Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-04
MRS. SHOTTER
IS LIBERATED
At LAST
SAVANNAH WOMAN CLAIMS TO
HAVE BEEN KEPT A PRISON
Err AT MILLEDGEVILLE SAM
TARIUM.

MACON, Ga, Aug. Mrs. Elizabeth
Shotter, of Savannah, spent last night at
the Brown House in Macon under rather
sensational circumstances.
Today habe1s corput writ will be served
on Or. Allen, of the sanitarium at Mil
ledgeville, requiring him to show why he
has for the past five years held Mrs. Shot
ter in captivity against her will. The
writ of habeas corpus was applied for last
night, but the physician and female at
tendant who came to Macon with Mrs
Shotter said the ~sanitarium had relin-
pushed all custody and that they were
simply taking Mrs. Shotter to Savannah,
in response to kilograms from relatives
If she has been given her liberty in real
ity, the writ may not be served. Mr.. John
r. Cooper who had secured Mr.. Samuel
II. Evans release from DR.. Aliens sani-
tarium on a writ of habeas corpus show
ing that the laws Of Georgia do not per-
NIT the Imprisonment of a person without
some process of law, and a friend of Mr..
Shotter, who had heard her story and
had taken a keen interest in her case,
employed Mr.. Cooper to get her out. Mr..
Cooper went to the sanitarium Thursday
night and was refused permission to see
Mrs Shotter, but he eventually succeed
ed, and came back to Macon to- prepare
the papers. Last night he received tele-
phone message from Milledgeville. He
met the train and found Mrs. Shotter and
the physician and attendant on their way
to Savannah. Mrs. Shotter consulted
with him and then announced to her at
tendants that she would stop in Macon,
and she went to the Brown House to await
developments.
Her husband is said to be in Europe at
this time. He is reputed to be very
wealthy. Her story of her alleged cap
tivity is as follows
Five years ago, just after a trip which
she had taken to Europe, she received a
telegram asking her to rush to the bedside
of sick relative at DR.. Aliens sanitari-
UNI. She chartered a train and went as
fast as she could get there, and when she
entered the room where the relative was
supposed to be i'll the door was quickly
closed behind her and she was locked UP.
She tried for two years to escape, and
did so, but as soon as she reached home
she was taken in carriage by the same
relative and carried back to the depot and
to Milledgevilie and again imprisoned.
Mrs. Shotter refuses to go any further.
George w. Owens, of Savannah, her
cousin, is here. He has tried to persuade
her to go to her people at Savannah, but
she says she will not do so. She charges
her family with having deserted her after
she was placed in the sanitarium 1--WE
years ago and she is unwilling to risk
herself among them. She says they have
allowed her to be imprisoned for life on
groundless charges and she is afraid they
will permit her to be committed to the
asylum by law in such a way that she
can never escape. She prefers to stay
here and meet the charges of insanity IL
they are TO be made. She says that for
five years she has been held captive
arnoig screaming lunatics and that during
that time no loved ones have been about
her and she has not even been allowed
spending money, although she had prop
erty in her own right
Ladies' who have become sympathizers
with her employed Mr.. Cooper to rescue
her on habeas corpus. A citizen of Mil
ledgeville has also been employed to re-
main near her and see that she is given
a chance to prove to the world that she
is improperly restrained OF her liberty.
A detective who refuses to state his
business or give the name of his employer
Is shadowing her hotel and is under in
structions to keep up with Mrs. Shotter,
no matter where She goes. Arrangements
have been made TO arrest on kidnapping
charges any person who attempts TO in
timidate or remove her by force. she
says her husband is in Europe and she is
at a loss to know which way to go.
She says she has not received a visit
from her husband since she was impris-
oned in the sanitarium. She has five
children, the eldest Is years old. They
are spending the summer In the noun
tains. So far as Mrs. Shelters attorney is
advised the only charge against her is
that she in some time of her life showed
SYMPTOMS Of pyromania and ii is claimed
she is incurable. She says the charge is
absolutely false, but the attorney says
If II is admitted TO be true, it would not
justify Incarceration for life.