The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-22
FLED FROM A CONVENT.
PUPIL OF ST URsULA's TAKES
REFUGE WITH HER MOTHER.

she Is . Protestant nnd n,dn't Lake tho Cath
ellie sohooi's Discipiine-The Sisters Alarmed
Unti They Learned where she Was-new
She Eseaped Mas Not Been Made Apparent.
Mabel Preece, q 18-year-old girl, who has
boon a pupil In tho Mount st. Ursula
Academy, at Bedford Park, this city. ran
away from that institution early last Mon
day morning and came downtown to her
mothers homo in tho fiat house at 2l3 West
Thirty.fourth street. The Mother Superior Of
the convent and the Sisters in charge have boon
at their wits ends since the girls departure to
get some trace of her. They were under the
impression that her father and mother werc
in the West and that shc had no relatives in
this vicinity TO whom she could go. They
learned that the girl was safe with her mother
only yesterday afternoon. when Mrs. Preecc's
maid called at the convent and informed them
that Mabel was all right. The maid brought
back q coat belonging to one Of the other pupils
in the convent, which Mabel snatchcd up by
mistake in her haste 10 get away.
The Mount st. Ursula Academy is a Roman
Catholic institution at 20Oth street and Ira
verse road, q locality known as Bedford Park.
There are about eighty girl pupils in the con-
vent, some Of them day scholars. The fifty or
sixty boarders are kept under strict surveil-
lance by the Sisters and are not allowed to go
out alone or even to sleep in the dormitories
alone.
The Preece girl, who is very pretty, was
admitted to the convent on Nov. IL last. Her
mother, Mrs. Louise Preece, told the Mother
Superior that the girl was Of the Protestant
faith, but that she wanted her brought up in q
Catholic school. She added that she was q
Western woman, that Mr.. Preece was in bust
ness in Chicago, and that she had brought her
daughter East to place her in that particular
convent; She was stopping temporarily at
DOB Firth avenue, she said. but expected to re-
turn to Chicago In a few days.
On Monday morning, when the pupils in the
school school gathered n;.l for chapel at 2 o'clock; the the
The sister who slept in the dormitory was sure
that she had'seen the girl safely In bed the
idea when Miss Preece left the dormitory.. 100
4 telegram was sent to Mrs. Preece at 5cS
that she had left that address and gone
West; A letter was then sent with a request
she was. Meanwhile the Sisters Mere badly
scared. They had nc. idea what had befallen
the girl, and, feeling that responsibility, for her
power to on get sas some eD trace Z Of fhsg.''n"S III 'A'l
My daughter simply left the school," said
Mrs. Preeee last night, because she thought I
but last sunday 1 did not because i had
stead. Mabel concluded that il I was too i'll to
worried so that on Tuesday sho just decided to
como to me. She walked out Of tho convent and
went to my old address on Fifth avenue. not
f hnHTlnF ' WASN'T h there ms sSe went Msen to she a
friends house and they hunted me. That's
all Al ! there y, 81 is to 1t; The girl merely disobseyed tho
about me. Owing to the notorlety which has
b si iitti Ss sri' s aus; l . fsnl1 | t shsi, ' ssnS SiE heT s0 Ssat fe fo
tho school"