Indeed, among the various conjectures which were put forward
in the public Press, there were some which seriously asserted that
supernatural, or, at least, preternatural, agencies had been at work,
and that the deformed Monsieur Caratal was probably a person who was
better known under a less polite name. Others fixed upon his swarthy
companion as being the author of the mischief, but what it was exactly
which he had done could never be clearly formulated in words. Amongst the many suggestions put forward by various newspapers or
private individuals, there were one or two which were feasible enough
to attract the attention of the public. One which appeared in The
Times, over the signature of an amateur reasoner of some celebrity at
that date, attempted to deal with the matter in a critical and
semi-scientific manner. An extract must suffice, although the curious
can see the whole letter in the issue of the 3rd of July. "It is one of the elementary principles of practical reasoning," he
remarked, "that when the impossible has been eliminated the residuum,
HOWEVER IMPROBABLE, must contain the truth. It is certain that the
train left Kenyon Junction. It is certain that it did not reach Barton
Moss. It is in the highest degree unlikely, but still possible, that
it may have taken one of the seven available side lines. It is
obviously impossible for a train to run where there are no rails, and,
therefore, we may reduce our improbables to the three open lines,
namely the Carnstock Iron Works, the Big Ben, and the Perseverance. Is
there a secret society of colliers, an English Camorra, which is
capable of destroying both train and passengers? It is improbable, but
it is not impossible. I confess that I am unable to suggest any other
solution. I should certainly advise the company to direct all their
energies towards the observation of those three lines, and of the
workmen at the end of them. A careful supervision of the pawnbrokers'
shops of the district might possibly bring some suggestive facts to
light." The suggestion coming from a recognized authority upon such matters
created considerable interest, and a fierce opposition from those who
considered such a statement to be a preposterous libel upon an honest
and deserving set of men. The only answer to this criticism was a
challenge to the objectors to lay any more feasible explanations before
the public. In reply to this two others were forthcoming (Times, July
7th and 9th). The first suggested that the train might have run off
the metals and be lying submerged in the Lancashire and Staffordshire
Canal, which runs parallel to the railway for some hundred of yards. This suggestion was thrown out of court by the published depth of the
canal, which was entirely insufficient to conceal so large an object. The second correspondent wrote calling attention to the bag which
appeared to be the sole luggage which the travellers had brought with
them, and suggesting that some novel explosive of immense and
pulverizing power might have been concealed in it. The obvious
absurdity, however, of supposing that the whole train might be blown to
dust while the metals remained uninjured reduced any such explanation
to a farce. The investigation had drifted into this hopeless position
when a new and most unexpected incident occurred. This was nothing less than the receipt by Mrs. McPherson of a letter
from her husband, James McPherson, who had been the guard on the
missing train. The letter, which was dated July 5th, 1890, was posted
from New York and came to hand upon July 14th. Some doubts were
expressed as to its genuine character but Mrs. McPherson was positive
as to the writing, and the fact that it contained a remittance of a
hundred dollars in five-dollar notes was enough in itself to discount
the idea of a hoax. No address was given in the letter, which ran in
this way:


MY DEAR WIFE,--

"I have been thinking a great deal, and I find it very hard to give you
up. The same with Lizzie. I try to fight against it, but it will
always come back to me. I send you some money which will change into
twenty English pounds. This should be enough to bring both Lizzie and
you across the Atlantic, and you will find the Hamburg boats which stop
at Southampton very good boats, and cheaper than Liverpool. If you
could come here and stop at the Johnston House I would try and send you
word how to meet, but things are very difficult with me at present, and
I am not very happy, finding it hard to give you both up. So no more
at present, from your loving husband,

"James McPherson." For a time it was confidently anticipated that this letter would lead
to the clearing up of the whole matter, the more so as it was
ascertained that a passenger who bore a close resemblance to the
missing guard had travelled from Southampton under the name of Summers
in the Hamburg and New York liner Vistula, which started upon the 7th
of June. Mrs. McPherson and her sister Lizzie Dolton went across to
New York as directed and stayed for three weeks at the Johnston House,
without hearing anything from the missing man. It is probable that
some injudicious comments in the Press may have warned him that the
police were using them as a bait. However, this may be, it is certain
that he neither wrote nor came, and the women were eventually compelled
to return to Liverpool. And so the matter stood, and has continued to stand up to the present
year of 1898. Incredible as it may seem, nothing has transpired during
these eight years which has shed the least light upon the extraordinary
disappearance of the special train which contained Monsieur Caratal and
his companion. Careful inquiries into the antecedents of the two
travellers have only established the fact that Monsieur Caratal was
well known as a financier and political agent in Central America, and
that during his voyage to Europe he had betrayed extraordinary anxiety
to reach Paris. His companion, whose name was entered upon the
passenger lists as Eduardo Gomez, was a man whose record was a violent
one, and whose reputation was that of a bravo and a bully. There was
evidence to show, however, that he was honestly devoted to the
interests of Monsieur Caratal, and that the latter, being a man of puny
physique, employed the other as a guard and protector. It may be added
that no information came from Paris as to what the objects of Monsieur
Caratal's hurried journey may have been. This comprises all the facts
of the case up to the publication in the Marseilles papers of the
recent confession of Herbert de Lernac, now under sentence of death for
the murder of a merchant named Bonvalot.