MP.DFOKD MATT, TRTTYTNTR MF.DFOttTV OTJKflOX, SUNDAY, .TANrQKY fi. 1l'!.
An Unsolved Mystery of Long Ago
Can nine is not news. It happened
ITS yrars aH-x waa not -ft
son of uny kiVui importance Ui Q?
social world. In fact hhe was an
Knjflish, inaitl'tiervant. Hut her
difappearance urnl reappearance
anU thw tircumMtanct'H and f pla
na t ion h uttcniliitK hvti ntK tui-nishi-d
food for iet'Utmitn in
irhteenth century Kngluml, from
th hiKhest Wreles to the lowest,
and from "John O'f Jroat's House
to Lund's Knd." Th ca?e went
Into the U-Kul boo). as one of
KriKlund'K lauw-H telohres. hinktd
with it was the name of Henry
Kiel.linK, the author f "Tom
Junes" utid the futher of the I'.uk
lih novtd, who mu as a raaKistr.it
in oti' phiiHf uf Un 4-aMf and
after w:u Jm wrote a pnmpM. t
nliout it. I.h' tary mihh w-ie vast
ly inliji:ut-il hy its iuyt-ry.
TheorlK of wiii'turaft wi-ri- fre.-ly
('hiivnw''il in i'oniu-i'tion, wit h it
and for si-vrral generations all
Iiu:lainl wuh divt'W'd in opinion as
to the fitiitt or innocent of Kliza
inih t'annin. .Wvor was maid
servant ko HUddt-nly and to widely
mitde u ctdehrity and a theme for
preachers and poets, for JudKes
and counselors, for romance writ
ers and ha) lml makers. Auctions
wero formed in the case ami tio
three criminal trials rt-.sulted from
it, the mystery remahied unsolved
at leant, enough of It has perco
lated to the present day to inter
est that Knglinh lover of myster
ies, Arthur Maehen, to attempt a
quite recent solution. in an absorb
ing review of j the whole ease,
under the title of "The C'annlnir
Wonder," published hy the Alfred
A. Knopf company.
Mr. .Ma ch en appears In the eele
hrnted ease as a doubter of the
maid's story. In his opinion Ktl.
abeth Canning was a "liar, per
fect, total and complete." a sum
ming up w hich would appear to
cover all angles of possibilities.
And yM, despite his Sherlocking
:uialysls of all Hie evidence,, and in
spite of his expert presentation of
Its inconsistencies, he leaves the
motives of her disappearance anil
the strange circumstances of her
reappearance as much of a mys
tery as it was when one-half of
Kngland pronounced the maid a
fraud and the other half .strenu
ously cout ended for her inno
cence and virtue. Of one thing
only is .Mr. .Maclien thoroly con
vincedthat the strange woman,
for one reason or another, foisted
upon the people of England a
: story that was made out of whole
cloth a story that brought about
one sentence of death, another of
transportation, anil from which, to
tho day of her death in America,
the maid herself never deviated.
The Maid Vanishes
It was New Year's day, 1 733,
when Kllzahelh Canning disap
peared. She was IS years of age,
a younp girl of presumably good
morals and a beauty of the peas
ant type, ruddy and hardy, with
npparently no neurotic tendencies,
so far as was known. She was the
daughtor of Joseph and Kllzabeth
Canning, residing at Alderman
bury in London, England, and she
had been engaged as a maid
servant in tho house of one Ed
ward Lyon, who testified in the
case that he had known the girl
for Hfxteen years and believed her
to be an innocent and honest girl.
She left her master's house on the
fateful New Year's day to visit her
aunt who resided at Salpetre Hank
in tho East Hmithficld suburb.
Home time between 9 and 1 0
o'clock of that same evening
Kllzabeth left her aunt's house to
return home, with her uncle ac
companying her part of the way.
Jtut she iliit not return to her mas
ter's home. Hhe disappeared as
completely a If she had walked
into an air vacuum or been swal
lowed up hy a hole in the ground.
No trace of her was to be found
after she left her uncle's side on
tho London highway. Within a
week all London was agog with
the mystery. Rewards were of
fered for Information as to her
whereabouts and advertisements
sent broadcast thru the newspa
pera and posted on tho highways.
Uut h had vanished as com
pletely and haffiingly as the
Charlie Ross of later years.
