Show RING ta AT r nap I 1 TED U EI M ARTS EW FW YORK when frank M ladd stood on the end of the iron pier at atlantic city the other day with miss jeanette carberry and threw a carat and a halt half solitaire diamond ring as far as he could into the waters of the atlantic some of the spectators thought him insane but as the ring flashed and sank ladd turned and eaid said thank heaven its gone and miss carberry sighed happily the act probably dispensed for all time with the hoodooed boodoo ed engagement ring that four times caused mr ladd to figure figur e in broken engagements and which five times he placed upon the finger of miss carberry where now a new cut diamond flashes unless some luckless loving couple dallying in the rand at atlantic city some time dig up the solitaire the hoodoo will re main with the mermaids the story of the ill luck that has followed the ring and its peculiar ad ventures leads toward the realm of uncanny mysteries no explanation yet haa haq been offered no theory evolved beyond that the whole thing must have been the work of some hu man enemy of either ladd or bis his fiancee nothing Extra ord nary I 1 i princ pals mr air ladd is a new yorker that is he has a business in new york but resides in brooklyn down in the pros hect park south district miss car berry lives in the same neighborhood with her parents and until two years ago was assistant buyer for a big new york wholesale millinery establish mant mr ladd has a small apartment and takes breakfast with a family named brescher drescher consisting of the father mother and one child a boy of twelve while on friendly terms with the Bre it cannot be said that ladd is at all intimate with them he sees them at breakfast but seldom at any other time as he lunches in new york and usually dines in town and returns to his apartment during the evening their first meet ng ladd met miss carberry in the fall of 1909 they tell fell i in love with each other and their engagement was an flounced in january the date of their marriage being set for june 27 evi dently ladd felt tolerably certain that he would be accepted even before he made the formal proposal as he ad mits that the week neek becote they be ame engaged he gaie gae an order for a pure white diamond solitaire and or dered it set in a high ring of old red guinea gold miss carberry first put on the ring the evening of january 7 when she ac cepter mr ladd s proposal she was touch much pleased with the ring itself be sides she seemed unusually happy and wore ore the ring proudly the following fr friday ay mr ladd called to take her ahe to the theater she wore ore the ring and distinctly remembered that after mr ladd kissed her good night and started away she turned out the I 1 and as she started to her boudoir she stopped on the staircase and kissed the ring the following morning the ring was missing the ring disappears miss carberry made a hasty search of her loom and her bed then sum rarned her mother informed her of the loss and told her to take every thing in the room and hallway to pieces and find the ring as mr ladd vas was going to call that evening and she would not want ant him to know her 0 mm finds ring in a sealed envelope mother searched tor for several hours in vain miss carberry returned from r 0 the office and together they searched 0 a r h zd the entire house the girl was mor stifled and distressed instead of telling mr ladd she tel him that she was sick and for him to come the following night she remained at home from the office and se searched a ached the house again that evening ladd came she hoped he would n not t ob observe serve the fact that the ring was missing missing but as luck would have it he ile tried to kiss her hand band before he 1 W 4 had been in the house five i 7 antes and nd observed Ned that the ring a was gone so soon sweetheart 7 he a ked then miss carberry confessed it it must have gl sl aped off while I 1 slept che he said I 1 never never would 1 e tal taken talen en it off but we have searched high and low and cant can t find it breach to F nal break mr ladd pretended that it did not matter but evidently be he felt a little hurt the girl imagined that he was suspicious and when day after day passed with no trace of the ring she grew proudly silent and refused fur ther explanations they parted in an gr and she wrote a note breaking the engagement and both of them were miserable two days after that the ring reap feared inside the wrapping paper taper around a piece of meat ineat from the mar ket which miss carberry unwrapped when sl ale e took it if out of the icebox the girl at the insistence of her moth er wrote to mr ladd returning thle ring and stating that she bad found it in a peculiar place and expressing regret that its loss had caused them to quarrel ladd hurried to her as soon as he got the note and begged I 1 ei to forgive him and to wear the ring again again wore engagement ring As no one outside the immediate family knew of the broken engage ment they kissed made up vowed never again to allow such trivialities to mar their perfect happiness miss car bern wore her ring again proudly ex hi biting it to her friends four days later miss carberry ac cepter mr ladd ladds s suggestion to meet her at luncheon they had a lolly jolly little luncheon and miss carberry and ladd both remember that she bad had the ring on her engagement finger when they m were ere eating the salad A man friend of mr ladd ladds s entered and q topped at the table to speak to him and was presented to miss carberry proudly as his fiancee miss carberry extended her hand and the ring was missing