Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1881 — A DARK MYSTERY. [ARTICLE]

A DARK MYSTERY.

Tile Strange Disappearance of Kdilo# Walls, of Paris, 111. The mysterious disappearance in Chicago, July 23.0 f Mr. C. N. Walls, the editor of the Paris (Ill.) Republican-Beacon, and which at the time excited much comment both from the press and the public, has finally come to be looked upon by the friends of the missing man as a case of murder for purposes of robbery; The police of Chicago have not ceased in iheir efforts te find a clew to Mr. Walls’ whereabouts, but, so far, they have been eminently unsuccessful. The Chicago Inter Ocean, commenting editorially upon this dark mystery, says: A body was found in the lake on Thursday which was thought at one lime to be that of C. N. Walls, editor of the Paris (Ill .) Republican, '"wfeefc disappearance two weeks ago was widely chronicled. The circumstances connected with this disappearance are among the strangest on rejord, and rival in mystery the stories of Charles Reade or Wilkie Collins. About ten days ago, while thousands of excited men and gayly-dressed women were cheering and waving their handkerchiefs over a closelv-contested race at the Jockey Club Park, a gentleman in a prominent seat of the grand stand fell suddenly, back in an unconscious condition. There was a bustle and stir in the dense crowd immediately surrounding him but the great mass knew nothing or paid little attention to one man in a simple fainting fit. The bell struck sharply, ordering up the dripping horses for another heat, and the unfortunate man, removed from the immediate presence of the crowd, was left to work his way back to consciousness, while the gay thousands again turned their attention to the races. Stranger though he was to those surrounding him, there would have been plenty of assistance rendered without doubt had there not appeared, in the bustle and excitement immediately following the fainting fit, two men, who seemed to be the stranger’s friends, and who took charge of him. It is now known that these men were unacquainted with Mr. Walls, that they were without doubt villains of the worst type, and that under the guise of acquaintance they took the unconscious.man away with them, robbed him, and ' jT?3fiasly ended the matter by murdering him. That such a thing should be possible in this day, and in this city, seems too horr* ble to believe, and yet this conviction is forced upon us. From the moment they disappeared all trace of these men and their victim was lost, and none has as yet been found, unless the silent, floating body found in the lake proves to be the missing man. It is understood that Mr. Walls had a considerable sum of money with him, and, if murder has been committed, it was undoubtedly done to cover the crime of robbery and prevent all efforts on his part to identify or capture the robbers when he should recover. That murder was necessary to accomplish the robbery is, of course, improbable. The man was unconscious, and it is quite likely that He continued in this state for some time, as his fainting was thought to have been the result of sunstroke, from which he had once before suffered. It is not unlikely that the man was coolly murdered as the shortest way to get rid of him, and the lphumanity and fiendishness of the arime scarcely has a parallel. Thieves are generally content to get away with plunder, without bearing the blood of a victim on their hands, and even the worst of men usually proceed to extremities only as a last resort. But if this man was killed, as is generally supposed, it was a needless and causeless crime, even from the highwayman’s standpoint, and is so shocking as to be” incredible without the evidence which *Wnat oecrared after the fainting man was carried from his seat and placed in a carriage at the Driving Park may never be known ; but, on the theory that he was carried to his death, it may be imagined. Helpless in the hands of fiends, no one in the busy streets dreaming that tho passing carriage contained a friendless man in the power of cutthroats, the hprrible scene was enacted. Perhaps the body, breathing but still unconscions, was dumped into the lake, to be floated ashore after days had elapsed, and identified; or, if the body discovered in the waves on Thursday proves to be some one else, then the victim may have been carried far into the country, murdered and bidden forever from sight in a rude syid hasty grave. The fact that the men who carried the helpless man away cannot be found is of itself strong proof that their work was villainous beyond description. [Note.— The body referred to by the Inter Ocean was not that of Mr. Walls, and bore no resemblance to the missing man.]