The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-09-20
WAS IT A BURGLAR!
A Sensation That Reused the Bethell
House Last Night.
The Chamber-Inaid Says She Was As
sauIted and Tied by Unknown
Man, But Her Story is
Doubted.

Was it the result of Mysteries or the
| work or BURGLAR is the question
the inmates of the Bethel House
have been asking themselves con-
corning sensation which occurred
at that hotel last night about half
past - o'clock. AT that hour Bob
: jones, the hotel clerk was startled
I from pr"fcuud slumber by the cry of,
Help! | have been hurt and am
tied" The cries came from Lizzie
Hoffman, one of the chamber maids.
Getting on some clothes and light
ing the gas, he found the girl stand
/ lug in his room pale, dishevelled,
! quaking With fear and tied by the
wrists with y g-ntleman's black silk
neck tie. She had on black wrap
per, only partially fastened, and ugly
! looking scratches were visible just
below her neck. Mr.. Jones did not
-Xamine the knots very closely, but
proceeded at once 10 cut the fastening
| from her wrists, and sent her to the
lhouse-keeper's room.
Lizzie Hoffman Is an Irish girl, 25
or IS years old, who came here from
Nashville about month ago. She
came well recommended. She is evil
IDENTIFY of a very nervous tempera-
ment and had been sick before retir-
ing. Fer story is-That after she
retired, which must have been nearly
midnight, she felt her bed tremble
but did not get up TO examine the
cause. She fell off to sleep, and wax
ing up little later, thought she
heard something in the room and got
up to strike match. AS she did so,
man spoke and said, ~ have made
a mistake and got into the wrong
room, don't make any noise, am not
after you" She did cry out, how
ever, and the man grabbed her and q
violent struggle ensued, in which sh
received NUMBER of scratches about
the body, and her night clothes were
nearly torn off her. A towel was
tied oyer her mouth. She then
caught up the wrapper and slipped it
on, and afterwards the man tied her
wrists, flung her behind the door, I'M
locked it and ran off.
According to her statement, the
man must have been in the room
under the bed when she retired; he
did not attempt to outrage her, and
his object was not robbery, because
no attempt was made to get her
watch or pocket book, which were
under her pillow. After the alarm
was given, the hotel was thoroughly
searched but no suspicious character
could be found.
The girl says she could not tell
whether her assailant was a white
man or a negro. The room was in
the third story. There was no way
10y which the burglar, if there was
one, could have escaped from the
house except through the office, and
Mr.. Tom Pickens, the night clerk,
would have seeL him had he come
through there. Besides, Tom Car
rol, colored, the night Waterman,
was patroling the house, and some of
the guests had not yet gone to sleep.
1t seems probable that some of
them would have seen or heard al
escaping burglar.
Mr.. Dodson did not retire until
about half past IL o'clock, after hav-
ing made the rounds of the house.
Lizzie Hoffman was at that time in
the room of the hOuse-keeper, Miss
Lena Sheppard. Some of the guests |
say that it was not more than twenty
minutes from the time she left the
room, until the alarm
was given.
Many think this was case OF
Mysteries and desire for sensation
To sustain this view, |
they say if the girl had been assaulted |
the scratches would have been about |
her throat instead of her body, that
her wrists would have been bruised,
that time would not have been given
her for putting on the wrapper before
tieing her, and that the man could
not have escaped without some one
seeing him.
A nightmare or hysUeria craze
might have led the girl to scratch
her self, but it would hardly have
caused her to tie her own wrists. We
state the facts and allow our readers
to draw their own differences.
Baby SHOW.