The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-05-08
HISTORY'S
MYST ERIES
uasolved Riddles That Still Puzzle
authorities Here and Abroad =
The Vanished Editor

fessor of languages In a number of
colleges and his mother an author
OF more than ordinary note-it was
not strange that Samuel Stillman
Conant should choose literature as his
life work and that he should, shortly
after his return from Heidelburg, have
been appointed editor of Harpers
Weekly.
AS the years passed, Conant's future
appeared to grow more and more
bright. Married to a woman who was
congenial In the extreme, with son
who was rapidly approaching man.
mood and the position of editor of one
OF the leading periodicals In the coun-
try, no cloud seemed to threaten the
financial, business, or marital sky so
far as the Conants were concerned.
But, suddenly, with the swiftness Of
the proverbial bolt from the blue,
came strange occurrence which forty
five years have failed to explain.
On the evening Of Thursday, Janu-
ary 10, 1886, Mr.. Conant visited the
Authors club In New York, chatted
with number of persons present and
appeared to be in the best of health
and spirits TO several of them he
mentioned the fact that he intended
to spend the weekend in Albany, N.
T., with an editor whom he desired TO
see and he was going to take his son
with him. The following morning, Fri
day, he arose as usual, told his son to
be ready to leave late that afternoon,
and went down to his Office, where he
superintended the final makeup of the
next weeks Issue. Then, with
CHEEKY "Good-night-rll see you Mon
day afternoon" Conant stepped out of
the front door of the office-and van
ishedi
AS the hours passed and no word
was received from him at home, Mrs.
Conant began to be alarmed, particu-
larly since her husband had always
been careful to advise her Of any al
teration in his plans. But even the
police were unable to discover any
thing until the following Wednesday,
when man entered pawnshop at
Coney island and borrowed SIS on
watch which young Conant later iden-
titled as belonging to his father, and
also called attention to the fact that
the description of the man who had
pawned the jewelry tailed very close
ly with that of the missing editor him
self. The receipt for the loan was
signed with the name "T. P. Stevens"
"a circumstance which was consid-
cred of extreme Importance, since
'T. p" were the initials of Conants
Son and "Steyens" was Mrs. Conants
maiden name.
The only information obtainable,
however, was that the man who had
pawned the watch had spent the pre-
vious night upon the beach at Coney
island and had made friends with a
storekeeper nearby, who had invited
him to supper on the following eve
ming. After the meal was over the
man had chatted for about an hour
and then, with the statement that he
was Samuel Stillman Conant, editor of
Harper's Weekly and that he had
to catch the seven o'clock train for
Brooklyn, he had vanished again into
the night.
This, of course, changed the entire
working plan Of the police who, up
to this time, had been proceeding
along the theory that Conant had
been murdered But, even with the
clews at hand, they were unable to
find a further trace of the missing
editor.
About week later, one of Conants
friends, man who had known him
for years and who was certain of his
identification, reported that he had
seen the editor coming out OF hotel
in Fulton street, Brooklyn, and that,
when he had attempted to detain him.
the other had broken away with the
curt exclamation:
Don't you see I'm In hurry? Be-
sides, the whole thing Is nobody's
business p'
Private detectives were Immediately
turned loose on this new clew but
tney, IKE the ponce, succeeded In dls-
covering nothing save that man who
answered to Conant's description had
spent the previous night or two at q
hotel in Long Island city-leaving
there only an hour before the detec-
tives arrived. That was the last that
was ever heard of Conant, though
wild reports that he had been located
continued to come in from various
parts Of the country for years after
wards. Samuel Stillman Conant, how
ever, had disappeared-completely and
entirely-and his name occupies a
prominent place on the Book of the
Missing" alongside those Of Dorothy
Arnold, Charley Ross, Dorsey Foultz
and other whose whereabouts are still
mystery.
(@ by the Wheeler syndicate.)