A Greenwich Romance.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 186, 11 August 1904, Page 4

A Greenwich Romance.

A three-act romance from real life has come to light al imroinanlic Greenwich this week. The characters are John Gobbet, a bargeman, his wife, and the corpse of an unknown. The curtain was raised on Act I. early in the month of Juno, 1904. John Gobbet announced to his spouse that lie hud got a job on the barge jueen Alexandra, bound for Colchester, and went off. Several days passed, and the wife grew alarmed because she did not receive her husband's customary letter announcing his arrival at his destination. Her alarm was greatly enhanced when, on Jim*.- 6th, she read that the deud body of an unknown waterman had Lean found floating in the Thames hard by Greenwich causeway. She hastened to the mortuary, and there upon the slab lay the corpse of a man she identified as her husband. The features were distorted, hut she was mitle certain that they were i lose of her John, and,thc disclosure of a deformity in one of the legs, a scar on the nose, and a birthmark confirmed her conviction. Moreover John's father also idenliiied the body as that of his son, and the only person to express any doubts as to the identity of the corpso was a local policeman who had been a close friend of GolAcl.

Act 11. was taken up by the in-qii-cKt on the body on June 10th, the estalvHclimont to the satisfaction uf twelve good men and true and the coroner that tho body was that of Jo m Gobbet, and the 'burial two days later at Nunhead Cemetery of the corpse, in tho presence of "the widow" and a host of sorrowing relatives and friends. Tho alleged John was "put away" in slyly. His coffin was of polifhcd ouk, with bras-i fittings, and there was no stint oi mourning coaches, drawn Ivy black horses, arrayed in all that funereal bravery beloved by some classes. Flags dowin the riverside were halfmasted, tradesmen the Gobbets jkitronlsed put up one shutter in token of their sense of loss, and, generally speaking, "John Gobibebt" was laid to rest with all honours. Act 111., which closed on Saturday evening, was what dramatic critics call "full of incident and movement." On Friday evening, a week after the inquest, Mrs Gobbet was nstounded at receiving a letter purporting to come from her husband. It contained a postal order, and explained that his return from Colchester had been delayed, but he hoped to arrive at Greenwich on Saturday. Hut the letter was not in Gobbet's handwriting, and was datid Jimo 19th, three days ahead of time !• Saturday came, and the morning passed without event. In the afternoon Mrs Gobbet was sadly pursuing her household duties »1 m the door open* ed, and in walked John ! The very identical John, alive, hale mid hearty, and wortdoring why on earth his wife stared tit him as if she saw a ghost, and tlre-n burst into hysterical tears of joy ! Explanations followed. John was told for the first time of his "death" and "burial," and loud were his exclamations at I he story. Then neigMwurs tx-gan to pour in with amazed congratulations and "bereaved" relatives were fetched to see the resurrected: hus-linnd. So the curtain fell upon one. of those happy endings beloved by the British public—at Greenwich, as elsewhere. Yet there is a "loose end" to the play, or what of the drowned man who lies burial at Xunhead ?

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