A STRANGE TALE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2041, 19 January 1889, Page 2

A STRANGE TALE.

: . — ~_ >'■, -',' ' ijw, ; la April, 1887, MVJS. A. Pjaferfoii. frbo I at the time wu ear rylng ob haitnt^l^fe i auctioneer and -* oommUftlon " igeht m ißoarke street, left Melbourne with the •vowed latentlon of golng^ta Qlppaland for a day "or two. (Several fayinaaied by, and as be did not rotor n home, nip friends ! grew alarmed, and inqnlrlea wen Instituted aato hli whereabout*, bas all with* oatiaobeis. He irte known to have had •evere domeatlo bereavement!, and when after hd deparioto it wm discovered that hla bmineat affairs were somewhat Involved It mi luppoied tfaafc fctliad oom* mltted suicide, isothlng whatever wafj heard of him till m February, 1888, hli wife reoeltvedft tatter from blmTxlt bori neither date nor addreM, but ttefaotaftarkfahawed that It, oathe from Bonttt>.&fr!oftA Tbeoontent* of It were quite iiwfrkereO*, andlt wm evident to*v that tb« writer wai mfferlng front some mental aJßiotlon. The family and there friends consulted a* to the beet.meanq of getting, him baok, to, them, anS finally un ufd friend n»m»d Sfr Walsh Toltanteexecl' to go; to Soatb.Ti[ffloft and •••eeh forPfttiwon. Hl»l«bonvcr« ,evon more dlffionltthanlie aotlblpftited thtj^ woald be when be undertook the t»ak.i> jOtt-' hti arrival In Natal he waa atriokan with fever, and whllit lying 111 wm robbed of most of the money he bail provl^eiUpincrj him thrbngh' hlu aevoaingf.'- |fo&)ng: d«ant«d he aontlnaed hlv work^ittdfi&dv 1 dltoovAred Mr Patendn at Dnrbao^ Hii landi were then entirely exhaaited/ and Mr P*keraon was foandin a.it*teof abjeot poverty. Money was. waiting for them at Gape Town, bat they had not' the wherewithal to get there; Nothing remained for them bat to walk, and they aoootnpllahed the diatanoe, whloh l§ ial<r to be aome 900 miles. There a steamer ' was obtained, and they reached Vlototir about a fortnight ago. Mr Pat#raotf)ia In an exceedingly weak itate, bat the dootpt who fa attending- him. la r quite aa^afiaift with the progreni he U makirjg. Mr , Pateraon atatei that from the da/ he leffe, for Glppsltnd In April, 1887, until he fonnd hlmielf In South Afrlo/i In 1)B88, he^ Is quite nnoomoloai of what ocourred, and bas not the remotost idea by what meana ie got there. The lou of memory !• lomewhat extraordinary, bot may poanbly iave reaoUedi from the great mental worry lie nnderwent immediately prior to hLi lliappearanoe. — "Arga»."