Girl Is Kidnaped On Way To Work

1920

PRETTY MISS OF 20 WHISKED AWAY IN CAR.

Sees Another Abducted Woman in Auto — Is Thrown Out Bruised and Frightened.

ROCHESTER, New York. — The movies missed a thriller when pretty Hilda Gresens, 20, was kidnaped by three men. The girl was carried a mile in a closed taxicab when she was thrown into the street. The police have made no progress in investigating the outrage, inasmuch as the girl was so badly frightened and misused she was unable to give a reasonable description of her assailants.

Miss Gresens is employed in a factory. She was on her way to work when attacked. She had reached a street near the factory, when an automobile drew up to the curb and two men alighted. The girl was seized and forced into the car despite her struggles and screams for help.

Sees Another Girl.

In the car, Miss Gresens claims, was another girl, who apparently was drugged, as she appeared to be dazed and made no effort to help herself in any way. The curtains of the machine were drawn tightly, and she said she did not know what route the car took after she had been dragged inside of it.

When she struck the pavement, she realized that she had been hurt, and she fainted soon after. How long she lay in a vacant lot in Hollenbeck street she did not know, but when she came to she found herself more than a mile from home and some distance from any house. She lay in the lot fully an hour before regaining her senses.

Search for Man.

Miss Gresens' knees are bruised and her right side was wrenched when she was pushed from the taxicab.

The police are searching for a young man who showed Miss Gresens much attention at a dance hall at Sea Breeze two weeks ago, and who became so demonstrative that the girl was forced to leave the hall. She claims the man had written her many notes, telephoned her and called at her home on two occasions in an automobile since that time. The girl says the man wanted her to elope with him.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 5.

Girl Wife Roughly Seized and Carried Off By Force

1919

Sensational Cave Man Tactics Charged Against Young Husband — Brother of Alleged Kidnaper Said to Have Rendered Strong-arm Assistance in Strange Affair

CRESTON, Iowa — The sensational kidnaping of a young wife who was stolen from under the very eyes of a watchful brother-in-law, who, worn by his vigil, nodded and then slept, is alleged to have taken place in the southeast part of this county, and resulted in a hurry call for Sheriff E. C. Young, who early in the evening arrived at the scene of the excitement and placed under arrest the parties to the affair.

Clifford Bullock is charged with kidnaping his 16-year-old wife, from whom he had been separated, and carrying her to the home of his sisters, where they were found by the sheriff and brought to Creston.

The brother-in-law of the girl-wife, named McGuire, told the sheriff that while Mrs. Bullock was staying with her sister, Mrs. McGuire, Clifford Bullock and his brother arrived at the house in a bobsled. They asked Mrs. Bullock to go with them to a rehearsal for a play by amateur talent. She refused to go and the Bullocks retired, but it appears did not go very far.

McGuire, scenting trouble, decided to stick around and watch, but sleep overcame him, and he says that the first he recalls was hearing screams of the girl, who was calling upon him to come to her help. He rushed to her rescue and found her in the hands of her husband and his brother, who were forcibly taking her from the house, which they did despite her screams and kicks and struggles.

McGuire says that when he attempted to interfere he was shot at.

The Bullocks drove off, and McGuire says he could still hear his wife's sister screaming far up the road. Evidences of the struggle in the bobsled, he says, were also found, as several comforts and blankets which had been thrown from the sled were picked up.

Sheriff Young says that when found the young wife of Bullock declared she would never live with her husband, but still was reluctant about being the cause of his getting into trouble.

It has not been determined what disposition will be made of the case.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Note: The article says "comforts."

Freed Captive Praises Villa

1919

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Fred G. Hugo, American ranchman, captured in the raid on Muzquiz by Villa soldiers and released a few days later, made the following statements upon his arrival here:

"I was treated like one of the party," he said, "and became really favorably impressed with Villa." Hugo regards his experience lightly. He said he was asleep at the time, of his capture, and when he awoke he found himself looking into the barrel of a gun. One of the ranch hands had been compelled to show the bandits to his room.

Hugo was somewhat reticent, explaining he was released upon promise that he would not tell where he was taken or under what conditions he had been liberated.

Speaking of Villa, Hugo said:

"He is about 42 years old, 6 feet 1 inch tall, is in excellent physical condition, and does not drink, or use tobacco.

Civil Government Villa's Hope.

"During a talk he told me he did not believe in a military government. His hope is to establish a civil government in Mexico. He is a man you cannot help admiring. When he talks to you he looks you in the eye and leaves no doubt in your mind that he means business. He impressed me as being of a firm character.

"While he has almost no education, he is a man of good common sense. He carries on operations of his army in a thoro, systematic manner and keeps his men under strict discipline. He keeps check on all property in a special book he has prepared for the purpose, and sees that each man gets a square deal.

