The San Francisco call., 1904-12-11
TRIES TO ABDUCT SCHOOL GIRL
Man DrdgS Berkeley Maiden Miles From Home
ha Condor, Aged Fourteen Tells of Terrible
Experience and Fortunate Escape.
Berkeley Office San Francisco Call.
o1Ao CeDtay Straet Dec IN

Zl40 C6HleT OlICCl, Lee. 1V.
To be kidnapped, assaulted and
dragged three miles through a sparse
ly settled section Of North Berkeley
was the narrowing experience yester-
day of Miss Bertha Condor, the IA
year-old daughter Of William Condor
of 1916 Delaware street. To her
mother she related story appearing
almost impossible of belief and yet
substantiated in all particulars by cir
cumstantial evidence.
The fiend who perpetrated the Of
fense was a stranger, according to the
girl, who accosted her at Francisco
and Sacramento streets as she re-
turned home at noon from school.
She was seized by this man. her hands
being tied behind her back with her
own handkerchief, and then she was
pushed and pulled along the Santa
Fe Railroad track for a distance of
about three miles, stopping at inter-
walls when the man attempted to en-
brace her.
The girl finally made her escape
under the railroad treStle near the
quarry at Schmittsville, just over the
Contra Costa County line. Here her
screams might have attracted the at
tention of laborers near by and this
circumstance apparently appealed to
the brute, who released his hold upon
her, although none Of her entreaties
had affected him on the long journey
to the place.
Once free, the bruised and exhaust
ed school girl climbed the bank to the
track and started on the journey
home. She stumbled along, her hands
still tied behind her, making her way
with the utmost difficulty. More than
two hours she spent in the return trip
r. iut
hood of home she was a pitiable OBJ
ject.
Frank Sullivan, youth of her ac-
Quaintance, caught sight of her at
Delaware and McGee streets and, hav-
ing been told that the girls mother
was fretting over her failure to ap-
pear, he hurried to. inform Miss, Con-
don sof the fact, Then he discovered
that his playmate's hands were tied
behind her back, that her clothes
were nearly torn from her body and
that her face was scratched and
bleeding. He quickly loosened the
handkerchief and helped her home.
She was put in bed and none allowed
to see or talk with her until hours
had elapsed and she was partially re-
covered from her injuries.
II was coming back from school"
said the girl, in giving an account of
her experiences, "and at the corner
of Francisco street, crossing the rail-
road track, a large man l never had
seen before spoke to me and took hold
of my hands. l thought he was J0k-
ing until he took my handkerchief,
tied my hands and pulled me along
with him. Then | screamed, but no
one heard me, / guess. l begged him
to let me go, but he would not. He
crushed me in his arms until l lost my
breath, and abused me. l hoped some
but nobody did. When we got to the
trestle he took me down underneath
and then I screamed again as loud as
1 could. He got frightened then,
think, for some men were near there
in the quarry, and when l screamed
he left. walked home. but it was
hard work with my hands tied behind
me.
The man wore dark clothes. They
had been worn a good deal. He had
a dark mustache, mixed with gray.
He wore a derby hat and 1 think was
about 40 years old. He was of medi-
um height"
The knot in the handkerchief was
bundle wrappers knot, evidently
tied by a man familiar with bundle
wrapping and tying.
Robert Cameron, an uncle of Miss
Condor, began a search for the
stranger who had abducted his niece,
but found no trace of him. He did
find the girls school books where she
had dropped them, a little distance
past the place of the first meeting.
Children in the vicinity of the San
ia Fe depot say they have seen
strange man lettering about the prem
ises, who has made advances which
none of them needed Deputy Mar
shall William Carey made a search for
the abductor, but without success. The
but Mrs. Condor declares that except
for bruises and scratches her daugh-
ter has not been seriously hurt.