The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-01-08
HER STRANGE STORY
Mrs. Davidson, the Alleged Black
mailer, q Pillar Of the Church.
PAT, FAIR AND MORE THAN 40
She Talks Like an Evangelist and
Tells About Pulling San Fran
cisco Up by the Roots-A
Sunday School Leader.

From the San Francisco Examiner.
Mrs. Mary Davidson is rather an In
teresting woman.
She has been a light in the church
and a leader in the Sunday school in
one of the biggest and most infiuen-
tfal congregations in California. She
can quote Scripture like an evangelist.
She has a face, which at first glance,
is like the face of a portly, gray-haired
saint. And now she's been arrested
for blackmail, and she is In the CITY
prison.
She doesn't call 1T prison. She calls
n "durance vile" She isn't particu-
larly happy over being On durance vile.
but she saws she can see the hand OF
Providence in ii, so she Is resigned.
She says she Is going to labor with the
poor, misguided creatures who are In
the same durance.
I went UP there ito see her the other
day. She told me a great many Things
am trying to forget as fast as / can,
and she told me some things L snail
try TO remember all the days of my
life. She sat on a little narrow bench
in the prison hall, and she talked
blue streak for two hours.
AT first she was talking TO her attor-
new. and then she was talking to the
boy who had brought her tea and had
not brought a spoon, and then she was
talking to two reporters from an att
ernoon paper, and then she was talk
ing to me.
While she was talking to all these
other people, / was looking at her,
and / found that l have seen three
women who look like Mrs. Davidson.
One is New England woman VINO
looks like a glorified Josiah Allen
wife. She talks about the Overriding
Good, and she calls every one she likes
''noble." She is separated from her
husband, and she has very strange
ideas on the subject of morality.
The second woman who looks like
Mrs. Davidson is the wife of brilliant
scientist. She is tall, like Mrs. David
son; she has a fair, smooth skin, like
Mrs Davidson; she is stately and port
ly, like Mrs. Davidson; she has little
scarlet mouth, with smooth, childlike
lips, like Mrs. Davidson, and she has
pretty, shallow blue eyes, like Mrs.
Davidson. She Is a believer in occult
phenomena, and she has peculiar ideas
about morals.
The third woman who looks like Mrs.
Davidson doesn't look like her at all,
but she makes you think of her. She's
dark and stout, and she has different
mouth, but she has a peculiar look in
her dark eyes. The same look Mrs.
Davidson has-the look of one who sees
the world through a curious haze of
doubtful ideas; the look of one who
does not feel, but speculates upon the
feelings of others.
This third woman Is an artist A
clever woman, a woman of excellent
repute and of high standing in society.
When she gets you alone she wants
TO talk social problems. and she, too,
has strange ideas of morality.
Mrs. Davidson Is a better talker
l,or ~ fhroa
though they all talk fiuently enough.
When the attorney had gone, and
the two reporters had torn themselves
away, and the boy with the tea had
come back and gone and come back
again, Mrs. Davidson turned to me and
beamed through her large round
glasses.
80 good of you to come" she said.
"Sit right down. I'm most tired to
death. Been up in that stuffy court
part of THE day, and the rest I've been
going back and forth from my room.
seeing people.
IN the matron's room, you know,
can't sleep a wink or get a minutes
peace. Lots of little girls in here
brands plucked from the burning-talk
all the time. You can't do a thing with
them. I've labored with them faith
fully. but they only mock at the words
of counsel.
Seems IS If the All Powerful had
most forgot all about 'em. If 1 didn't
have faith I'd think so. Faith Is all
that's keeping me alive. 1 know that
] am upheld and kept by a mighty aid
That SOUL though all hell should en-
deavor to shake you know. We, the
anointed of the Lord. are upheld
through all our fiery trials; yea, even
unto the least of us. Now, I'll tell you
my story. You must be patient for
have to be very careful. i want to get
things 50 exact, you see"-just JUNCTION
of born gossip.
She never moved her fat little hands
she never moved her sleek, silvery
head-she just talked on and on and
on, and her yelled eyes shone through
a mist of swimming moisture. She
quoted the Scriptures at every breath
She called this woman "godly wo.
man. and that man a child of wrath
and she did IL without the least change
of tone. She said even i, the least IN
the kingdom" in exactly the tone IN
which she said. well. on a Friday
morning Matte came to me, and says
She
She called Dr. Brown various scrip
tural names. which were rather start
ling to the ear of the untoward child o
the world-but there was no anger 4
her voice and not a trace Of feeling o
any sort in her manner.
She told how she prayed for him. an,
how he prayed for her, and how sh
had wrestled with him 20 defy the ad
VerSary.
My soul was torn with the conflict
she said. resting her gray head agains
the grimy prison walls. and man
times groaned in spirit. but though
that Divine Justice had chosen me a
an instrument. and / must not tur
my hand from the pillow. One who wa
high in the counsels of men was 4
danger from the adversary. and him
must aid
This woman. the one who took IN
$500 from you. Mrs. Davidson. did yo
wrestle with her any. and try TO tur
ner from the error of her ways?'
Mrs. Davidson's moist blue eyes con
sracted a little. ani then she sad.
Il was sitting in my room" an