"He shares the lot of his men. They all eat the same food and the army is run on a sort of fifty-fifty basis."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Fiendish Mexicans Slug American Boy

1919

BANDIT ASSAULTS HIM WITH CLUB AFTER ROBBERY.

Victim Tells of His Escape After Three Days of Torture in a Lonely Shack.

DENVER, Colo. — After three days of terror in the custody of two Mexican bandits, who on the third day slugged and robbed him and left him for dead, Granville Coster, 18-year-old Denver boy who disappeared recently from Allison, N. M., has turned up alive at the office of the Allison Coal Company, by which he was employed as a truck driver, according to word received by his mother, Mrs. William Coster, of this city.

Five hundred and twenty dollars, which he was taking to Gallup for deposit in the Gallup State Bank, was taken from him by the bandits. According to his story, he reached Gallup and was driving his delivery truck into the suburbs when two Mexicans sprang from the side of the road into the truck, jerked the curtains down, drew their guns and ordered him to drive according to their direction. He was compelled to drive across the Arizona border, fifteen miles away.

"Just over the line we came to a farm house," said Coster. "The Mexicans told me if I made a sound they would kill me. We got out of the truck, and they made me walk the whole distance to Winslow, more than 100 miles. We arrived there the morning of the third day.

"They took me into an old shack on the outskirts of the town. They had already taken the money from me. One of them grabbed a club from the floor and struck me over the head with it. That's all I know."

The boy did not regain consciousness until evening. He staggered into Winslow, where he fortunately found friends, who supplied him with enough money to return to Allison. The bandits took everything from him except a bunch of keys, he said.

Coster has been employed driving a delivery truck from Allison to Gallup three times a week. The day before he was kidnaped he carried $5,000 to the Gallup bank.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Mother's Sad Tale Wins Back Her Baby

Dec. 1919

Shade of King Solomon is Modern Judge's Guide

Woman Who Claimed Little "Love-o'-Mike" as Her Kidnaped Son Fails to Convince Court.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — The shade of King Solomon sat on the Children's Court bench while Judge Levy tried to decide who was the mother of little "Love-o'-Mike," claimed by two women — by Mrs. August Wentz as her kidnaped son and by Mrs. Lena Lisa as the baby she had planned to abandon to the mercies of Mrs. Elizabeth Seaman (Nellie Bly) for his own happiness and because she could not support her little family of three, herself, the baby and 3-year-old William on the $12 a week, which was all she could earn.

The infant was found in the Grand Central Terminal with a note pinned to its clothing, saying: "For the love of Mike, take care of this kid — I can't."

Mrs. Lisa, brokenly, and through her tears, told how she had schemed to have the infant left where Mrs. Seaman might notice and adopt it.

Weeps as She Finishes Story.

She narrated her trembling anticipation of news of it after the deed had been done, of her heartache when she read that it had arrived at Bellevue Hospital by way of a police station, and of her panic when Mrs. Wentz claimed it as her own.

Not a sound in the courtroom interrupted her story. Big policemen, unromantic agents of the detective bureau, officials of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, scores of others — and Mrs. Wentz — listened in a silence that was dramatic.

When she had concluded, her small frame shaken with sobs, the judge, with obvious emotion, ordered the baby returned to her.

Hugs Baby to Her Breast.

The little woman cried aloud with joy and hugged her baby to her breast. She had deliberated days and nights before deciding to let him go, she told the judge. A friend of her dead husband had taken him, promising to leave him "in Nellie Bly's arms."

Her husband's death last May had left her with a burden she often despaired of bearing, she said. She thought "Nellie Bly" would adopt him, or find a good home for him where he would have enough to eat, warm clothes, and be sent to school and allowed to grow up like other children.

She said she was frantic when she found her plans had gone wrong and could no longer repress her mother's instinct.

Mrs. Wentz finally admitted she was convinced it was not her baby, and added: "My two days of happiness in the thought that I had at last found my own little Arthur are like a fairy tale to me."

Bold Pirates Attack Ships Near Mexico

1920

Modern Red Rovers Recall Days of Captain Kidd — U. S. May Act to End Ravages

Buccaneers and pirates are swarming in the Pacific off the west coast of Mexico — freebooters in high leather boots, who swear terrible oaths and carry huge swords. Just as if they had stepped out of the pages of story books or had come to life again from the days of Captain Kidd, these marine highwaymen are waging their nefarious trade much as did the pirates of the old Spanish Main. From Mazatlan the Mexican government has dispatched a naval expedition equipped for two months' service and which it is hoped will be able to rout the outlaws.

From time to time into the ports on the Pacific coast of the United States, in the places where sailormen gather, there have come rumors of these bands of pirates. Mostly they have been put down to overindulgence in forbidden liquor or a desire to shine in the spotlight with wild and improbable tales. But now the discovery has been made that these pirates actually are infesting the seas and the stories that once were sneered at or dismissed with a pitying smile are avidly listened to.