Kour weeks later, when nil hope
for her had been given up, she
suddenly reappeared at her home
Itkfi one resurrected from the dead
n tragic figure. Clad only in a
"bed-gown," emaciated apparently
from starvation, bruised and sore
in body from evident 111 treatment
and to all appearances on the
verge of complete hysteria, she
appeared at her mother 'lr door,
scarcely lo be recognized. And
then, after euro- had been given
her, followed- tho strange story
whleh inflamed all England, and
which Mr. Machen lias designated
us "tho beginning of one of the
minor enigmas, of the world."
Soon after she had 'parted from
her uncle to make her way back
to the town house of Edward Lypn
she said that she had been waylaid
hy two men, who had beaten her
into insensibility. Then they bound
and sagged her and dragged her
Into a house of ill repute in En
field Wash., kept by "Mother"
Wells, nn old crone with a reputa
tion for witchery nnd other evils,
whoso husband had ' been hanged
K a notorious malefactor. Here
nho claimed to have been as;tulted
again and robbed, this time of her
clothes, hy a gypf-y-wi widow
named Mar Squires, an inmate of
Mother" Wells' institution. She
then claimed that "Mother" Well
and the cypny so-ht to make her
"go their way, and then she re-fuj-ed,
she was forced into an up
stairs room, where she was kept a
prisoner for four weeks, living on
bt cad and water, nnd being sub
jected to inhuman treatment. Dur
ing all that time she was not per
mitted to ne anyone from the
outside world. Finally, she claim
ed, she succeeded in making her
escape hy pulling a txd off her
window in the upstair prison
room, clambering down to an ad
joining "pent house,' and thence
to the freedom of the highway.
I'Tom .loncV " Author Mt on
ludgo
Thl atory added to the Intense
excitement caused hy her disap
pearance. Newspapers nnd pam
phleteers exploited it. The ballad
I makers put it into verse. Prints
j of the house w Enfield W'aMi and
Us "witch" iiSliaw were circulat
i ed by street venJ?is. and Mayfair
' was agog with sympathy for the
j betrayed maid. Llizahrth guided
: the officer of the law to ".Moth
er"' Wells' brothel and tlm "witch"
i and the "gypsy" were placed
' under arrest, the latter churt-d
with robbery, a capital crime in
i t hore days, a m! t he former with
being an accessory thereto. The
preliminary cases were tried be
fore Jus'.uc fielding, who took a
keen inlereM in the development,
letter the higher courts inlet -j
vened. Mary Squire the gyp-- .
. was sentenced to be hanged ami
. "Mother" Weils "to be brandt d
wild hot Irons." The bitter scii
; l--li e was actually earrie.f imo
j execution, with it mad mob howl
j ing around . the victim. Then
I doubts began to creep into (he
i public mind as to the truth of the
'story told by Elizabeth Canning
1 and JtiveMigaiions began, which
; resulted in a charge against, her
! for perjury. Justice Kiel d 1 n g
seemed to have been greatly im
j pressed with the maiden's story.
i but In his pa ui ph let on the case
ne hints that there was a reason
able doubt in hfs mind, lie wrote:
"A 'child In years, but more so
in understanding, Elizabeth Cun
ning had all the marks of simplic
ity that 1 ever discovered in a hu-
J man countenance. Iff fore noble
j men and magistrates and judges
she went through her evidence
i without heslt a t i o n, confusion,
trembling, change of countenance
lor other apparent emotion it was
cither tlic highest impudence or
j the most perfect innocence."
i A IVycln loftlcal Mystery
; All sorts of I henries about the
truth or the falsity of the maid's
'story were advanced by the tiews
! papers, by the pamphleteers. ,y
t scientists and by psychology! s.
i Witchcraft was insinuated, the
1 theory of religious hysteria ad
vanced, and there were many who
j believed that the young girl, inno-
cent in mind, hail been for the
jtime "possessed by ihn devil." Hut
at Elizabeth's trial for perjury,
j witnesses were found who proved
! beyond doubt that it was impossi
ble for her to have been at the
! seene of the crime at the time
de.siMiiated that she was even un-
familiar with the physical aspects
or the premises. It was shown
that the "t'ypsy". was a hundred
miles away from "Mother" Wells'
house at Enfield Wash at the time
she was supposed to have been
there. Numerous other discrepan
cies were discovered in Elizabeth
Cannings story. A new trial was
granted the "Gypsy' and she was
cleared of the charge and her neck
saved. Then came on the trial of
Elizabeth Canning herself for
"wilful perjury." A bench of
! seventeen magistrates, including
I the lord mayor of London, heard
the case and the most eminent
I counsel were engaged on both
Hides. The trial lasted seven davs
amid the most Intense excitement.
