MYSTERIES WHICH ARE NEVER SOLVED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2215, 13 August 1896, Page 49

MYSTERIES WHICH ARE NEVER SOLVED.

Bbal Happenings, Strange and Weird.' Of criminals cleverly run to earth and mysteries explained away accounts perpetually reach us. Less seldom are the details recorded of those strange but not infrequent happenings which beffla even the sleuth-hounds of the law and remain for ever unfathomed. , Here, for instance, is ..a problem "which, besides defeating the detective^, almost defies the efforts of the theorist to suggest a solution. An elderly gentleman, a bachelor living by himself in a flat, one day announced to his friends that, being rich and finding tbat the strain of business was becoming too much for his head; he should retire. From that moment he set to work to realise hit assets, turning everything into gold. His business, bis stocks and shares, his ground rents, all were sold. Th» last tdgoiwasa parcel of debentures, for which he received one morning from bis brokers a heavy cheque. "May I ask what you intend doing; with your fortune?" ventured the stockbroker", somewhat • suspicion* of his client's manner. "I have a very safe investment," . said the gentleman quite soberly. He went' to the bank, \dfew 'the amount in sovereigns, returned to his lodgings, said he was going- for a walk; and 1 appeared. Two days after he taken ujr in a distant town as a wandering lunatic. Not a spliiary coin was found in his pockets, and' in answer to all questions concerning. hta wealth he replied, with a ounning glance, "I've got no money. You can a»k at the bank." In the mad-house he ended his days, and all the efforts of his friends and the deteotives they employed failed to 'bring to light a single penny of his fortune.' A young man earning a modast salary as an architect's clerk was one -day astounded to lQarn that a; rich timber dealer in the colonies, of whom ho had never , heard, had died and left him several thousand pounds. Coming into his wealth, the lucky legatee set aside ! a sum of £50, which he devoted to endeavouring to find out why the money bad been ' left to him. The next-of-kin were equally ' curious to find ont why it had not come their way. A searching investigation was made, producing, however, but meagre results. All tbat could be discovered was this : The deceased man kept a book of newspaper cuttiDgs; Amongst those on the very first page was a clipping from an English paper reporting -a "light and air" case,and ; in« | eluded in this were five lines of evidence— i concsrning the number of " courses " in the | fyalt— given by the young man himself,' who had been a witness at the trial.

One Sunday night a builder's foreman' residing in the suburbs, after writing a letter to his brother concerning some fowls 1 he wished' to sell, went out to post it- in a pillar box at the' corner of the street: ' Ths door ha ,' left ajar, but he never returned; From tliafr • moment he disappeared cdmpletely^andlfor 'a week neither he nor the letter was K&rd • of. > Then,: weird'" to relate/ the epistle 'did reach the brother, having been -posted on the following Sunday at an-office near the pillar box. But of the missing man no trace was ever discovered.

Spending his holidays at a seaside resort, a young Frenchman complained to the police that whenever he ventured away from the town two men followed him, lurking behind trees, dodgiog in and out of ditches. Watch was kept, bat no one appeared, so the young fellow's story was discredited. The following year he visited a different place. One afternoon, rambling in a wood, he was pounced upon by two strange men, one of whom, producing a revolver, threatened to kill him if he resisted. To a little hut he was taken, where there was a third man with a camera. The first two, stooping down, held their captive's wrists and ankles, while the other took throe pictures of him and then hurried away. About half an hour the men waited, and then, renewing their threats to shoot him if he stirred, they went behind the little hut. For some time the yoang man stood still ; but, hearing no sound, he at last walked round the hut and found that his captors had ma^e off. To the town he returned unmoloted, and at once set the police on the track. The. wood was searched from end to end and nothing found. Nearly two years afterwards it was discovered that, six months before, the proprietor of a small Spanish illustrated paper had been paid some £30 to print an article announcing the death of a Mexican, grandee and giving as a picture of him the photograph of the young man taken in the wood. Nearly the whole of the papers had been bought up on publication ; but beyond this nothing more was ever gleaned concording the plot, its aim, or its instigators. Even stranger still read the details o£ another case that was at the time referred to m being as " coherent v * nightmare*" V,

respectable-looking man one evening entered' ' ft' police station, and" in quite' a collected jmanner asked the time. " Twenty past. 10," he was informed, and then, looking the Inspcotor full in" the: lace, he said; "I hope yotfll" know me' again," and went' away. • Next morning'in a-'qaiet part of the town a man wbb' discovered to have^ been murdered' by a fellow lodger with whom he shared aloedroom. People in the house had heard apcuffle. What time?- About 20' past 10, and' Ihen all was quiet. Where was the- lodger? 1 fie bad disappeared; butin a portraitfof him the offioenrecognised the stwnge visitor who had called at the poliod station. The missing man had' lost a front tooth. Pictures of him were circulated; about' the oountry, and then ti dentist: remembered to bave^hurriedly supplied a single tooth to a man answering the description. Bat nothing oame of the olue, «nd tW whole affair- was nearly forgotten •when another incident added to the' mystery* In' a Sbuth^ Americaa settlement an ' " BmJgrant; while looking; over an 1 old paper from Home, came across the 1 - picture', of the wanted man and recognised 1 " it as that' of an individual owning anad jaoeht cabim' Heinformed hiß companions, and'" theycommunicated' with the police. A detcotive officerwas onhis way out, when, getting one evening the wdrsefor* drink,- some of 'the' settlers 1 'told- tbV- suspected man pointr blank that they, knew who be was. He denied such Wenti'ty, abd\deo)ared/h«' could eariJy' prove' tliat t he''h : ad-!b«en- 'oufr-there several 1 years befbre- the murder, waß committed. ■Several others backed up his contention, . imd a free- fight ensued; in wbioh the ear- • pected man had- a front tooth knocked out; though whether it was false or not was never discovered. When order was restored the accused man retired to hit hut and was never seen sgaiD, for- when the cabin was b.^ken open it 1 was found in perfect order, but tenantlesst A copy of the incriminatingnewspaper was discovered in a sea-chest ; and; whether by design or accident none could ssy, but a cheap clock over the- fireplace, though- fully wound- up, had been ■topped at the fatal hour of 10.20 1