Pathetic Letters

PATHETIC LETTERS

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Bring Back the Memory of Murdered James Richards.

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TO MRS. ANN ARBOUR

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A Letter From Richards Parents was Sent.

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He Had Not Been Heard Of in Three Years and His Parents Had Read of a James Richards Starving to Death.

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A reminiscence has just come to light of the murdered James Richards, the Superior recluse who lived alone on his farm in Superior so many years,who had once been maltreated and tortured by robbers so that he had lost his reason, and who finally after that had been restored, and he had returned to his old manner of living, was murdered by three robbers, while he was bravely defending the entrance to his domicile. The Argus reporter, who pens these lines will never forget the marks made by the pitchfork in the old man's hands on the door which had been used by the robbers as a shield and also on the stake with which one of the robbers was armed, mute evidence of a terrific struggle on a dark winter night. It is known that he left England suddenly and that from that time he became a misanthrope and that in earlier life he was far from being the recluse he afterwards became. It may not be known, however, to all our readers who were interested in him, how completely he shut himself off from all communication with the loved ones who held so dear. Two letters just found in Ann Arbor among some books and curios which had belonged to Miss Mary Clark are exceedingly pathetic. They indicate that in some way, long before 1859, the date of the letters, his parents had been given his address as Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county. The name Ann Arbor naturally suggested to their minds the fact that it was the name of a woman, and little knowing how completely their son shunned womankind, they took it for the name of a woman in whose house he boarded. But the pathos of the letters tells the story. The two letters were enclosed in one envelope which bare the address: "Mr. James Richards,

"'Mrs. Ann Arbour's,

"Washtenaw County,

"State of Michigan, North America."

"If Jas. Richards should not be living Mrs. Arbour would oblige by opening the letter. '' The following are the two letters:

Yorcombe, West Honitun Devon,

13th July 1859.

Dear Mrs. Arbour: - You would very much oblige us by stating every particular about James Richards if you know he is living and he should not be lodging with you. Should he be dead we would also very much thank you to send to us the particulars of his death, etc. , so far as you are able to do so. Any remuneration for your trouble in sending to us shall be readily made. An immediate answer in the enclosed directed envelope would very much satisfy us and we are yours respectfully,

JAMES and SARAH RICHARDS.

Yarcombe, West Honiton Devon, Eng.,

13th July, 1859.

Dear Son : - Not receiving any letter from you for more than three years we naturally conclude something must be wrong; consequently are in great anxiety of mind about you, and what makes us more so is an account in a newspaper of one James Richards and others starving to death on their return from the gold diggings, having been unsuccessful there. If such should be the case we cannot hear from you, if otherwise we beg you will write an answer immediately stating all particulars. As to ourselves we are all about the same as when we last wrote. Further particulars shall be sent if you are still living. Fearing very much all cannot be right we remain in great distress of mind, dear son.

Yours very affectionately,

JAMES and SARAH RICHARDS.

It is to be hoped that someone taking the part of Mrs. Ann Arbour at the time replied to the old people in far off Devon, but probably this will now never be known. If any of Richards' old acquaintances of 40 years ago can throw any light on the subject, the Argus would be glad to hear from them.