She was found guilty and sen
tenced to transportation to Amer
ica, in which country tho last
phase of the tragedy which ter
minated in romance wns enacted.
It must be said that the verdict of
j the judges did not change Eliza
beth's story in any particular. She
! issued a .statement before being
j deported in which she repeated
j her story and swore that it was
I true in every particular.
I Tho remainder of this curious
jtalo is to be found In the archives
; of the ancient town of Wethers
field, Connecticut. Elizabeth was
;sent away to Philadelphia In the
Ishij, Myrlilla, in August, 1754. On
I the vessel she became acquainted
! with the Jiev. Eleazer Williams, a
prominent figure In Wethersfield
during the revolutionary period.
Between the wife of Hev. Williams
and EI iza be t h Canning a st rnh g
attachment developed. The former
became a firm believer in her
innocence. Under the protection
of Mrs. Williams. It seems that
much was made of Elizabeth in
her new American home, and in
the end she married an "opulent
Quaker," one John Treat, n grand-
I " n ei iim jvonei i i real.
m j i i a j.ojiDeiii canning men,
and, adds the present reviewer of
her case, "her secret died with
her."
Tho Secret Vnrevcalcd
T3espite the intensive analysis
and the fascinating syehologlcal
and evidential deduction made by
Mr. Machen In a book of '77 pages
pages that reads like a piece of
weird medieval fiction, questions
remain unanswered. What was (he
real cause, of Elizabeth Canning's
disappearance? Where did she go?
Who were the persons who mal
treated her? Kor she certainly
disappeared, wns found counted
for four weeks among the lost,
and returned with every evidence
about her of starvation and tor
ment. Ot only one thing Mr.
Machen pectus convinced that
the maid lied. Itut why? That
Is the secret that died with Mrs.
iJohn Treat of Wethersfield, Conn.,
and the one which will now prob
ably never he revealed.
IS
XKW YORK, Dec. 2S. I) The '
ability of n codillliiK muth to lam-i
iiKc upples Kprnyril wiih nn ar- '
srnlcHl iinison variiH In different 1
parts of the country. ;
The Colorado lirnnrh nf thin
family of peat n-nx dcKnibed l.y
Ir. Walter S. llnunh of ttm VI,-.
iKinia nurl.u It ui 1 1 experiment la-
iion. looay. an li. jnK ruio-rliir In
thin rei.pe.-t to Iik Vlritlnla rel,itlvl
while thoie that thrive In the xtale ,
of Washincon ocnupk-.Ua position ,
in between. w i
IteporJinsr to the Ameriran A-'
soelatlonvof Keonomle Kntomolo.
Rlstn and niemhei'K of the Amerl-,
cm Amoelatlon for the Advance-'
ment of Hcienco on Btudleii made
In the laM two yenrn at WlnrhfKter !
he ftald tliene relative dri;reea of;
damaging power appear to be
hereaiury. .
New Radiovisor Lights Street Lamps ; 1' til"1 iLl," r 'IL
At Dusk; StopjoTrains, Burglars011110
Harnessed light, in the form of a radiovisor. is performing many
tasks in England. The device, mounted along a railroad track as pic
tured above, aids in train control. Placed on a street lamp (lower left)
it automatically turns the light on and off at dusk or dawn.
KARNES. Eng. bW Rrilisli sci-lger signal, it will come within the
t once has put light to commercial
! use with a radiovisor.
I In a .test covering ten months,
ja Mreet lamp was ignited and. shut
; off automatica'.'.y at dusk and sun
j rise. The device consists of a
! small light sensitive up para I us.
I which can be used in conjunction
with electrical current of any volt-
age to operate alarm hell, switch
on lights, control trains and work
slgnals.