Small Vessels Their Victims

In wild and almost inaccessible caves on the lonely islands off the Mexican coast these buccaneers have their hiding places. Tramp steamers, coastwise trading vessels and sailing ships with small crews are their victims. They appear at the break of dawn, sail boldly up to their prey, swarm over the sides, battle the crews and loot the ships. Then they sail away with their holds loaded with booty, to hide it in their caves until a favorable opportunity presents itself to smuggle the loot into the United States at some lonely point on the coast or into one of the less usually watched parts.

Who are these men and where do they come from? They do not seem to belong to any one nationality. Americans, Europeans, Mexicans, a Jap and a Chinese or two — these make up the motley crew of the pirate ships, according to J. C. Robinson, who recently arrived at San Francisco, Cal., with a thrilling tale of his capture and his adventures at the hiding place of the gang.

Pirates Overcame Crew

"They took me off the sailing ship Marie Penman," says Robinson. "I had stood my watch and was in my bunk in the forecastle. I learned afterward there had been a battle on deck and that the pirates had overcome the crew, but I was so tired I didn't hear any of the noise of the scuffle. The first I knew was when I was roughly shaken and awoke to find a pirate holding me by the shoulder. I rubbed my eyes and believed that I was dreaming, because he looked just like the pirates of whom I had read in my boyhood days. But I quickly saw that it was no dream, for I was jerked to my feet and ordered on deck.

"There the pirate chief, a big, black-mustached man who wore big boots to above his knees, carried a huge cutlass and swore the most blood-curdling oaths, put me to work helping transfer some of our cargo to the pirate ship. I was frightened and I worked hard, and when the pirates left they took me with them. Why I do not know.

"A day or two later we made port in a lonely island. I haven't the least idea where it was. The pirate ship just sailed straight toward it, and just when I was beginning to think that we were going to bump square into a huge cliff an opening appeared and our ship twisted through it into a little bay. Back in the edge of the hills, a half mile from the sandy shore where we landed the cargo, there was quite a settlement of these pirates. Evidently the ship which had attacked the Marie Penman was only one of several pirate vessels.

U. S. May Take Action

"They didn't pay much attention to me — just let me run around and do what I wanted to. I heard a lot of their plans, ate with them, slept with them and it seemed they had forgotten I did not belong to the band. When the chief who had captured me sailed away the next time he took me along. We raided a small schooner, and when the pirate ship was leaving I managed to remain aboard the schooner, upon which I worked my way back to a port in Lower California, from which I worked my way to Frisco." Robinson has been asked to tell his story to Navy officials, who say that if such a pirate nest exists the United States may take a hand in helping to wipe it out.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1900, p. 1.

Gypsy Is "Sot" On Him

1901

Young Man Who Has a Wild Time With a Fair Romany

Janesville, Wis., April 25. — A well-known young man of this city has applied to the police for protection, as he fears he will be kidnapped.

For some days past a gypsy named Zyra has been telling fortunes here, and many people have been to consult her, among them the young man in question. After the gypsy had told his fortune, according to his story, she declared that he was hers and that she could not live without him. She cried that she loved him, and begged him to run away with her. He had a wild time leaving her, as she tried force to keep him. She vowed that members of her band would bring him back to her. She is the queen of a band of gypsies encamped on the outskirts of the city.

—Waterloo Daily Reporter, Waterloo, IA, April 25, 1901, p. 2.

Comb World In Vain for Arnold Girl

Dec. 1915

Relatives Give Up Hope as Five Years Pass Without Trace

Folks Wear Mourning

Disappeared Five Years Ago This Week

Following is the order of Dorothy Arnold's actions December 12, 1910, so far as known up to the time of her disappearance:
11:30 A. M. — Left her home at 108 East Seventy-ninth street, New York, telling her mother she intended to buy a new dress.
12:00 Noon. — Bought a box of candy at Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street.
2:00 P. M. — Bought a book at Brentano's and had it charged, altho she had between $20 and $30 in her purse when she left her home two hours and a half earlier.
2:45 P. M. — Met a girl friend at Fifth avenue, near Thirtieth street.
2:50 P. M. — ? ? ? ? ?

NEW YORK, Dec. 16. — Five years ago this week Miss Dorothy Arnold vanished so completely that no detective in the world has been able to discover a clew to her whereabouts or her fate.

"What happened to Dorothy Arnold?" is a question that has been asked in every house where newspapers printed in any language are read.

For answer such men as William J. Flynn, now head of the United States Secret Service; Sir E. R. Henry, chief of Scotland Yard; William J. Burns, George S. Dougherty, former deputy police commissioner in charge of the New York detectives; Joseph A. Faurot, present chief of detectives, and Lieut. Grant Williams, who as the director of the New York police department's bureau of missing persons, has investigated thousands of strange disappearances, give the reply that they are at a loss for a way to fathom the mystery.

If Dead, Where Is Body?

