St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-24
IN JAIL FORTY-TWO DAYS.
A Woman Who Kept Her Word in Spite
of the Law.
A CLEVELAND GIRL VANISHES
And the Officers Have So Far Been Un-
able to Get Trace Of
Her.

pleas bench, for contempt of court, was
released by the Cuyahoga county circuit
court yesterday on an application to
suspend the execution of the order of
the court below. Mrs. AmmOn was in
Jail fOrty-twO days. Mrs. AmmOn's
home, on Euclid avenue, is one of the
noted points on that famous street of pal
atial residences. She has been confined
in Jail at Cleveland since Jan. II for
contempt of court in refusing to tell
where Josephine Blaun is. Josephine
Blaun is an orphan who is alleged to be
Of weak mind. Her step-father, whose
name she is known by, died two years
ago, leaving considerable estate.
Soon after his death Josephine and her
mother, an old lady in poor health, ap-
pealed to Mrs: Harmon for protection
from Nj. T. Harter, who had married
Josephine's sister, and a man named
Grand, who was supposed to harbOr de-
signs against the girl and her property.
Mrs. Blaun died Dec. &c, 1887.
MRS. HARMON PROMISED THE MOTHER
while she was dying, that she would
protect Josephine faithfully, and she
alleges that Judge Tilden, of the pro-
bate court, also promised the dying
mother that her daughter should be pro-
tected by the court against Harter and
Grand while the estate was being set
tied.
After Mrs. Blann died T. Fl. johnson,
Harter's cousin, who had been ap-
pointed Josephine's guardian, began
trying to gain possession of the girl and
her property.
Mrs. Ammon would not listen to the
guardians proposition that Josephine
was of unSound mind. With her it
looked like war to the knife, and she
was JOSephine'S friend. When the girls
guardian visited the house he was de-
MED admittance. In wrath he went
away, and Dec. 20 last, he got writ of
habeas corpus for the production of his
ward in court.
AS if the writ were a magic. whose
very existence dispelled her, Josephine
one has found her. Detectives have
followed clew after clew and returned
from each pursuit in disappointment
and disgust. Into pOpulouS cities, out
among hamletS where the mailbag pen
etrateS but rarely, into the localities
where the remote girlhOOd of Josie
Blaun was passed, keen-eyed emiSsarieS
of the law have gone on their bOOtleSS
quest. Descriptions have been mailed
and telegraphed hither and yOn. Now
and then from this quarter or the other
ended in nothing.
The writ of habeas corpus was served
upon Mrs. AmmOn early one morning
before she had risen. Lying in bed,she
calmly declined to produce the body of
Josie Blaun. &c. in day or two, they
took her into the court of common pleas,
before Judge Hamilton, to make her tell
where her prOtegee had gone.
QUESTIONED AND CROSS-QUESTIONED,
she preserved ever the same GOODNESS,
ever baffled the ingenuity of the law
yers, Judge Jones and W. S. Kerrnish,
whom Johnson had set to worm from
her the secret she guarded SO well. The
attorneys tried to badger her. but were
badgered instead. Mrs. Ammon told
them Josephine had left her house Dec.
30, about or 9 o'clock in the evening.
1t was the day after her mothers flu
neral. She went alone and of her own
free will, and the reason Mrs. AmmOn
didn't surrender in compliance with the
writ was that she hadn't her. All eff
forts to entrap the woman into slip of
the tongue were futile. When the girl
went away from the warm, bright house
on Euclid avenue on that winter night,
Mrs. AmmOn said, she wore a sealSkin
sack and an old straw hat with some
faded flowers upon 1t.
Asked if she had communicated with
the person who she supposed had the
girl in charge, she refused to reply. and
was given until the next day to consider
the matter. Brought into court again
she persisted in her refusal, Judge
Hamilton then fined her 500 for con-
tempt of court, and ordered her into the
custody of the sheriff until she had
answered the question and paid the
fine.
In jail she has since remained. She
was allowed to furnish the apartment
in which she is confined, and gets Der
meals from the Kenna house.
At 10 o'clock she has held re-
captions, and they have been the
wonderful feature of her prison life. No
fashionable levee could be more spOn-
taneously attended. The very first day
of her incarceration visitors to whom
her self-sacriiice seemed as heroic as it
was unparalleled began pouring in, and
the thing has gone on ever since. Over
1000 names are ON the reg. Ster as Wis
itorS to her, composed of rich and poor
alike. Public opinion regarding Mrs.
AmmOn'S conduct took all directions.
She was upheld by many, condemned
by some. Several wOmen's organiza-
tons adopted laudatory resolutions. Her
explanation of her course is
BEST TOLD IN HER OWN WORDS
where in an interview she said: 81
have seen enough to make NE believe,
as Mrs. Blann did, that Mr.. Harter,
Mays father, wants to take advantage
of JOSie's mental pecularities to put her
in some asylum, get her outside of the
jurisdiction of this county, so he can
control the property. Judge Tilden has
not kept his promise to Mrs. Blann. He
has favored johnson and Harter at
rfn II Ill ~
whereabouts while he remained i'll the
office. l believe Judge Henry Clay
White to be fair man, and that he
will see justice done. All ask is that
some Well-knOwn and responsible citi-
zen, in no way connected with the fam
lily, shall be appointed Josie'S guardian
or trustee of her estate. When that is
done Josie will easily be found, and
not until then"
The value Of Mrs. Ammon's property
in and out of the city is estimated at
over 100000, large part of which she
has made herself. Her vineyard at
Coilamer comprises tifty-four acres, the
greater part of which is filled with bear
ing vines of the finest varietieS,adapted
to this climate. She has made a spe-
cialty and a great success of keeping
grapes until the winter months, and for
many years has supplied the leading
hotels of Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburg
and Cleveland with this from December
to February. This year her vineyard
yielded over fifty tons of grapes. She
has been prominently identified with
the charitable work Of this CITY for
many years, is member of the West
ern Reserve association, is an earnest
advocate of woman suffrage, and reads
and writes more than half the women
who coniine their activities to literary
work. During her imprisonment her
teen in charge of her relatives, Mr.. and