Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-11-10
A QUEER ABDUCTION.
A CASE WHERE A KITCHEN SERV-
ANT SOLVED A MYSTERY.
How n Young Girl Was Concealed In q
Cave by Youth Who wss In sane
and Kept There for Weeks Before the
Mystery Was Solved.

day is UNNECESSARILY keener and bris liter
than that Of twenty-five years ago, it Is by
no means able to cope with all the strs nge,
queer things which develop in criminal
eases. l mean in what may be termed the
side issues to the main clew in the case.
For instance, n question much discussed in
the Borden case at Fall River was whether
stranger could have entered and left the
house without being seen. Every one
knowing the situation of affairs on the day
Of the double murder is at least scep5ical
on this point. Not an official connected
with the case believes it possible Il re-
duced to chances there would not be more
than one chance in a hundred of a stra lger
escaping unseen.
What was known in Scotland twenty
years ago as ''the Hawick case" was a
good illustration of how criminals some
times take desperate chances and win.
Hawick is a town in southern Scotland and
right among the mountains. There is a
sanitarium couple of miles out of the
town much resorUed to by people in the
first stages of consumption. As rule all
such patients are people of means An ong
those. who arrived there in July, 1871, was
an English girl named Edith Bailey, W nose
father was wealthy Londoner and Wild
over. maid named Sarah Andrews &C
ing at Hawick at the time pronounced
Miss Bailey unusually handsome and at
tractive. a London physician had said
that her left lung was slightly affected,
but so far as outward appearances went
she was in perfect health. After a week
everybody knew her by sight. She would
perhaps have been recognized at a distance
on foot or in carriage sooner than any
one else about the place
Among the men employed about the
grounds was young man named George
Adair. He was twenty years old, ha rdly
able to read or write, and was not con sid-
cred either wise or cunning. He fell in
love with Miss Bailey at first sight, but
though she afterward remembered of his
acting queerly on occasions she had not the
slightest suspicion of the real state of the
case. Nor had any one else, for that
matter, for Adair had more cunning than
they gave him credit for He realized that
the young lady was so far above him in the
social scale that he had nothing to hope
for without he could secure some unusual
advantage. AS he afterward confessed.
and was no doubt honest in his statements
and beliefs, he determined to abduct and
lmprlson her and hope she would learn to
love him when she realized how much he
loved her. The idea was absurd, of cou rse.
but all believed him honest in entertaining
! it. Two miles away in the mountains vas
an old drift or tunnel which had been
driven for a distance of forty feet and then
| abandoned The entrance was hidden by
vines and bushes, and everybody about the
| neighborhood seemed to have forgotten
the place. In the course of week, gong
| to and fro only at night, Adair conve we'd
| bedding, two chairs, a stand, mirror and
| other articles of furniture to the tunnel or
| cave, together with a quantity of pro
visions. Everything was taken from the
| sanitarium, and yet no one discovered him
at work For mile, going and coming,
| he had to pass over much travelled high
| way, but no one afterward came forw ard
to say that they had encountered him. A
man carrying a chair ought to attract 90
| servation and be emembered, but Aoair
seemed to have lodged everybody
The abduction was attended by the same
| good luck. During an afternoon Miss
| Bailey walked up the road about mile.
accompanied by her maid They then sat
| down in the shade of a large rock but after
| perhaps half an hour Miss Bailey fell asleep
and the maid carefully got up and began
| gathering boquet. AS they left the sani-
| tarium Adair was moving weeds in a field
| up the road, but neither of the women OBJ
| served him. He followed after them, keep
ing in the fields and determined to take
advantage OF any opportunity. He even
| thought at one time of carrying off both
| girls, but finally decided that the load
would be too great for him. Sarah was not
over 200 feet away, though out of sight,
when Adair crept up to the sleeping ri,
passed his folded handkerchief over her
mouth and tied it, and by the time she
| was awake he was CARRYING har off in
arms. She naturally enough cried out nd
struggled but her cries were muffled, and
her strength taken away by the surprise Of
| the moment. Adair carried her across an
| open field forty rods wide, and yet boy at
| work at the north end of it, eighty rods
away, did net see him. A sportsman at
| the south end, about as far away was look
| ing about for game, and yet he was as bli nd
| as the boy. The maid returned to find her
mistress gone and though surprised at me
| fact she argued that Miss Bailey had re-
] turned to the sanitarium. She took her
own time about getting there and it vas
| 6 O'Clock before there was any general in
| quiry. 1t was after dark before any one
was sent out, and next day noon before the
search began in earnest
In nearly every criminal case of nome mt
| the detectives waste time by following
| SiS"S gwen 'hNhi W pCioOhS WIN II
guess" or believe" and then know FOR
| certain. In this case the maid wanted to
eXculpate herself No one would have
blamed her, but she feared that result,
and so she guessed" that vehicle came
along the road while she was wander1n ny
about, and that Miss Bailey went for a
ride. After guessing" a few times she
was sure that she heard the rattle of
wheels and caught sight of white horse
through the trees and bushes She a so
heard talkin' and laughing Adair was
sent to the village and another person I'D
the road, but nothing was to be heard of
the missing girl. No one was seriously
alarmed until two nights had passed
Then it was plain enough to all that there
was a mystery to be solved. The pol ce
We're called in and every means exhaust ed
to discover what had become of Miss Bal
ley. Adair was among those questioned.
All he had to say was that he saw the two
girls 90 up the road. If Sarah had stu ok
to the simple truth it would have short
ened the search, even if it had not led to
discoveries Every one on the case got e