On the morning of the eighth of June, 1893, at about ten o'clock, crowds were seen clustered in front of the daily newspaper bulletins in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boston. The excitement rivalled that occasioned by the assassination of Garfield, and by night the country was as bewildered and aghast as when the news came that Lincoln was murdered. This was the announcement as it appeared in blood-red, gigantic capitals by the door of the New York Tribune building:UNPRECEDENTED CALAMITY! AWFUL MYSTERY! THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE SPIRITED AWAY FROMTHE WHITE HOUSE! TWO SERVANTS FOUND GAGGED! NOT A TRACE OF THE DISTINGUISHED COUPLE! THE COUNTRY AGHAST AT THE DREADFUL POSSIBILITIESOF THIS DISAPPEARANCE! Extras found enormous sales, but they contained no more news than this. Business was brought to a standstill and stocks fell in half an hour from five to twenty per cent. The land was convulsed. It was true that there were those who thought the whole thing a colossal hoax perpetrated by the defeated party. But as time went on the startling and incredible news was confirmed. The evening edition of the New York Sun had these ominous headers. THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE HAVE ACTUALLY DISAPPEARED. THE GAGGED SERVANTS OF THE WHITE HOUSE TELL THEIR STORY. THEY ARE IN PRISON ON GRAVE SUSPICION OF CONSPIRACY. THE CARD OF AN EMINENT POLITICIAN FOUND IN THEVESTIBULE OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. IS A DARK POLITICAL PLOT ABOUT TO BE UNEARTHED?