Dorothy Arnold was last seen, so far as is known to the police or other investigators, at Fifth avenue and Thirtieth street, on Monday, Dec. 12, 1910. The time was 3 o'clock in the afternoon or a few minutes earlier.

The aged father of the missing girl, who has spent many thousands of dollars to search every city in the world by wireless, cable, telegraph, telephone, mail and detectives, wears as a silent answer to the query of Dorothy's fate a wide mourning band on his hat, a mourning necktie and a suit of black. He is a wealthy importer of French and Russian perfumes.

"She is dead," he said to reporters this week.

"But where is her body?" is the question asked by trained investigators.

"Any morgue keeper in the entire country would at once take notice of a woman dressed in expensive lingerie or clothing," Lieutenant Williams says, in discussing the statistics of his bureau, which show that on the average one woman a year is left unidentified.

Description of Dorothy Arnold.

Dorothy Arnold on Dec. 12, 1910, when she went away from her home, was 26 years old. She was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed in the neighborhood of 140 pounds.

She was of striking appearance; her complexion was bright, her hair was dark brown and her eyes were grayish blue.

She wore a tailor-made blue serge suit and a black velvet hat trimmed with two silk roses.

The hat had inscribed in its lining the name of a fashionable milliner. Similarly, the name of the maker was embroidered on the tailor-made underwear which the young woman wore.

In her hand bag Miss Arnold carried about $20 or $30; yet she asked the clerk in Park & Tilford's Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street store to charge a pound of candy, and requested the cashier in Brentano's store to send her father the bill for a book — "An Engaged Girl's Sketches" — which she bought within a few hours after she was last seen by her mother.

Search Made All Over World.

The search for Dorothy Arnold has never been equaled for thoroughness. Here was the case of a mature young woman, highly educated, to a degree literary, and physically strong enough to balk any attempt at kidnaping. She was not in the habit of "slumming" or doing "settlement work," but, on the contrary, was more inclined to afternoon visits to such places as Sherry's restaurant and the Plaza tearoom. Her evenings were mostly spent in the company of her relatives or near friends. For almost six weeks following the disappearance of Dorothy the search was conducted along "confidential" lines. Her father, the descendant of a proud New England family, which traces its lineage back to the landing of the Pilgrims, loathed publicity. Her mother, a Canadian by birth and highly sensitive, equally abhorred the thought of letting the prying eyes of the public get a glimpse into the family circle.

The Man in Her Life.

There was a man in Dorothy Arnold's life. A few months preceding her disappearance the "affair" was such that it became a matter of family discussion. The first act after the young woman failed to respond to advertisements inserted in the personal columns of newspapers was to communicate by wireless with steamships bound for Europe. Then detectives were sent to Pittsburgh, Pa., to find out where George S. Griscom, a 44-year-old engineer, was staying at that time.

Griscom was in Florence, Italy. And there Mrs. Arnold hastened to confront him with the story of her daughter's disappearance. Even at the time of her sailing, the Arnolds were determined not to take any more persons than absolutely necessary into their confidence. Arnold had written to his brother in Germany a letter saying that a "terrible calamity had befallen the family," but they "did not wish to spoil their Christmas holiday by telling about it." As Mrs. Arnold sailed her husband cabled briefly to his brother telling him to furnish her with funds if needed.

Like the public, Dorothy Arnold's uncle and aunt got the first intimation of what had happened on the morning of Jan. 26, 1911, when the story of the disappearance appeared in all the newspapers of the leading cities of the United States and Europe. Deputy Police Commissioner Flynn, now chief of the Secret Service, on the day before told Arnold that his detectives had to have the aid of the newspapers. The "confidential" search had failed.

At the same time that the reporters were asked to aid the family. Word of Mrs. Arnold's visit to Florence and her meeting there with Griscom was kept a secret. "She is too sick to be seen," was the only explanation offered when reporters inquired for her. Two days later, however, it became known that George S. Griscom "was the man in the case." It then became known that the young woman less than two months before she left her family had been in Boston, where, according to the records of a loan company, she had obtained $60 for a quantity of jewelry that had been pawned.

George Griscom was Boston at the time, but if he and Dorothy met there at the time the information was never communicated to the public. It was admitted Dorothy on her return to New York rented a mail box in the general postoffice and that she quite regularly corresponded with Griscom. The letters she wrote him were in his possession the day Mrs. Arnold and her elder son John, saw him in Florence. As she demanded them John Arnold felled Griscom with a blow on the jaw. Then a promise was exacted from Griscom that he would never reveal the contents of the letters. Griscom has until this day kept his word as far as known.

Mrs. Arnold, on entering the lower bay on the steamship Pannonia, received a message from her attorneys and her two sons, John and D. Hinckley, met her at the pier. On their advice she declined to go into any details of her daughter's disappearance. John Arnold, in an interview with the then District Attorney Whitman, six days after the arrival of his mother from Italy, said he was convinced that Dorothy had committed suicide. He did not suggest that she might have met with foul play, nor did he ask for a grand jury investigation of her disappearance.

