The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-11-09
A London; Mystery.

Every sane man who has read the en-
tertaining novels of Charles Reade
knows that one peril to which he is con-
stantly exposed is that of being kid
naped by an enemy armed with q medi-
cal certifcate and clapped into q lunatic
asylum kidnapping man without any
medical certificate, however, and keep
ing him locked up while waiting for q
physician to come and give an opinion
on his state of mind, and then letting
him go on payment of five pounds while
still waiting for the doctor to come, is a
form of predatory enterprise which even
the lively fancy of Mr.. Reade would
have found it difficult to conceive. The
recent strange adventures of the Rev.
Bruce-Kennard in London show that the
philosophy of modern kidnapping is not
yet fully understood. This reverend
gentleman, who is sixty-four years of
age, left his quiet rectory in Dorsetshire
about the middle of last month for Lon
don, the object of his visit beingno other
than his marriage with Miss Bade, of 5
York Villas, Snakes Lane, Woodford.
Complete arrangements for the wedding
had been made; the venerable bride-
groom had secured in his son an efficient
and trustworthy ''best man;n the we'd
ding breakfast, the clergyman and the
wedding guests were all ready, but when
the hour arrived, the bridegroom had
not come. On such occasions there is
nothing to do but to 90 home, and so at
last home the whole wedding party
went. Shortly after their departure,
Mr.. Kennard drove up to the church in
cab, and was met by the rector, to
whom he gave the following explanation
of his delay:
On the previous evening, it seems, he
had been sitting in his private room at
the Castle Hotel, Woodford, waiting for
dinner, when about s o'clock the waiter
introduced a person who said he had
Just come from Miss Bade's house in the
carriage of Mr.. Fraser Ga relative of the
bridegroom), and that Mr.. Fraser
wished to see him at once upon a mat
ter of importance. He accordingly
postponed his dinner and hurried down
to the carriage. As soon as he got into
it Mr. Fraser's sc messenger" took seat
beside him; and another man, astep-
ping outof the darkness" placed him.
self opposite, remarking that he also
was Z" a friend of Mr.. Fraser" The
unfortunate clergyman's suspicious were
now aroused, and on looking out of the
window he found that he was not being
driven in the direction of York Villas at
all. si He attempted to appeal to the
coachman, but was forcibly prevented
by his companions, who were both pow
-erful men, His first impression was
that their object must be robbery, for
he had E100fin bank notes in his pock-
etbook. He therefore frankly inquired,
/" Is your object robbery?', to, which
they replied that they were not robbers,
but refused to give another explanation.
As the carriage drove on he shouted
whenever he saw anyone within hearing,
but at every such attempt he, was
/" gagged and seized by. the throat. y
To neglect no precaution, he threw his
hat out of the carriage, Sin order to
leave trace of the route. y After
long drive they reached Hunter Street,
London, and.a few seconds before the
carriage stopped he saw q policeman,
10 whom he loudly appealed for help,
but all in vain. When dragged out of
the carriage the policeman was within
few yards of him, and there were 9TH
eripersons on the pavement. He clung
to the ratings and struggled manfully,
but nobody paid the leass attention to
him, and he was dragged into the house
and taken into ga front room on the
ground floor" and told that " a gentle
man would appear in few
After q little time he was removed
to room at the back of the house in
which there were two beds. Here he
spent the night. In the morning Mr..
Ffaser's ssmessenger'' entered the room
and shortly afterward gave his prisoner
nj %hof he haA hoor1 inc 1rf
ed to detain him as lunaic, and that
. doctor would soon come and give an
opinion on his state of mind. After
breakfast the clergyman appesled to his
jailors to release him; but they said they
could not do it " consistently with their
Instructions, until IL :30-the hour for
the wedding being eleFen.9 oFor six
pounds, however, they undertook to
send a telegram to Woodford, but tine
telegram was not sent. As the time for 4
the doctors visit approached, the hint
was thrown out that five pounds might
have some influence in determining the
character of his report. At half-pasi
eleven a message was received saying
that f=the doctor failed to come. Mr. J
Kennard must be detained till twelve.
Now comes the strangest part OF the
whole story. Mr.. Kennard, being
anxious. to get away before
the arrival of the doctor, offered the
man five pounds to let him go, which
he Immediately consented 10 do He
was allowed to leave the
house, and, hailing a hanson, immedi-
ately drove off to the church, where he
arrived at about one o'clock. Explana-
lions given by persons who miss ap-
pointments or arrive late, particularly
II their own weddings, are generally re-
ceived with certain amount of incred-
lhty, which reflects painfully upon poor
human nature because it seems to imply
! widespread belief that we are always
ready to invent explanations if in no
Danger of detection. 1t is therefore
pleasant to be able to state that, re-
as the above story is, the high
character of Mr.. Kennard carried such
,onviction with it that he was success
ully married the next day. The " doc
or - has not yet been found, but it is
to say that the police are
9 on his track. IN. Y. Ecening Post.
& A Close Shave.
!" Am Brudder Blue. Glass Henderson
4 IL