she observed its loss al most immediately and as soon as the friend bad passed on sl pl e whispered disappeared at luncheon my ring its it s gone tl TI ere was a quick seark dearci the me ring had disappeared vanished completely a 0 a qa 0 a 2 4 R ng suddenly turns up in package of meat it was not on the floor on the table anywhere maybe you slipped it off tor for fear joe would see you were engaged s ladd hopefully and tact fully miss carberry indignantly denied this and called his attention to the fact that she had been proud when allen he introduced her as his fiancee tiey parted with increased coldness ladd said he was glad the ring was lost but I 1 ie e did not say it as if he meant it another misunderstanding that lasted for weeks resulted and then there was a quarrel and the engagement vas broken again the day after the breaking of the engagement the ring made its reppe reappearance pe arance aronce miss carberry found it in an envelope on her desk at home she waited almost a month mouth before she no ladd of the recovery of the ring atho gh both had been so positive that she A wore ore it at the luncheon they agreed they must have been mis taken that time miss carberry wore the ring exactly seven days and was so careful that she placed a tight guard ring above it on her engagement finger on the seventh day a sunday she went to spend the day with some friends guard ring remains on anger after dinner late in the afternoon she west to a room upstairs with three other girls ia to prepare to re turn to the city and the r ng digap pear peare I 1 oddly enough the guard ring wad was on the finger and so tar far as she co id recall it never had been off she was almost frantic with anxiety tearing fearing another break in her engage ment she determined to make every ef fort for t to recover the ring and not jet let mr ladd know of its third disappear ance until tuesday evening when he was to call he ile did not call tuesday evening everling instead there came a cool I 1 atle note asking her to explain why she had left the ring on I 1 is desk and i she was bearous deol rous of breaking the en ell ga a why she did not say so and halo kitover with instead of indulging g in trickery alth the ring the note made her angry she S 4 wrote stating ing the facts cf if il it ci CLA denied laving 1 abing been within tree three n 4 of his ofa e and asked mm bim to x plan pta n how he caine in possession po session of the ring they did not see ea f a h oil er because miss carberry was so ingry over his reply to her note that she refused to see him renewal of affairs most car ous that quarrel was so serious that it t was more than a year before the spoke again and the manner of the re newal of their love affair wa more c i 4 r 1 4 f 1 21 f 1 A at Z f an t N it 4 4 1 A Q 0 T ladd finally throws the ring into the atlant c ocean rious than anything else the details detail s are not complete because mr ladd Is rather reticent in regard to the inter mission in their it is known however that he met a miss mat maccallum of ot albany that they became engaged and that he gave her the engagement ring probably he became engaged to miss maccallum MacCal lurn while piqued over losing miss carberry at any rate miss MacCal maccallum lurn wore the ring for nearly a month then it disappeared as mysteriously as it had done be I 1 re the girl either was deceitful or rather frightened over the loss and instead of confessing it she wrote and broke the engagement and stated that she never had cared enough for him to marry him and that their en ga gement had been a mistake she did not the ring ring returns to owner three days after he received the letter from miss maccallum he received a nice bittle note from miss carberry she thanked him for send ing the ring showing her that in spite ot of mi misunderstandings sunder standings he be still trusted her the ring she said was left on her desk in the offee off ce where she was employed without a ipes message sage but she understood it to mean that he was v m ear eary y of their foolish quarrel puzzled and upset over the affair ladd called upon her and after beu ini u convinced that there was n no 0 danger he confessed everything and was forgiven they agreed to be married in three weeks weeks and ladd jokingly insisted that a wedding ring was necessary to hold that engagement ring on her finger ring found on ladd a desk two nights afterward the ring dis appeared again while she slept miss carberry insisted and the following day ladd found it circling a twined spile of paper on his desk on he paper were two words ha ila written in a large bold band hand and those two words furnish the only clew to the mystery in instead tead of writing ladd went direct to the home of his fiancee and demanded to know whether she were trifling with him the result was another quarrel and a separation more tears and they parted miss carberry declaring she never wanted to see his face again he stood it a month then wrote begging forgive ness after poper proper time he was per bitted to call to explain ladd proved resourceful that time he brought a new engagement ring and he lie pledged himself to throw the other away it if she wo we id accept him again she agreed that if the i ew ring would remain on her finger for two months she would marry him and they would know that the other ins was hoodooed for two months the new hinr sparkled on the third finger of her left hand then the date was set and a short chort time ago they r ran an down to atlantic city for a little outing and an d threw away the hoodooed ring that had caused them so much trouble |