House in Pittsburgh Raided.

That the family lawyers at first shared with the detectives the belief that Dorothy Arnold bought a box of candy and a book with the intention of passing away time while riding on a railroad train was evident some time after the investigation was under way when John Keith, head of the Arnolds' legal representatives, said he had searched a sanitarium on the outskirts of Pittsburgh which was raided in April, 1913, by the Pittsburgh County authorities, who charged its proprietor with the death of a young woman who had been missing from her home for nearly a year.

A few days after this raid and the mention in the newspapers of Dorothy's name in connection with the investigation of the place, Arnold sent for the reporters and invited them to go thru his East Seventy-ninth street house from cellar to garret. He repeated his belief that his daughter would never be found.

The police records show that of the women who are daily reported as missing there are but few who, under any compulsion, give up the luxuries of homes so that they may wander about as fancy dictates. Some go away because of quarrels, others because they tire of being "pampered" by indulgent mothers, brothers and sisters, and others want to get away from the scene of some lovers' quarrel.

Dorothy Arnold was a girl of romantic ideas. She incorporated some of these in manuscripts, hoping to have them published. She was a graduate of Bryn Mawr, and after her schooling she began writing novels — which were never published.

——————

Did Dorothy Arnold take her family into her confidence? Has everything been told? Has any evidence been found to point to the theory that she is dead? Could she have been murdered and her body disposed of? Was there a suggested motive for murder? Did she by act or word suggest a reason for leaving home? These questions have been asked by the leading detectives of the world.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 3.

Note: The case was never solved.

Gypsy Girl Bride Held for Ransom

1920

Father Gives Her Up When Hubby Pays $500

This is Romany Custom, Explains Parent

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The kidnapping of Mrs. Lena Stevens from her home in Cleveland by her father, who held her from her young husband for $500 ransom, has been explained. Instead of finding a villainous parent, Newark detectives learned of a gypsy custom which made the "ransom" legitimate.

George Stevens married Lena Judson, a gypsy, about a year ago. They hit the gypsy trail by automobile, slept outdoors, cooked their meals in the fields and enjoyed a prolonged honeymoon.

Father Starts on Their Trail

Through a mysterious channel Ephraim Judson, the father of the bride, heard that his son-in-law was mistreating his daughter. So he set out to find the couple. When he found them he discovered that the reports were false and had been spread by a rival for the girl's hand.

Judson then demanded $500. He said he had spent this amount of money in ascertaining that his son-in-law was the right kind of husband. Stevens promised to pay, and the couple returned to their Cleveland home.

But the money was not forthcoming, and a week or two ago Mrs. Stevens disappeared. The husband told the police, and they decided it was a case of kidnapping when he showed a letter asking $500 for the return of his wife. Stevens searched and finally found her at her father's home in this city.

Both Wait for $500

Judson explained the circumstances of the "kidnapping," and the son-in-law wired his father in Cleveland to send him $500, so he could get his bride.

The police found the young husband living with the gypsies in a small store in Newark, New Jersey. He explained that his father-in-law, by gypsy custom, was entitled to the $500.

So Stevens is in Newark, hoping his father will send him the $500, while Mrs. Stevens is in New York, hoping her father gets the $500. And husband and wife are hoping to be reunited soon.

Eagle is Not a Kidnapper

1914

Infant Found, Protected by Dog; Birds are Acquitted of Stealing Baby

Belvidere, New Jersey — Eagles making their homes in the cliffs of Jenny Jump mountain have been exonerated of blame for the theft of two-year-old Michael Dunal, who was missing for 24 hours. The child was found in the woods half a mile from his home. He was unconscious, and his hands and feet were partly frozen.

Young Michael's parents were working in the field and left him on the porch of their farmhouse. When they got home at noon the child and the family Newfoundland dog were gone. Searchers hunted all night, some of them even visiting the eyries of eagles on the mountain, suspecting that one of the birds might have stolen the baby.

A party from Danville came on the child. The Newfoundland dog was standing by and would let no one approach. Mr. and Mrs. Dunal had to be called before the dog would give up its threatening defense of the baby. It is believed the child will recover.

Comment: The Dunals might have a problem today with leaving a two-year-old on the porch and going away to work in the field until noon.


Marriage of Daughter Declared Legal

Denver — The marriage of eleven-year-old Martha Elizabeth Wilkins to Harvey M. Pugh, a boy of fourteen, was declared legal by Judge H. P. Burke. Annulment proceedings had been brought by the boy's father.

Hears From Daughter Who Was Kidnapped 12 Years Ago

1910

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 2. — A letter in the mail of Francis E. Fairman, a notary, with offices in the Frick building, deeply interested him, but when he reached the bottom of the first page he leaped from his chair and shouted "My daughter. Thank heaven I have heard from her at last — the first time in twelve years since she was kidnapped from me."

