The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-11-10
to go and treated in an extremely brutal
manner. Her own account Of the affair
y In part as follows:

~ IN part us follows:
''What Is your namc7"
Edith Sessions Tupper." / answered, with {
violent effort. What was the matter with my
voice, and why did my tongue seem psrsly yzedl
lyon travel underline name OF Mary Wilson.
do You notf" he demanded.
''No." said. II do not"
"You got the check, didn't your" ho asked
the detective who had brought me in.
"Oh, yes, I've got the check all right enough -
he answered.
"She answers the description very vol. -
went on Sergeant Reburn. reading dispatch
he held In his hand; ARREST Mary Wilson.
Wanted for stealing goods. About 20, blue
eyed. brown haired, ladyliko In Appearance"
interrupted him. "But am not Mary VIII
son. You must SEQ for yourself that am over
20 and am by no means slim. am no thief
snd II you viii send for DIR. -" naming a
woman physician who stands at the head Of
her profession In Canada, and whose house was
only few blocks from headquarters. ''or- Mr..
--," prominent business man, "or Mr.
IA well known journalist, a member Of
the stats OF tho Toronto Globe and Toronto
Saturday Night, "any one OF them can and will
identity me-"
Sergeant Reburn is one OF that class of po-
bcemen who believe that the best way to ex-
anime person under suspicion is to yell at
them. This ho proceeded to do.
Understand me now.- he savagciy roared,
stand that fret as last. You can no more get
out OF here than can move the stones OF this
building. The chief OF police of Buffalo wires
me TO arrest the woman presenting check No.
- 4;g. lie also wires me TO arrest Mary Will
son, dressed in greehish dress"---
"Well, see, mine is navy blue"
"Tbat's n sort OF green" he snapped. BE-
sides. here's another message saying you have
changed yessr clothes on the way over.n ==-=
"Oh, WELL" said wearily. II see you are
determined that am the thief, and you viii
not give me an opportunity 10 tell you who and
what am. l wish TO prove to you that am
not Mary Wilson, but Edith Sessions Tupper."
'Where do you come from?" he demanded.
"From Panama, y. "" answered. Il left
here this morning with my father. who
accompanied me 10 Brocton. From there
came along TO Buffalo,"
"Who is your father?"
"walter L. Sessions. man well known in
New York state"
"Haye you any business?"
81 am n newspaper correspondent"
"A newspaper correspondent" with an air
Of utter disbelief.
"Yes."I said determinedly, for I was begin
ming 10 get little courage. "Yes. am well
known in Buffalo. If you will wire any of the
newspaper oiiiccs-Thc Express, The Courier,
The Times. don't care which-any OF them
viii gladly identify me. i have worked for
The Express. Telegraph this Buffalo chief of
police to send 10 Tho Express and find out who
lam"
Mrs. Tupper was not permitted to
communicate with friends, nor did the
officers act on the suggestions she made
that would prove her identity. Her
trunk was searched, and the detective,
"finding nothing which by the widest
stretch of imagination could be termed
valuables, restored my keys. To broth
er detectives who had come in and were
staring at me as if l were some new spe-
cies of wild animal heard him say,
There's absolutely nothing against her
but the number Of the check"
Finally this message was sent to Buff
falo:
We find check on woman who says she Is
Edith Sessions Upper. and that she has been
correspondent of the Buffalo Express. She has
also pass from Panama. n y. to Buffalo and
return by tho w. N. Y. a. p. II. II. Is this the
woman you want?
Then followed an agonizing wait Of q
hours, during which Mrs. Tupper was
put through another examination. Mrs.
Tupper tells what followed:
At last--nearly I o'clock-a messenger boy
ran up the stairs with telegram. My heart
seemed TO stop beating, and through mist /
saw the room--the open door-the next room,
where, with folded arms and plying express
sion on his face, stood young, fair haired de-
tective, the only one who had given me a kind
word through all that fearful crdeal-and Re-
burn bending his dark face over the yellow
document.
'IIe wants me TO hold you," were the words
heard, "but I'm not going TO do IL. 1t would
be as absurd 10 hold you as 1t would be TO hold
a man. ! don't believe Norm ever went near
the Buffalo Express Office TO find out who you
are"
He paused. The fair haired detective--God
bless him.-sent me a kindly smile and gradu-
ally the blessed truth stole upon me that was
not TO be locked mp in a cell.
"Wait q moment" said Reburn suddenly.
"Give me your keys"
Once again saw my poor, simple little cot
ton and muslin frocks tumbled over and the
mysteries of my wardrobe laid bare. Then I
broke down and sobbed aloud, but only for q
moment or two. for Reburn's sharp Now,
there's no use OF your doing that" quickly
made me resummon ell my pride. He replaced
the articles in my trunk; then, taking up the
telegram, read IT slowly aloud. IL was In sub
stance as follows:
zone of our officers leaves for Toronto at II
o'clock. Wilson girl has short hair or switch
tied on behind Trunk contains silk dress,
lace dress, gold watch. jewelry, towels, night
gowns. Hold this woman anyway"
/ hope every free American citizen who reads
this story will carefully note the malicious in
sanity Of this message. NORM gave n test by
which Mary Wilson could be positively identi-
fed, but added, Hold this woman anyway"
Ne matter f she he innocent, held her. You've
got her in your power. Hold her. Make her
suffer all you can.
And right here want 10 give Sergeant Re-
burn all the Justice due him. Hash and auto
cratic as he was. can never forget that he
had the humanity 20 release me in the face os
that peremptoty and cruel order from Buffalo.
"Tako OF your hat and let me see your hair"
he said.
/ obeyed. The only beauty with which ma
ture has gifted me is wonderfully long and
thick hair. unpnned the plats and let them
down. Even then tho sergeant could not be-
lieve his eyes
"That's n switch tied on, isn't iti" he asked.
Then / removed the string which confined
my hair close TO my head, and the two braids
fell over my shoulders-indisputably my own
hair and not another's. With half muttered
exclamation OF disgust, Sergeant Reburn tossed
Morin's message on his desk.
"You are discharged" he said.
= l. n