The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1922-11-02

the Inscription upon handsome mon
ument which Is one Of the outstanding
pieces Of interest in the city as well
as one of the most bafrllng riddles OF
Identity which the passage of more
than century has failed to solve.
This inscription comprises within a
few lines all that the world knows of
the woman In question. for II reads:
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 arms
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 Night upon the mystery.
The facts In the case are few, but,
such as they are. they are supported
by the unassallable evidence of num-
Der Of persons who~were eyewitnesses
to the brief public appearance Of the
female stranger" The brig Four
Sons docked at Alexandria on July
%, 1916, 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 Ill, 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 well-known
physician whom he engaged only after
pledglng him to strlctest secrecy. Even
In the presence of the doctor, however,
the woman's face was kept yelled, and
the husband steadfastly refused to
hire nurse, saying that he was en-
tirely 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 I
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. dlsap-
peared,
On October A of the following year,
AlcAuhuIh Wub SurpTistu dt the Suu-
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, ltr
To whom related. or by whom begot:
A heap of dust alone remains OF thee,
'T1s 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 "The Female
Stranger"