In a few days the kidnapped girl, Edith May Fairman, aged 19, now a trained nurse in Norwalk, Conn., will come here to live with her father and brother.

When Fairman recovered his composure he said:

"Twelve years ago I was a prosperous business man in Brooklyn, N. Y. One day I went home from my office to find my wife had disappeared. She was tired of me, she said in a letter several months later. A month after she left I went to St. Louis, where I stayed six months as an engineer in the employ of the United States army. Then I returned to Brooklyn.

"One evening several weeks afterward I returned home from my office to find that my daughter had disappeared. Several months later a letter, dated at a town in Nova Scotia, demanded $10,000 for her return home. I didn't have that amount of money, so I went to Nova Scotia to see if I could find my daughter. I made five trips before I found her.

"Trains run only once a week from the little town where I recovered my daughter and while we waited at a hotel I allowed her to attend school. The first day she went to school she didn't return to me, and I haven't seen her since."

—New Castle News, New Castle, PA, Nov. 2, 1910, p. 6.

Boy Rescued From Gypsies, Now of Unsound Mind

New York, 1908

Leonard Allen, Rescued from Gypsies, Runs Away Again — His Mother's Plaint.

Mrs. Mary Allen, of 14½ Union street, whose son, Leonard, was recently recovered from a gypsy camp at Fall River, Mass., called at the Times-Press office Friday and stated that the boy has again disappeared and she asked the aid of this paper in locating him. Mrs. Allen states that her son is of unsound mind and that she will not be at rest until he is committed to a State Hospital.

Leonard Allen, the weak-minded son of Mrs. Mary E. Allen, who wandered away from their home at 14½ Union street, Friday morning, was found late that afternoon on North street near the city limits. Mrs. Allen will take some steps to have him committed to an institution.

—Orange County Times-Press, Middletown, New York, April 14, 1908.


Fear of Gypsies Makes Boy Insane

Middletown, N. Y., May 22. — Seized with the fear that he would again be carried away by gypsies, Leonard Allen, fifteen years old, of this city, has become insane. He seized a large knife and threatened to kill his mother, Mrs. Mary Allen, a widow. The boy was committed to the Middletown State hospital. In August, 1906, young Allen, a healthy, rugged fellow, was taken away from this city by a band of gypsies. On March 18 last the boy was found at Fall River, Mass., | the police of that city having rescued him from gypsies.

—Distributed wire article


Told His Story Against Gypsies

Leonard Allen, the fourteen-year-old son of Mrs. Mary Allen, of 14½ Union street, who went to Fall River, Mass., the first of the month to give testimony before the grand jury against the Stanley gypsies, who took him away from Middletown two years ago, and were afterwards arrested for ill treating him at Fall River, returned to town Saturday noon, having been brought, back by Capt. Connor of the Fall River police force, who came here after him.

Young Allen was taken back the Middletown State Hospital, to which he had been committed after making an attempt on the life of his mother with a butcher knife.

—Orange County Times-Press, June 23, 1908, page 2.

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.

Pastor Marries Couple In Bathing Suit, May or May Not Have Involved a Mud-Hole

Lawton, Oklahoma, 1922
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["Saturday" was April 29, 1922]

ABDUCTION OF LAWTON MINISTER STILL UNEXPLAINED; VICTIM FOUND BOUND AND GAGGED IN MUD-HOLE, BUT IS NOT HURT

Associated Press Dispatch.

LAWTON, Ok., May 1. - Both factions of his congregation here today were discussing the abduction Saturday night of Rev. Thomas J. Irwin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, who was found lying in a mud-filled ditch twelve miles east of here shortly after midnight Saturday, bound and gagged and in a semi-conscious condition. There was much speculation as to what action Rev. Mr. Irwin would take in the matter, for beyond saying that he recognized none of the three men who felled with a blow on the head on a street here and then took him in an automobile to the place where he was found, the pastor has not made a statement as to what he intended doing about it.

Faction Sought His Removal

Rev. Mr. Irwin, whose removal is being sought by a portion of his flock because he married a couple in a public bathing pool, exhibited moving pictures in his church and preached the funeral sermon over Jake L. Hamon more than a year ago, is to be tried by his presbytery on charges of conduct unbecoming of a minister on May 9. Recently he announced that certain persons were trying to intimidate him and force him to leave town.

Threatened Once Before

Saturday night was the second time within two months that he has been approached by three men. The first time, he said, he was confronted by a trio as he was leaving his church one Sunday night and at the point of guns warned to leave town.

Rev. Mr. Irwin lay in the mud-hole approximately three and a half hours before five persons in an automobile bound for Medicine Park, a resort near here, picked him up and took him to the residence of Senator J. E. Thomas nearby, where first aid was administered.

Escaped Uninjured

Irwin today reiterated his belief that the men had chloroformed him after rendering him unconscious. He was not injured by the men, he said, and today appeared none the worse for his experience.


