public appearance Of the
female stranger" The brig Four
Sons locked at Alexandria on July
25, 1915, en- route from Halifax to the
West Indies. The Virginia city was
not port of call on the regular route,
but the captain stated that one of his
passengers had been taken dangerously
Ill and that her husband had demand
ed that she be put ashore at Alexan-
dria, where boat was lowered, and
man and woman, the latter apparently
very i'll, were taken ashore.
Despite the heat of midsummer, the
woman wore a heavy black veil, and
her husband secured the best suite in
the Inn of the Bunch of Grapes, as
well as the services of a well-knOwn
physician whom he engaged only after
pledging him to strictest secrecy. Even
in the presence of the doctor, however,
the woman's face was kept yelled, and
the husband steadfastly refused to
hire a nurse, saying that he was en-
tireIy capable of handling the case
and that he was able to do anything
that nurse could do.
AS the weeks Of scorching hot
weather progressed, however, the man
began to wilt under the constant strain
Of watching beside the bed, and finally
agreed to permit two of the guests
in the Inn to help him-but only after
they had taken an oath that nothing
they might learn would ever be
divulged, an oath which was kept as
a sacred trust
During the ten weeks which fol
lowed the woman's arrival in Alexan-
dria, she grew steadily worse, and at
last, at dawn on October 4, her hus-
band announced that she had died.
Then, for fear that someone might see
the face which he had kept hidden
from the world, he himself prepared
the body for burial, sealed the lid Of
the coffin, and, after attending the
funeral and ordering the headstone
with the strange inscription, disap-
peared.
On October Of the following year
Alexandria was surprised at the sud-
den and unheralded return of the hus-
band, who remained in the city only
long enough to place flowers on the
grave Of the female stranger" and to
see that the plot in the cemetery was
well taken care of. Once a year, for
twelve years, he returned. Then his
visits ceased and the grave was neg
lected until, a number of years later,
a distinguished elderly man and wom-
an came and ordered the monument
to be replaced by another and more
costly headstone bearing the same in
scriptiOn, with the addition of the
verse:
How loved, how honored once avails
thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;
a heap of dust alone remains of thee,
IT'S all thou art, and all the proud shall
be,
They, too, vanished-taking with
them the secret of the identity of the
woman whose history and personality
is forever hidden from the world be-
hind three words 1.-THE Female
Stranger"