For automatic train stopping a
lamp is arranged on the rails so
that when a signal is set at danger
the lamp projects a beam of light
along the track toward th i-
coming train. In the event of a
second train over-running a dan -
TEMPORARY LOCATION
' ' '
While wo arc awaiting completion of our new Master Service Station, we have -,.,mi,.,l
for vour convenience a large huiltling at .lackson and K'iversi.le. where you
will he supplied with the famous line of Firestone Tires. Every size, and every type
of this extra-quality equipment is now in stock awaiting your needs, at, the lowest
prices in the history of the tire industry.
Furthermore,
throughout the lire of the tire, we nor, oiny appiy your me nini.i, .iu
come vou back for regular tire inflation and inspection. We help you get out
mile of the extra, in-built miles for which Firestone Tires are famous.
J$r e$ttt& Factory Method
... Repairing . . .
Firpsdnno engineers developed a hiahlv successful tire repair method nnd tho
sary equipment
by experienced
The injured section of the tire is removed
tire was built originally. The vulcanizing
ju i,:..i, .,,.!. i ;.,t tl, ;...
ll'ilil Mini ll ir v iuni jiiiu iiiv: tuv. .
We make tho repaired section of the tire
We guarantee
Medford
of
train-stop lump ami
halt.
With electric trains, circuit
breakers can be worked In con
junction with the train-stop lamp.
The uncanny burglar detecting
powers of the harnessed light al
ready have been tested In a big
London store. In the burglar
; alarm, infra-red or invisible rays
come from a concealed lamp. 1'as-
! sage oi a shadow in Mont t me
lamp cuts off the beam and stalls
an alarm bell.
The radiovisor will automatical
ly light a train passing through
,ln I nnd lamps at the approacb
; of a fog. It is reliable as a lire
! alarm. Not only is the alarm
our complete service goes
.... .. I.. ;
as well. We use both in
repair men.
range
every repair we make charges reasonable.
TIRE & SERVICE CO., Inc.
Itadio audiences in all sections
of the country are getting new
thrills of iletiuht due to the intro
d net ion of art ntii -Hy new type
1 of radi bnvideasting by The May
tag company, washing manufac
turers of Newton. lorta. The in-
lit.diielory proiiims broadcast re
cently troin K I K A, l'ilthi;r gh.
- iiiid KYW, t'hicat:o. Were so suc
cessfully presented and so i utbiisi
1 aMh ;,lly r.r. ived t hat he new
system bids fair to revolutionize
p.-e-ent hroud casting lil-thuds.
Thi' Hew type of 1. olio )road
' lifting is Utinun as the So-A-;
Tonic pn-i e.-s. and p rinits the ;is-
semhl.ng of tab nt in l he bit gcsi
cities, where a transcription is
made l.y electrical reproduction
and transported to the various sla
lions elected to broadcast the May
lag programs.
The limit radio program for the
j Maytag company calls for broad
; casting under the Sn-A-Tonic pro
; cess from over Ml of the principal
stat Ions t hnug limit t he I'nlieil
Stntcs and in 'anada.
I The iuitinl broadcast was a dra-niati-.ation
of "The Yellow Streak"
a thrilling story written i xclusive
, ly for the Maytag company pro
grain by Courtney :;tc Cooper,
nationally known writer of circus
; stories. A circus band furnishes
! the musical background. The see
, end prog rti in dramatized "The
i Kiss," a story with collegiate at
I mosphere and a distinctive inusi
c;il selling, written by Pat ltnrnes,
popular radio announcer. Mr. ,
I'.arucs also directed the prod lie- j
tion of his story and acted a prom- j
'llietit p;irt in the play.
with every tire we sell
. . i. i:
our repair department, which is ope
nnd replaced, step by
heat is applied from the
both look nnd act like the
OLDE
Jackson and Riverside, Phone
Shtdebaker
Maintaining average speeds of 85.2 and 85.08 miles per hour two Studebaker President
Eight Roadsters have broken all American records for fully equipped stock cars for
periods from one to 24 hours and for distances from five to 2,000 miles. Studebaker now
holds every official American stock car record, five world and eight international records.
and continues
I?.,- vi...
step, just
inside, dn
rest of the
Establishes 12 Neiv Records
520
(left) Drivers of the two
President Eights. Left to
right. Ab Jenkins, 2elce
Meyer, Bob McDonogh,
Ralph Hepburn, and
Kussell Snow berg r.
( Br luu) Arthur H. Means,
assistant secretary of the
Contest board of the
American Automobile
Association, starts the
Presidents on their rrcot 4
brewing run.
Oregon