Associated Press Dispatch.

LAWTON, Ok., May 1. -Resignation of the session, the executive body of the First Presbyterian church here, with the announcement that it would complain to the Oklahoma Synod against what it termed the "persecution" of the pastor, the Rev. Thomas J. Irwin, and a statement by the minister that members of a church faction were responsible for his abduction by three unidentified men late Saturday night, were developments today in the attempt of a part of the church membership to have Irwin removed. The judicial commission of the governing presbytery will hear on May 3 charges against Irwin, alleged misconduct unbecoming a minister.

Charges Against Presbytery

The session, which has supported Irwin thruout unanimously adopted a resolution, before resigning, declaring that the El Reno Presbytery, which has jurisdiction over the local church has "been unfair, unchristian, unpresbyterian and irregular in all its proceedings against the pastor and the session." The resolution further charged that the action of the Presbytery constituted "the darkest chapter in the annals of Presbyterianism in the United States, more cruel than the Spanish inquisition."

--Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton, Texas, May 1, 1922, page 1.



STARTS PROBE OF LAWTON KIDNAPING

Abduction of Minister Outside Hands of Church — County Steps In.

(Associated Press.)

LAWTON, Okla., May 2.—The Lawton Presbyterian church controversy got outside the confines of the church today, when county authorities took a hand.

A civil court of inquiry was under way, directed by County Attorney Riley who has undertaken to determine the identity of three men who last Saturday night abducted the pastor, the Rev. Thomas J. Irwin and threw him into a ditch outside Lawton, half conscious and tied and gagged.

Filing of criminal charges, the county attorney said, would depend on the outcome of the investigation. The county attorney today prepared subpoenaes for about thirty persons who had been ousted from Pastor Irwin's church by the church session or executive board, with the sanction of Mr. Irwin and who have joined the movement to have him expelled from the Lawton pulpit.

Mr. Riley said all the suspended members or anti-Irwin factionists would be interrogated about abduction and asked to explain their whereabouts on the night the alleged slugging and kidnapping took place.

Pastor Irwin and three members of the church session were called in last night and questioned at length when the county attorney decided to convene the Inquiry court.

--The Lincoln Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2, 1922, page 7.



LAWTON PASTOR CALLED BEFORE PROBERS TODAY

Scandalized Minister Will Explain Conduct To Judicial Board.

RESIGNATION HINTED

Irwin Announces He May Quit Church That Put Fire On His Head.

(By the Associated Press)

LAWTON, May 9. -The judicial commission of the El Reno Presbytery, which has jurisdiction in this territory, met here this morning to hear charges of "conduct unbecoming a minister of the Presbyterian church" against the Rev. Thomas J. Irwin, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Lawton.

Mr. Irwin announced recently that he would resign from the church and his request for dissolution of his pastoral relations with the local church was to be presented to the commission this morning. This action, in the opinion of the Presbytery, will eliminate the necessity of a trial.

When Jake L. Hamon was buried at Ardmore more than two years ago, the Rev. Mr. Irwin preached the funeral services, eulogizing the former republican national committeeman. The pastor had been a constant supporter of Hamon and this with the funeral service brought dismay to his congregation, split the church, and resulted in part of the congregation leaving. Then last summer the minister married a couple in a bathing pool at a summer resort here, and more withdrawals from the church followed.

Who Fired Church?

Recent fires were discovered in that portion of the church built by Mr. Hamon and arrangements were made to destroy the motion picture booth placed in the church by Hamon. Then later, on Saturday night, the pastor was abducted by three unidentified persons, and he was found several hours later in a mud-hole near a summer resort near this place.

An investigation by county authorities followed, the result being that charges of arson were filed against the pastor and a member of the church board of session, which had resigned. Arraignment on this charge is scheduled for tomorrow. The county attorney announced that his investigation of the alleged abduction led him to believe that it had been arranged and the matter was dropped.

--The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, May 9, 1922, page 1.



MINISTER'S FROCK TORN FROM IRWIN

LAWTON PASTOR HELD GUILTY IN THREE CHARGES

Rigid Secrecy Is Followed in Hearing Before Presbytery.

IS DENIED COUNSEL

Defendant Is Silent On Trial But Announces He Will Appeal.

LAWTON, July 28.—By his conviction at the secret trial on the widely heralded bathing suit charge, and allegations of perjury and high handed discipline of members of his flock, the Rev. Thomas J. Irwin former pastor of the Lawton Presbyterian church, was unfrocked as a minister of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America early today by the judiciary commission of the El Reno presbytery. "You are indefinitely suspended as a minister of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America and may the Lord have mercy upon you," read the verdict of the trial body.

The expulsion of Irwin from the ministry came as a close of the episode growing out of the bitter controversy in the Lawton church. The convicted minister gave notice to the trial commission of an appeal to the synod of Oklahoma, the next highest body in the church. The synod is scheduled to meet in October.

