Rival Kidnaps A Bride

1920

Girl On Eve of Marriage Is Stolen By Man Whom She Had Rejected

CHICAGO, Feb. 25.—(Special.) Police of three cities were busy yesterday trying to locate pretty Iolanda Sabatini, aged seventeen, who was kidnapped Monday night, by a suitor she had spurned, and whisked away just on the verge of her marriage to another man, who was agreeable to both the girl and her parents.

Late last night the father of the girl received a telegram, apparently filed at Rockford, Ill., which said:

"I have kidnapped Iolanda. Do not worry."

This was signed by Joe Falco, who was a soldier at the Rockford encampment and the parents of the girl believe he is holding her prisoner there or at Beloit, Wis.

The girl was to marry Lawrence Menconi. While he was at the house Sunday night, Falco was discovered peering in the windows. Presumably he realized that his time was short, as the girl would soon become the bride of his hated rival and decided upon quick action. Iolanda started for a nearby grocery Monday evening and the police believe Falco and some confederates were in waiting with an automobile into which they threw her and drove across the country to Rockford.

—The Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News, Lincoln, Nebraska, February 25, 1920, page 7.