The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-01-11
COT HIS DAUGHTER At LAST
''Mr. Mercer, Of Utah" Chased
Her Mother for MenthS.
SHE HAD STOLEN THE CHILD
Divorced From Her Husband, the
Court Had Given Him Custody of
the Little One Whom She Kid
naped-ThOusands Spent by Both
for Possession OF the Girl.
The Morning Oregon;on.


Hebe Wright, of Weber county, Utah. tray
eled %, 600 miles through the United States
nd Canada in pursuit of MERGERS di-
/ vorced wife, who had stolen little Maggie,
ended last Tuesday night at Victoria, B. C,
where Mr. Mercer regained possession of
his daughter, and, with Sheriff Wright,
! Immediately left for Portland.
If the story Of that two months chase
were told in full detail, the bare facts
would buildup narrative that would read
i stranger than the strangest fiction. 1t was
/ q fight with clever, determined and deS-
perate wona and mother On the one hand,
| resolved u have her daughter, and grim,
rugged old plainsnan on the other. The
woman had money in plenty, and spent il
| like water 10 retain possession OF her child
| during the two months THAT She was fugi-
tive from the officers OF the law. But the
old plainsInan, with a million behind him
and equally resolved TO have possession Of
| little Maggie, whom the courts OF Utah had
| given over TO him when they separated
| man and wife, was too much for the woman,
nd in the endhe triumphed, but not before
| thousands OF dollars had been spent, the
| police Of every large city in the West, and
| Canada and British Columbia had been al
ed upon, and, after the powers OF an eXtradi-
| ton treaty had been invoked in vain, a
clash had been barely averted between the
provincial police OF British Columbia and
Sheriff Wright
MIR. Mercer of Utah is well known in
the Mormon State. Mr.. Mercer can look
around him on the plains of the public do
main OF Utah and count his sheep by the
| tens OF thousands and the deeds for about
! twenty or thirty blocks in the city of
Ogden stand in his name. Seven years
ago Mary L. McKinstrie, an Iowa girl,
married him-posSibly it was 10000
| sheep that fed on public domain that at
tracteG the woman. Anyway, the mar
riage was a mistake, and not even the
coming OF little Maggie, year later, TO
the beautiful home that mr.. Mercer of
Utah gave her in the heart OF Ogden could
make Mrs. Mercer a satisfied or coutented
wife. Finally. in 1894, things came TO
a crisis, and Mrs. Mercer brought suit
for divorce and for third of his estate.
Mr.. Mercer filed cross complaint, and
the Utah courts gave the div orce to him,
instead of TO his wife, and turned little
| Maggie, who was then four years old,
over to guardian. Mr.. Mercer married
again in June of 1895, and last spring the
first Mrs. Mercer began suit against him
for S92, 500. she failed TO get the money
aud as a result OF this second litigation
little Maggie, who all this time had been
in the care of a guardian, was turned over
to her father, to whom she was greatly
attached.
Then the first Mrs. Mercer made a VOW
that she would get possession Of her
daughter 10y hook or crook. Maggie's
father, however, never gave her an op-
portunity to carry her plans into execu-
ton until two months ago.
II was the Thursday afternoon before
Presidential election, and little Ma ggie
was going from school to her home at No.
1922 Grand street, not five blocks away.
Maggie had been warned about her moth
er, and when she saw her coming up to
her on the street she began to cry, and
when her mother took her by the hand she
did not want to go. Mrs. Mercer led the
little girl down the street to q dress
maker, where she got a dress that was
being made for Maggie, and the tw disap-
peared as completely as if the earth had
swallow &c them.
When it grew late and Maggie did not
come home Mr.. Mercer, who had Just come
up from the sheep camp, grew anxious and
started out To look for her. OF course, he
didn find her, and he made the jump to the
conclusion that his divorced wife had kid
MAPPED her. To think with him was to act
and he went straight TO his friend, Hebe
Wright, the sheriff, who is terror to the
evil-doers OF Weber county.
"Hebe, Maggie's gone,'' exclaimed the
plainsman, and | want you to git her. 1
can't go and look for her and want you to
do it for me. III make money while you
spend it looking for my darter. I'd pay
500, 600 Ia get Maggie back, but now that
that woman's stolen her won't pay a cent,
but III fight it if it takes every cent I've
got. I'd follow her into he'll il the gates |
was open, but this things got to be did
'cOrding TO law, and you've got to do it for |
me-"
Five days later Sheriff Wright found that |
Mrs. Mercer and Maggie had left ogden for |
Denver, and started out on his two months |
chase, a trip that was constantly on the cars, |
and took him all over the West. Mrs Mer- |
Ger had money to burn, and she kept Sheriff |
Wright guessing by buying through tickets /
TO different points, and than switching to /
some other point when she had only par
tally used her tickets. This ruse several |
times carried him off to terminal points,
only to find that she had LEFT the cars at |
Some junction hundreds of miles back, and /
gone off on a new tangent.
But he had all the money he needed and |
an unlimited account 10 draw upon, and
by means ofeXeess baggage thatshe carried /
until she reached the Canadian line, he
succeeded in tracing her through Grand |
Junction, st. Paul. AT st. Paul she evil
IDENTIFY learned that kidnapping was not ex- |
trdditable, and crossed the line to Winni- /
peg, and then went on to Medicine Hat.
Armed with extradition and all sorts of /
papers to prove his case, Sheriff Wright |
crossed the line a day behind Mrs. Mercer
and followed her to Winnipeg, where, learn
ing that she had bought a ticket to Port
land, Greg, lIe came on to this city. But it
was only another of Mrs. MERGERS tricks,
for she had changed at Medicine Hat to
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