Mr. Irwin was found guilty of conduct unbecoming a minister in performing a marriage ceremony last summer in Medicine Park, a resort near here, in which the principals, including the minister, wore bathing suits. It is alleged that the wedding was conducted in a spirit of revelry, bringing disrepute upon the church.

He was convicted of having sworn a false affidavit to obtain a district court injunction restraining interference with his conduct of the affairs of the Lawton church.

Undue Discipline Charged

The third count upon which the jury voted guilty was disciplining of members of his congregation without due process provided by church regulations.

Rigid secrecy was maintained as to the trial procedure although it was known that a number of members and former members of the Lawton church were called to testify.

Mr. Irwin refused to comment on the verdict. He had previously announced, however, that he would carry the issue even to the general assembly of the Presbyterian church if the outcome of the trial should be adverse.

Mr. Irwin conducted his own defense at the trial having been denied the right of counsel.

It was announced that he filed a motion during the proceedings asking disqualification of two members of the commission, J. E. McQueen and J. H. Webb, alleging bias and unfairness. The motion was overruled.

Weight to Represent Irwin in Appeal

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 28. — Rev. Thomas J. Irwin, former pastor of the first Presbyterian church at Lawton, today suspended as a minister, will be represented by Rev. C. C. Weigh of Ardmore in his appeal to the Oklahoma synod from his conviction yesterday at his secret trial before the El Reno presbytery on three counts of ecclesiastical charges.

This announcement was made here by the Eugene Hamilton of Chickasha, Irwin's attorney, who arrived today from Lawton after a conference with the former pastor. Hamilton was not allowed to appear in Irwin's behalf at the trial and the minister conducted his own defense.

In a statement to newspaper men Attorney Hamilton emphasized that Irwin was suspended from the ministry and not from the church, and that he can be reinstated at any time the presbytery sees fit.

--The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, July 28, 1922, page 1.



PASTOR LOSES SYNOD APPEAL

Bathing Pool Marriage Ceremony Origin of Rev. Irwin's Troubles

TULSA, Okla., Oct. 13.—The conviction of the Rev. Thomas J. Irwin, of Lawton, on charges of conduct unbecoming to a minister, and his indefinite suspension from the ministry was upheld early today by the judicial commission of the Presbyterian synod of Oklahoma, after a review of the findings of the El Reno presbytery before which Mr. Irwin was recently tried.

Counsel for the suspended minister gave notice that the case would be appealed to the general assembly or the Presbyterian church which meets next May in Indianapolis.

THREE CHARGES ADVANCED.

The Rev. Irwin was convicted on three counts. He was found guilty of having brought disrepute on the church by marrying a couple in a bathing pool at a summer resort near Lawton. The bride and groom and the minister wore bathing suits. The other charges were that he swore to a false affidavit to obtain an injunction in district court to prevent members of his congregation in Lawton from interfering with his conduct of the affairs of the church, and that he had disciplined members of the congregation without due process.

Mr. Irwin faces trial in district court at Lawton on a charge of arson in connection with an alleged incendiary fire at his former church.

"ATTACKS" DISCREDITED.

The fire occurred while he was still pastor. The minister was found outside Lawton on two occasions, this summer suffering from attacks he attributed to men who, he charged were trying to drive him out of Lawton.

The county attorney, after an investigation, declared that the abductions were "framed by the minister himself."

Charges have been made repeatedly by friends and counsel for Mr. Irwin that the whole controversy at Lawton grew out of the pastor's friendship for the late Jake Hamon, Republican national committeeman of Oklahoma, for whose death Clara Smith Hamon. was tried at Ardmore for murder.

The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden City, Utah, October 13, 1922, page 7.



From an account of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America's general assembly, May 24, 1923:

The only case of wide importance reviewed was the appeal of the Rev. Thomas J. Irwin, of Lawton, Okla., from the verdict of the El Reno Presbytery and the Oklahoma Presbytery, indefinitely suspending him from the ministry on charges of conduct unbecoming a minister, violation of his ordination vows and violation of church laws. The Rev. Mr. Irwin came into prominence when he preached a sermon defending the private life of one of his former parishoners, the late Jake Hamon, former Republican national committeeman, who was shot to death by a woman relative. Later he was charged with having married a couple while he and the other principals were dressed in bathing suits, and his troubles with the Presbytery growing out of that affair included civil and criminal court actions, an attempt to burn his church, charges that he had set the fire, two assaults in which he was badly beaten by masked men, and other occurrences.

The judicial commission found that the sentence of indefinite suspension which, the report said "is the ecclesiastical capital punishment," was too severe, and that a reprimand or very limited suspension would have been sufficient. It therefore, recommended, and the Assembly approved, that Mr. Irwin should be restored to membership in the El Reno Presbytery and given a letter to any Presbytery to which he might choose to transfer.

--The Landmark, Statesville, North Carolina, May 28, 1923, page 2.