The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-11-20
HER FAKE WAS OILY
THOUSANDS OF FALSE TEARS IN
DUOED BY A CLEVER WOMAN.

1 hnee8
Through the skin-Then She Comes
Back, Tells About 1t and Gets People
to Contribute-Turrs OCT to be the
Worst Kind of a Fraud.
| New York, Nov. 19-The news came
from London today that Miss Kate
Marsden had Withdrawn her libel sui;
against the London Times, a suit tina;
grew out of the charges against her
character which set three continents
agog and brought Miss Marsden the
unique distinction Of having an interua-
tiona1 investigation of her morality.
Miss Marsden's fame arose in 1880.
In two years She reached the highest
point Of her greatness, and before the
opening of the Worlds Columbian Ex-
position where sine mad hoped to speak
on social purity she was fastening 20
her setting. Fame had become ns1tari-
ety. Committees IN London and st.
Petersburg mad begun an investigation
Of charges of shocking inlmor a16ty
| brought against her, and when their re-
ports sustaining the accusations was
published in the Times she begun a
suit for libel against the paper. The
suit against the newspaper has been
pending for more than a year.
Miss Marsden came prominently be-
| fore the public five years ago. English
public opinion was keenly aroused on
tihe subject of the condition of 1epers.
London society and philanthropy were
tumbling over themselves in concern for
the unclean colonies Of the Orient The
I o1,, - n
! Ieprosy commission, which had been in
vesdfgaltion TIE condition of the VIC
tins Of tine disease. Kate Marsden was
/ living obscurely in Germany, She had
| been as a Red Cross nurse, in the field
! with the Russian army of the Danaube
| in the Bulgarian campaign in 1877,
when, according ito her story, she was
only Is years old. She was THE daugh-
! ter of a well4to-do London lawyer, and
had also gone as volunteer Red Cross
/ nurse to Africa and ITO Asia Minor.
In THE LATTER country she heard, She
said, of plant which grew in Siberia
which was a sure cure for leprosy. The
world got information of the plant of
which She had heard when, while the
prince of Wales leprosy commission
was still I'm existence; in 1890 she brou-
g.ht the news Ito London and by a judi
cTous use of the newspaper press pro-
mulgaued her design to go to Siberia
and secure the plant, transplanting
and cultfvating 1T, and by its properties
curing the fepers, and with funds which
she wished to raise by public subscrfp-
tion ameiorating their woeful condi-
t1Orn
The plan took with the public and met
With the appreciation of the prince of
Wales and with THE queen. The people
and N
gave prestige ito THE new aspirant for a
theroine's place i'm history. The princess
of Wales wrote a letter to her sister, the
empress of Russia, i'm behalf of the Red
Cross nurse and, with the Society's and
the public's comm en- daItion and money
Miss Marsden was given every aid by
the car.
Miss Ada Field, an English woman,
accompanied Miss MaI-Sden as far as
Omsk, in her journey to Siberia. Her
destination was the leper settlement of
Vetuisk, where the leprosy plant was
said to grow. Two thousand miles of
her journey she made on horseback. in
tine company Of Thirty men, her official
escort, and an interpreter. She wore
sort OF bloomer suit and sat aStrIde
and her knees got raw and her ankle
bones pTotruded through the skin, so
she said. She avered that several of
her men escorts collapsed. She shook
hands with the lepers at Vetuisk, whom
she modeStly stated regarded her as
a priest
The marvellous plant that was to
give back health to those afflicted she
found, she said; but, while it afforded
relief for scroulous affections. il was
not, she acknowledged. a cure for lep-
rosy. She did not linger long in the
neigh borhood, but FASTENED back to
London, and wrote book depicting the
heaTt-rending misery of the lepers
mortIfyfng like fish on a potato fiedd
IN Siberian jungle. She wrote that
in one hut she found sixteen men and
three women living together. The food
consisted entirely of ROTTEN fish" Her
revelations shocked England beyond
measure. They made Russia sick
Stories began to come out from che
cars Land Ito the effect that Miss Mars
den was affiliated with Munchausenism.
Then stories of a nasty odor began TO
come over the Baltic Sea England re-
fused to believe them, however. and
fresh hono1s were showered upon her.
But the stories from Russia came faster
and got thicker. lit was said that Miss
Marsden had neglected her pious work
for the society of a Russian nobleroan
with whom she was infatuated. and
scandalous were the tales told of her
conduct. Finally word came from Rus
STA THAI there were more lepers in Lon
don than there was in all Siberia, and
nEtlmatio7ls came along that no large
amount of gold which pious England
was subscribing for the work among
the afflicted ones was finding its way
TO the Siberian Willis.
The scandal could not be ignored and |
committees of investigation were ap-
pointed. The secretary. Rev. Mr.. Fran |
ces, sent 70 the London Times a letter |
embodyiglg the committees report and |
II was printed an THAI paper on Aug. I6. |
1894
1t said: The committee OF Kate 4
Marsden's friends formed in St. Peters |
burg in December hast to inquire into !
the serious charges made against her |
Ii England. America and New Zealand /
have communicated their labors aud 1
the result has been communicated 10 /
Miss Marsden's London committee. who 1
VIII recognize that Miss Marsder's 1
work must be closed and the committee !
must Immediately dissolve. A wrScten i
acknowledge ment OF the gravest charge /
has been made by Miss MarSden- You
VIII thus know that no possible inJus- |!
Cce viii be done her
Miss Marsden denied the charges Wig
occusly- Afterwards she attempted TO
speak before the w7omen's congress N 4
Chscago 10 whom she confessed her
guilt of practices al which those good /
women fen back aghast. their tongues
refusing 10 make utterance in reoly.
She made her stStsmsrc 10 Mss Eliza
beth GfaDnis Of tgoss city. president OF
the National Christian League for The /
Promotion Of Social Purity. although |
the public did not learn OF Il until af-g-
the Times publication n London had i