Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-08-08

and wholesale character, that the press
Is taken into the confidence of libra
rians in such matters.
This year, at the two great libraries
| housed in the beautiful state historical
/ library building. the number OF miss
ing books and pamphlets was unusu-
ally large and important-this was
particularly the case in the state his,
| torical library. About week ago,
after the final searches were made, the
| residue OF actual losses was still SO
| large as TO create alarm. An analysis
Of the losses disclosed the fact that
! they were particularly heavy in rare
and valuable items bearing on south
ein history. The number of persons
working in this field, and granted ac-
cess to the shelves, were not to exceed
three or four.
This narrowed the inquiry down to a
small coterie. A council OF war was
held between the professors of history
now in town. and DR.. Thwaites, the
superintendent of the library, and a
combination of circumstances pointed
strongly to Miss Morrill,, who had
been a graduate student at the unive--
! sity for TWO years past. and a fellow
! in history. She took her masters de-
greece at the university in June last,
and was engaged upon studies in
southern history leading up to doc
tors degree a year or two hence.
Miss Morrill, had left town soon after
| commencement and was known to be
staying at Highlands, ~ c., prepals-
j tory to entering upon her position as
a teacher at Columbia, s. c. 1t
CHANGED to be known that six of her
boxes were being temporarily stored
at the warehouse of Sumner & Morris,
on Doty street. near Pinckney. Miss
Morrill, S keen desire to accumulate
a library of American history, especi-
/ ally upon the south. was a fact we'll
known to many. She had during the
| past year purchased numerous books
at auction. Nevertheless, grounds for
! suspicion were so convincing that her
collection also contained books and
pamphlets taken from the historical
/ library that on Saturday morning last
| search warrant was sworn out by
| Or. Thwaites before Justice G. X.
| Tenney. and that gentleman, TO-
gether with Walter NJ. Smith, the uni
/ versity librarian, made the examine
! ton Of the boxes in the presence Of
sheriff's deputy
! Joth librarians had sincerely hoped
! that nothing discriminating would after
all be found in Miss Morrills boxes,
and that they would prove to have
been misled Both Of them had
! known her we'll, and had reposed com
/ plete confidence in her, and given her
such privileges in their libraries as
are always given to serious, promising
well-recommended people like her, who
! exhibit every evidence of ability to ID
first class work Miss Morrill,, a
! young woman of some 80 or 81 years
Of age, had come to Madison highly
endorsed she had, by means of her
beauty, her dignity of manner, her ap-
parent sincerity as student, her
social graces, and the frequent ex-
! pressions of her ambition, won her
way to many hearts. In numerous
Madison families, particularly in the
| Latin quarter, she was from the first
kndly-in some. of them even lovingly
received. She was the heart and soul
OF the graduate club. was capital
story-teller, vivacious conversations
list, and had most charming Georg-
! ian accent-for although her birth.
place was Florida, her rearing had
I been in the neighborhood of Atlanta
During the past winter, Miss Morrill,
had. or at least pretended to have, a
call to teach history In womans
college In Japan; but did not accept,
| she said, because she was wanted for
| four years. and wished to be absent
only two, for fear that she would lose
touch with American affairs and per
haps injure her career as a teacher
in tho south.
| To the horror of the searchers, how
ever the evidences of the theft were
at once found, and they multiplied as
| the examination proceeded In the
| boxes were found about 200 books and
pamphlets. many of them of great
rarity and value, and about equally
divided between the two libraries,
While upon the historical side, south.
ern history led all other fields, the
books from the university library were
of more general character. To add
| to the outrage of the act, the thief
! had, in order to destroy identity, torn
out title-pages either wholly or in
part. in scores of books, and in many
other ways cruelty mutilated the
volumes. AS very many Of those
thus wantonly mutilated are rarities
Of high market value. the vicious ruin
of the book, from a autographed
point of view, is particularly sadden-
! ing.
! Not only were 200 items from these
two libraries discovered, and their
identity established through marks Of
ownership elsewhere in the books,
which the thief probably did not rec
ognize as such; but some 35 or 40
! other volumes were set aside ard are
! being held by Justice Tenney, as ex
/ hil,ftfpo rrfIanreg Of haIonginy IN