MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4287, 6 December 1892, Page 3

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES.

» Dead Men Tell Some Tales. (Australian Truth,) Now that the Melbourne Cup has been won and lost—particularly lost "■A -we maylook out for the usual baton of inybtorious disappearances which invariably occur about tbie season of the year. Several voids are already noticeable in social circles, of course, but these aro accounted for in a mattor-of fact sort of way; tho porsons immediately interested having cither skipped by the light of the moon, or gracefully retired at the in- , vitation of tho police authorities, who have been remarkably generous in this respect of late, The startling disappearances have yet to come. That they will come is very certain, for, in addition to tho ruin worked by tho bogus bankerß and mine manipulators, the big pot capsized by Glenloth has badly scalded many who for the rest v of their lives will have strong reason to curse the" Milkman's Year." In

running over the list of sportive spirits who have already stepped suddenly out from the madding crowd, we romember that Mr Bennett, ex-manager

of thePaddington Bank, was drowned on last Christmas Eve at Bondi, and .gjtn him disappeared over L 15.000 wother person's money. In addition to committing suicido by drowning, Bennett also shot himself dead, after which he laid himself down in sonic very secluded spot (never yet discovered) and died again, from starvation and exposure. All this was fully proved by the fact of his olothes having been found ueatly stacked on tho rooks, together with a revolver one chamber of which had been fired off; but the police aro a doubting lot, and . it is said that one or two of them still '.look for the long-lost banker on board incoming boats and mournfully warblo ' Will he no' como back again?' It was said that Bennett was Been at church on Christmas morning, escorting ladies round the Centennial Park on Christmas afternoon, and that be played in a city cricket uratoh on Boxini; Day, but all this waß satisfactorily accounted for by the spiritualistic theory that certain frisky spirits sometimes take the form of other

shades, and amuse themselves by popping round on earth and having Jrhoaps of fun in their tssumed characters. Possibly, therefore, some misohievoußSpook impersonated Bennett, but one thing is dead cei tain—the banker got dean away, and the fif teen thou, went with Him also. The number of persons who have been drowned and then called b*ck to life by spirit-raising detectives is simply marvellous. Before Bennett vanished,' a Mr Calder Wood was found drowned at C'oogee; at least, bis clothes wero found stacked up in Iho good old style, and tho polieo fairly turned this end of the Pacific Ocoan upside down in their wild cndeavourß to recover the body, ft was discovered about two months afterwords by Detective Hyndes, and when asked to plead as to certain defalcations in the accounts of the Victorian Railway Labourers' Society, it said, 'Not guilty, 1 as firmly as if it had nover been under water at all. The police, who had been drag-

ging the bottom out of the sea at Coogeo all tho time, said nothing also, their remarks were more suited to their own private feelings than they would bo in the columns of Truth. Another highly respectable Sydney man who went under for a fei? thousands, a deal of which was spent in Sardanapalian suppers for the shapely sirens of the same' Tambour Major' crowd, and who was drowned in the usual cheerful stylo now fills one of the most lucrative billets in Honolulu, and he is never short of congenial company either, or King Kalakaua's delightful dominion is a veritable Refuge of Sinners of the absconding persuasion, Over there an extradition warrant is of no more account than an order on_Abigail'B ' busted' bank, and the climate is the healthiest in the world for persons who have been drowned in Australia and wish to gradually recover. As a tonic for those the air of Honolulu has no equal. During the palmy days of the 'Tarn-

bout Major' high-kiokiug company, a JL highly respectable and influential ' Melbourne citizen was found drowned in tlio Yarra (clothes on bank, as usual), and his untimely fate was mourned, not only by'Tottie' and 'Lottie," but also by quite a number of business people, who, like Bachel, lifted up their voices in one wild howl, and refused to be comforted, Six months later this estimable man was seen doing the Aquarium in London in the most' bong-tong' style imaginable. He bad 'em all on, including his beautiful wbiskors, and ' Tottie * and 'Lottie,' looking as pretty as paint (could make them), held up an arm apiece. One of the saddeßt cases on reoord in tbo mysterious disappearance line is that of a well-known and popular sportsman who held a responsible commercial position in Melbourne some few years ago, and who was supposed to have been as safe and as moral as a ohurch, One night, howovor, his manager and a beastly in» „ quisitive detective called on him at ■sir' his splendid villa near the Yarra, and talked about some most unpleasant Bubjeots in a decidedly unpleasant way, The unfortunate man then begged for a few minutes to speak privately with his wife, and this being granted he slipped out through the back gate and drowned himself in the river,

Being pushed for time, he took his clothes with him, and about a fortnight after this a terribly decomposed body was found lower down and fully identified as thai of the missing magnate, An inquest was held, and the poor corpse was duly interred and mourned for, This was extremely unfortunate for the gentleman in the coffin (or Bomeone else), for just a week before his (supposed) body was fished up, he had won LI 1,000 in a double on the Derby and Cup, which .money the benevolent bookieß have carefully held in trust for him ever since, and they are likely to hold it until the great day of final settlement for us all arrives. The

real body of this unlucky sport is in 4' verv fine form to-day, however, over 'i'risco way, and is another of the many proofs which can be found to show that the sea quite frequently gives up its dead;,and, providing they got away with the plunder, these parties seem to thrive all the better for their drowning. But the most extraordinary case of all has yet to be mentioned, Not .twelve months ago, during the height ,of tho bank boom, a director of an institution, which has since gone to pieces, gave up the ghost in a very sudden manner, lie had not been long ill, but tho undertaker arrived one day, and the usual arrangements in such cases madeßnd provided were carried out; the hearse and coffin were followed to the grave in the prtbodos

style. Now the unfortunate bank director is flourishing in pastures new, while some of bis quondam partners will bo buried in living tombs for a considerable term, kt least some very well-informed people are prepared to swear that this is absolute fact; and somo day, perhaps, when the grave is opened, tbo coffin will give up ft few bricks or Btones, or some other handy substance, that has done duty for the corpse of a missing bauk director.