Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-12-19
GIRL RESCUED.
Held by q North Carolina Farmer
as a Slave
IN A BARN WITH RATS.

L. T. Pender Hired Miss Olga Sios
tedt by Advertisement and The,
Tried to starve Her.-He Laugh
ed at Her Pleadings.-when Re
leased. She Declares Negroes Re
ceived Better Food Than She.
Half starved, yet Joyful over he,
release from what she declared II
be slavery on a farm owned by E
t. Pender. six miles from Halifax
N. c., Miss Olga Sjostedt passed
through Washington d. c., on Thurs
day.
With her was Thomas Broderick
formerly detective at Asbur; Park
That is the home of the girl. who is
trained nurse and who served in
that capacity in the Spanish-Amer.
ican War.
"On the Tuesday before Thanks
giving Invent to Halifax to work fol
Pender, whom / believe to be in
sane," said the girl, as she clung to
her rescuer.
Since then Pender has made me
a vertable slave. If Mr.. Broderick
had not arrived. / would have killed
myself, as declared 1 would do in a
letter written 10 friends"
Broderick's mission was & strange
one. He had been told that II. by
Sunday. Miss Sjostedt we're not re-
leased she would destroy herself
Supplied with ample funds by the
girls friends. he hurried to the train
and early Thursday he reached Hal
flax.
Hiring rig. the detertive sped
over the miles separating the little
town from the bleak, desolate farm.
Arriving there he found Pender. n
hoary- headed man beyond 60 years
of age. He did not at first see the
unfortunate nurse whose piteous APP
peals for help by mail had aroused
Asbury Park.
Brodariek, a big, powerful man,
with record for bravery. aggres-
sively demanded that the girl be pro-
dueed.
Pender snarled and refused to
comply. Broderick then resorted to
milder means. He quoted the law.
He told Pender that ne, having hir-
ed. the girl, was responsible for her
welfare.
He cited the fact as he knew it,
that she had been given only two
meals a day, both consisting almost
invariably of cornmeal. The detec-
tive also told of letters. Miss Sjos-
tedt had smuggled North, describing
barn. through the cleats of which
snow and the bleak winds blew.
This girl" thundered Broderick
came into your employ through an
advertisement. She was afflicted
with a slight throat trouble, and
thought the South was the place for
her. You accepted her as house
keeper, and as such you should have
provided for her. You haven't done
so, and If you don't deliver her to
me I'll have you hauled before a
Judge"
Pender quivered and finally broke
down. He led the detective to Miss
Sjostedt. who at that moment, she
said afterward, was contemplating
means of suicide.
She had said: at is better and
to be starved to death by this luh-
attic"
Miss Sjostedt flung her arms
al y und the big detectives neck when
he told her he had come to release
her. The pair got into the rig. Brod-
erick keeping one eye upon Pender
meanwhile, and they covered the six
miles of desolate country. where only
half a dozen negroes and three OIL
four white persons live.
Arriving at Halifox, they took the
train northward, and reached Wash.
ington, en- route to Asbury Park.
Miss Sjostedt was in tears during
the trip, but her tears were not those
of one in agony. The nervous strair
| through which she had bravely bat
tied began to tell on her as she left
the shadow of the tumble-down barn
where Pender would thrust her al
night and lock the door upon her
and where rats and mice scamperet
about, adding more horror to hel
pitiable condition.
"I never knew" she said, "tha
white manor a man alleged Il
be white--could treat a human be
ing in the manner Pender treated
me. He even laughen in my fac'
when l begged for some nutritious
food, and offered me the same ole
dried up, unpalatable corn meal. HI
fed the negroes working for him bet
ter fare than he gave me-"
Broderick gave no explanation
why, after he had rescued Miss Sjos
tedt. he did not have Pender ar
rested. 1t is believed he had reason
of his own to justify this move hi
main object being to return Mis-
/ c~fo