The Sunday morning news., 1891-11-15
MISS LORAN'S LETTERS
They Threatened Her With
Death and Other
Disasters.
BUT SHE WROTE THEM ALL.
Trapped by Policemen Who Hid in
the Barn-Will Know 1t When
She Reads "The News"

After six weeks of quiet and persistent
| investigation in case of alleged ma
licious and mysterious letter-writing and
other methods Of persecution, the Bay
onne police solved the plot yesterday.
! The solution disclosed the fact that the
| supposed victim, handsome young do
inestic, was her own prosecutor, and that
| for almost two months the police, her
| employers and the neighboring families
were the unsuspecting victims of her
propensity to sensational mischief-mak-
! ing.
! The young woman whose romantic i'm
agination led her to the troublesome hoax
| is known as Miss Elizabeth Loran. She
| is about eighteen years old, vivacious,
| fairly intelligent and really quite prepos-
sessing in appearance. She has blond
| hair and she wears specta cles which hide
| the mischief lurking in her large blue
| eyes and give her face mature and
| sedate look. She is the daughter of a
herder on the the estate of British
nobleman in the vicinity of Dublin, and
she emigrated to this country about nine
| months ago.
| Last June Miss Loran secured employ
ment with the family of William L. Pur-
vince who lives in largo mansion on the
| Newark Bay. near the foot of West Six
| teenth street. She proved to be first
class domestic and soon won the friend
| ship of her employers family In addi-
| tion to her household duties Miss Loran
| became the family milkmaid, her Lille In
| Ireland having made her familiar with
| every variety of dairy work. She, how
| ever, did not take kindly to that sort of
employment. having left ireland princi-
| pally in order to escape it, and therein
lies what is believed to be the chief reason
for the hoax she perpetrated
Although she made few acquaintances
among the young people Of the vicinity.
and had no callers, Miss Loran
arrival in the Purvince household that
she was being annoyed by young men
and boys. She asserted that the annoy
ance was particularly frequent while she
was engaged in her duties about the
barn. AS the house is remote from the
business section, and his wife and
daughters were alone in the house with
the domestic the greater portion of the
day, Mr.. Purvince notified Chief of
Police McNeill.
Several times Chief McNeill detailed
patrolmen to special duty in the neigh
borhood OF the dwelling, and on two oc-
casions the officers arrested youths who
were found lettering about the place.
Miss Loran positively identified one or
two of the prisoners as being among her
prosecutors. but the boys stoutly main
tanned their innocence. AS the girls evil
delce was not corroborated, the boys
| Were released with q reprimand.
| About six weeks ago Miss Loran went
to Mrs. Purvince in a state of excite
ment. She held in her hand an aDony-
nous letter containing threats against
her life. The letter was enclosed in an
| envelope that bore no post mark, indicat-
ing that it had not come through tie
| mails. Miss LOran said that while she
| was in the barn while milking the
| COW, some unknown person tossed it in
the door. subsequently the girl exhlb-
| tied at different intervals half a dozen
similar letters. In each instance she
averred that the missive was found in the
| barn. All were in the same hand writ
| ing. EEvery time the girl produced new
| letter she appeared to be il condition of
| hysterical terror.
RfA few evenings after the girl had re-
ceived the last letter one OF Mrs. Pur-
vince's daughters was on her way home
| from the Bergen Point railroad station
when she was startled by the screams of
| a woman. Being courageous young
woman, Miss urnince investigated. Near
| the intersection of Avenue and
| West Sixteenth street she encountered
| Miss Loran. The latter was apparently
| in a breathless and terrorZed condition
and her hair and clothing were dshey
elled Between her gasps Miss Loran
| SAID UlldL SIG udu D6tu dbldCk6u Dy I'LL
unknown man who put pistol to her
| head and threatened to kill her. Several
| days later she ran into the house in a
| similar condition and said she had been
assaulted in barn by two unknown
| men. In both instances a thorough search
| OF the neighborhood failed to reveal any
trace of the girls alleged assailants.
| AS the girls stories Of persecution were
| beginning to thoroughly alarm the resi-
| dents of the shore and she was looked
| upon as a person whose safety was in
| grave doubt, Chief McNeill detailed
| several officers for days at a time to
special duty about the house. Although
| no ouurages were perpetrated while the
| policemen were secreted about the
premises, the annoyances began again
| Immediately after the police were with
| drawn.
Yore was detailed on the case. Without
| the knowledge of any of the Purvince
| family he secreted himself in the barn in
citizens attire. Roundsman Humphrey
| ID. Lynch was also waiting in the vicinity
| for a cue to either take Yore's place or
assist him. They had come to the con-
clusion that Miss Loran knew more than
| she chose to disclose about the alleged
| outrages. Several hours after Yore en-
| tered the barn Miss Loran entered. 70
| the officers surprise she began system
| attic search of the place. Finally she
i
greatly surprised to find him. She was
about to flee into the house when he in
| tercepted her and convinced her that he
was a policeman Then he left the prem
| ises, perceiving that Miss Loran was
closely watching him.
While Patrolman Yore and Miss Loran
were talking outside the barn Rounds
| man Lynch stole in and secreted himself.
| A few minutes later Miss Loran returned
to the barn. remained there without do
| ing anything for several minutes and
| then ran down to the Avenue A gateway.
| Mounted Patrolman Lord was passing
ana sine hailed him. When he drove up
| Miss Loran showed him another of the
mysterious letters. She said she mad just
| found it ia the barn aud she thought two
| young men who were walking along the
avenue some distance away might have
| dropped it for her.
| Lord overhauled the young men, but
| could not ascertain that they were i'm
| plicated in the letter writing affair. He
| was soon Joined by ROundsman Lynch,
who smiled Significantly when he heard
| the fictitious tale Miss Loran had told
| Lord. The pair reported to Chief McNeill,
| and he laid the facts of the domestic's
| duplicity and misunderstanding before Mr.
and Mrs. Purvince. They could hardly
believe it. Finally they consented to
| have the girls room searched Evidence
was found in quantity of the same pecu-
] liar note paper and envelopes that were
| in all the mysterious letters save the last.