A STRANGE STORY.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 281, 3 September 1886, Page 2

A STRANGE STORY.

Mr Levy, whose departure from Wellington is surronnded with such mystery, was well-known in the bush districts. At one time cowboy for the late Mr Drawer, at Waipukurau, he was sent by that gentleman to manage a sffiro in the bush. He managed the store through all sorts of strange experiences, of which the Scandinavians have some amusing remembrances. Mr Levy there organised a Special Settlement Association. He managed it so well that many of the members wished they had never seen Mr Levy or the Association either. He left the hooka in a hopeless muddle, and we belieyo the Association has not yet got its affairs in an understandable position. Mr Levy had also something to do with a Road,

Board, and his management of that brought down on his head the wrath of the Scandinavians who bcseiged linu on one occasion in such force that lie had to crant their demands. Mi* then had a desire to be a J.B. Hr Ormond was the man m power, and had promised to do anything he could for him. ihe J. .. circle was a very select one those and we fancy Mr Ormond had Ins doubts about fulfilling his promise so far as tins. At all events a petition was suggested and Mr Levy had a petition circulated asking that he should be appointed a J.B. The petition was numerously signed, though many of the (Scandinavians afterwards denied that they had signed it themselves, and sail] someone had written their names without their consent. On the of this petition Levy was made a o .x. Mr Ormond has not heard the last of this as during the late session he was on several occasions asked as to the health ot his J.F. For some years Levy lias been a leading man in temperance matters, and we are prepared to admit that in this inspect he has done a deal ol good. Latteily he has held a position in Wellington as Secretary to the Alliance, and it is while in connection with this that his disappearance so mysteriously occurred. As an officer of the Alliance he has uecn woiking hard against the publican interest. It is therefore slated that he and Mi Fraser, of 'Wellington, who was chairman of one of the committees, hiity received threatening letters on account ol their ac- i tion on behalf of the temperance cause. | For our own part we doubt the genuineness of these letters, and we understand ! the letters in Levy’s possession were very like his own handwriting. They may, o: course, be genuine enough. There was a handsome young lady in W ellington. She was of Scandinavian descent, having hailed from Norsewood. She was a barmaid by profession, and Mr Levy had known her well. Me has been seen m company with her in Wellington, ; young lady was going to Sydney, and Mr Levy did the amiable by addressing her j boxes and aiding her in her arrangements j for her departure. Isow what was more ; natural than that a gentleman should do this for a lady friend ? W ell the lady left for Sydney. Meantime Mr Levy con- \ tinned his avocations, and tilings ap- | peared to go very well. At length he had j to go into the country by rail to arrange , for Mr Burnett’s mission or something of | that kind. He’went and was seen at the ; wharf talking with some people. A ; steamer was about to leave for Sydney, i The steamer left, Levy was missing. At ■ once the threatening letters were un- | earthed and all sorts ot foul play were suspected as between the Wellington publicans and the missing man. The temperance cause has claimed its first ma'-tyr and the police were on the alert. Policemen are knowing dodgers, and_ the Wellington police, after a little inquiry winked knowingty. They wished Mrs Levy to take out a wife desertion warrant, but this she declined to do. They traced Levy to Sydney in the self-same steamer that had left the day he was first missing. They stated that he had gone on to Melbourne, and there they left him, insinuating that the pretty barmaid had preceded him thither. Meantime Levy’s friends were anxiously awaiting direct tidings from him. These at last came in the shape of a long letter to his wife written from Sydney. The letter is a most extraordinary one. In it Mr Levy explains that all he remembers was being haunted by a bad - looking man and he was net conscious again until he had been some days on the steamer when he awoke in a state of great pain and emaciation, having tasted no food. Ho says that there were two young men from Wanganui whom he knew. He was almost penniless when he became conscious. It certainty seems strange that had he intended to go away he should have departed without money or clothing, hut the idea of his being drugged and smuggled on board a steamer in broad daylight when there were dozens of people about seems rather like a “ tall yarn ” and will require a great deal of explanation before an ordinary intelligence at all events can credit it. ‘ In his letter Levy stated his intention of endeavouring to obtain the necessaiy funds for his return journey in Melbourne and returning at an early date. Meantime his wife and children have suffered much anxiety, and their home has been broken up. The children have been taken by friends and his wife has come to reside with her parents in Woodville. Such is one of the most inexplicable tales we ever heard and the solution of the mvstery will he anxiously awaited.