The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-06-22
GIRL LEAVES HOME,
BECAUSE OF DREAMS
Account of Visions Recalls Hugo 8
"Djinns Saw Heavenly Sights
in the Clouds-Lions Kept
Vigil-Effects Are Being
Held for Brother.
RICHMOND. VA, Special


which came TO her at all times of the
day and night and suffering from ex-
treme nervousness, which ii Is feared /
has unbalanced her mind, Miss Leila |
Ramsey, about forty-five years old, |
has been missing three days from her |
boarding house at 512 North Ninth |
street, and though her friends have |
searched the city for her and have
called upon the police for assistance.
not the slightest trace nor clew as to
her whereabouts has been found, and |
IL is believed that she has either been |
taken up by the authorities in some |
other city and sent to an asylum or
SanatOrium, or has wandered out into |
the county and met with some acct !
dent.
Evidence of the woman's mental
condition were discovered in her loom |
this morning when a number of pa
pers were found on which the woman
in apparent agony had written strange
accounts of her delirium. The writ
ing was scrawled across pieces of
brown wrapping paper, and much of
IT was evidentaly written at night, for |
the words are written over each |
other, and the lines run diagonally |
across the sheets so that in many in |
stances the words are uninteiligible. |
Miss Ramsey had been at the
North Ninth Street boarding house, /
conducted by Mrs. James Briggs, since |
February 18th. She said that she
worked at the Randolph Paper Box
Factory, where she had held one po-
sition for eighteen or twenty years.
She told Mrs. Briggs that she had
come originally from Caroline ooun-
ty and had only one relative, a broth |
er, whom she had not seen for nearly |
twenty-five years.
She had friends, Mrs. Briggs said, |
when seen this morning, but rarely |
visited anyone. Returning from her |
work she would lock herself in her |
little hall room, cook her own supper |
on an oil stove and remain in her
room until morning. She lived the |
life of a recluSe.
A Disturbed Mind.
For about two weeks before her |
strange disappearance she had COM |
planned that she could not sleep. She |
and beat upon her window all night |
They showed their teeth, when she |
spoke to them, she said. and would |
not let her rest Their visitation made |
her tongue so sore that she could |
hardly speak, she said, and she was |
afraid she would eventually be killed. |
Late Saturday night when Mr.. |
Briggs nephew, James Trueblood, a |
railway conductor, was visiting the |
house, Miss Ramsey, after remaining |
down on the front porch and begged |
Mr.. Trueblood to drive the spirits |
from the porch.
Monday night the woman was again
the victim OF strange dreams. After |
midnight she aroused another board |
er, Foster Meyer, one of Mrs. Briggs |
cousins, and besought him to help |
her drive away the spirits They were |
dancing on the roof. she said, and |
trying to get into her room Later |
that same night, Mrs Briggs said. |
during the rainstorm which swept |
over the city, Miss Ramsey telephoned !
for police assistance. An officer hur-
ried TO the house Miss Ramsey told |
him that she was being pursued by \
spirits. After assuring her that no |
harm would come to her the officer
left.
Left House After Midnight
When the dream-haunted woman
left the house three days later
Wednesday night-she was scantily
clad, took nothing with her, and did
not even stop to put on her hat. The
condition OF her bed indicates that
she retired, but tossed about restless
ly-the covers beine decidedly disar-
ranged. Mrs. Briggs or some MEM
Der Of her family heard the woman
run down the stairs after midnight.
The front door opened and slammed. |
They have not seen her nor have they
heard a word from her since.
The manager of the Randolph pa
per box factory, when questioned by
a representative Of The Evening
Journal this afternoon, said that
Miss Leila Ramsey formerly worked
for him. She had given up her po-
siticn sometime ago, he declared, and
since leaving the factory he had heard
nothing from her.
A small hand-satchel and a new
trunk were left in her room by Miss
Ramsey. No money was in the sat
chel. The trunk was full of clothes.
Several letters thirty or forty years
old were found in a little writing box. |
one of the letters, addressed to Dear
Sister" spoke in sympathetic terms
Of the death Of dear sisters" hus-
band, and inasmuch as the missing
woman, besides giving a few of the
mea gerest details about her past life
and family. steadfastly refused to dis
cuss her people or connections in any
way, those who have seen the letter
think that Miss Ramsey might have
been married many years ago. The
letter is dated May 10, 1886, and was
written from Owenton, Va.
Her purse contained two very old
daguerreOtypes in plush-lined pocket
cases. One was the picture OF man;
photographs were lying on the top OF
her trunk. There were also three or
four daguerreotypes in the trunk tray.
one showed a picture OF a woman hold
ing In her arms a yellow haired baby.
Two or three of the PICTURES were
duplicates and were photographs of q
man, apparently thirty-fve years old.
The torn pieces Of paper upon which
accounts OF Miss Ramsey's delrium are
NlllNtn were ny lar the most inter-
esting and mystifying things to be
found in the room. Certain references
to the haunting spirits suggests Vic
tor HugO's Les Djinns," and are no
less weird and horrifying.
Wrote to Relieve Her Mind.
1t appears that the unfortunate Wo-
man driven to the verge of a mental
breakdown attempted to relieve her
mind by writing down her experiences.
One OF the accounts seems to have been
written after an unusually terrifying
dream; others appear to have been
! penned while under the influence of the
strange delrium.
! When asked if the woman ever used
opiates or stimulants of any kind, Mrs.
| Briggs said that Miss Ramsey had
never, as far as she knew, taken any
/ drug whatever, though she said that
| frequently the woman did not appear
to be in fun possession of her mental
1 faculties.
! Miss Ramsey, while avoiding grown
| people, appeared to be particularly
/ fond Of children, Mrs. Briggs said, and
frequently took one of the little
Briggs children in her arms and talked
/ to her and petted her. The woman
/ seemed to care for one OF the little
/ Briggs girls like mother, and not in
/ frequently brought her some little
present. The child returned the wo-
mans affections and seemed to be de-
I'll