Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1879 — STRANGER THAN FICTION. [ARTICLE]

STRANGER THAN FICTION.

A 'Man Supposed to Have Been Murdered Returns to Life. Ban Jose Herald. About two years ago John C. Arnold, a well-known Ban Francisco melodeon actor, song writer and playwright, came to San Jose on business. While here he visited Fred. Sprung at the latter’s residence on McLaughlin avenue, and was also accosted by other acquaintances here. All at once he disappeared, and a few daysj later his dead body was found under a tree in Neff’s almond yard, near Los Gatos. A bullet hole in the head showed that either a murder or a suicide had been committed. The body was brought to Easterday A Morgan’s undertakingrooms, on Santa Clara street, and an inquest was held. Fred. Sprung,-Mrs. Gendar, wife of Ned Buckley, and Mr. Lockhart, a San Francisco undertaker, positively identified the remains as those of Arnold, whom they had known long and intimatety. The deceased had several physical peculiarities which Arnold was known to have possessed. Arnold was a cripple, havißg been paralyzed on one side; he also had a cast in one eve, a very prominent nasal organ, and a very heavy, luxuriant mustache. All these hau the . dead man, and there also were the same style of shoes Arnold wore when he visited Sprung; the same coat, hat and pants. And as if this did not furnish evidence enough, the dead man had on one of his fingers a ring, with the initials “E. M. E. 8.,” on the inside. This ring Arnold had worn during his lifetime. AT verdict was rendered to the effect that the deceased, John C. Arnold, came to his death on or about October 28tb, 1876, but whether it was a murder or suicide the jury could not determine. The body was taken to San Francisco, there recognized and identified by Arnold’s brother, and finally consigned to its last resting place in the presence of a large concourse of mourning friends. Time passed on. Several months later a letter was received from Santa Barbara, In Arnold’s hand writing and purporting to come from him, stating that he was stopping there temporarily, but making no mention of his supposed murdered or strange disappearance. No attention was paid to this, for the reason that it was believed by his relatives that the latter was Written by the murderer of Arnold for the purpose of throwing the detectives offthe scent. At any rate Arnold was not to be found there when search was made. Last night Fred. Sprung received several telegrams from different parties in San Francisco stating that Arnold had reappeared in that city a few hours be-

fore in his usual health and spirits. Advices this afternoon confirmed the report, and there seems to be no doubt that the man supposed to have been murdered has returned to life. Who then was the man found in the almond orchard with a bullet in his brain? How did he come to have on Arnold's rings, clothes, etc ? These are questions which at present can not be answered. Taken all in all, it is a case that is without a parallel in the annals of crime. We shall await with some curiosity an explanation from the living examp] Iflcaiion of the old *adage. ‘‘Truth is stranger than flctioA" Let Arnold rise aud explain. Since the above was written we have been put in possession of the following facts: Arnold, on arriving in San Francisco, was attacked with and locked up. Daring his ravings he confessed that he was In San Jose at the time of the murder; that in company with two others, one

ofthem, the murdered man, he went out in the country; that the other had a dispute, which culminated in the death of the man whose body was found and who bore such a striking resemblance to himself that, fearing arrest, he left for the southern part of the State, where he remained until recently.