The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-03-16
Beautiful Wife of Busi-
ness Man Kidnapped
From Train.
STORY REVEALED
FOR FIRST TIME
Young Husband, Fearing Pub
licity and Disgrace, Has Re-
fused to Appeal to Police or
Newspapers for ABIDE
tails of Abduction Related
by Mrs. ]. L. Laidlaw.
Especial to rh. Times.pl.natch.l !

New York, March I5.-Airs James
Lees l.aidlaw. prominent suffrage lead
Ell and wife of the wealthy banker to-
day made public the fact that the
young and beautiful wife OF a pros
porous New York business man, living
in New Jersey. had been stolen from
train on which she was committing
and carried Into white slavery by her
oaptors.
Mrs. Laidlsw declared that this is
merely one instance out OF 1.50o or
| LOO cases where girls and young wo-
men OF good families were stolen last
year from trains between New York
end Chicago BY traders in white slaves.
and that in all. upward of $4,000 Amer
lean women are kidnapped this way
every year.
In her home tonight Mrs Laidlaw
told the details of the young wife $
abduction to a reporter, She said
About eight months ago this young
woman. both wife and a mother.
was kidnapped by white slavers. But.
because of the husbands foolish and
falEe conception of the disgrace at
tached TO the affair. he has always re-
fused TO appeal either to newspapers
or police for help in finding her.
Feared Publicity.
Ashamed OF the publicity that would
follow such an appeal. the husband has
made his friends who know the details
of the case promise never to reveal his
name or TeSluenCe. he 1eelS now that
he would rather die without knowing
the horrible details of his wife's life
in the hands OF her captors than be
apprised OF them now
I'm addition. for the sake OF his
child, he wants no word printed Of the
affair that would enable his child s
rela or instructors or friends in
later life TO tell anything about the
way the mother was stolen and sold
into a life Of terrible infamy."
Mrs. Laidiaw went on to tell how
| the abduction managed
The husband had asked his wife to
meet him in the city one evening TO
go TO the theatre. She was not at the
railway terminal when he erriv ed
there. but he learned from the conduc-
tor that she had been aboard the reg
ular train and that two men OF foreign
appearance had boarded the train at
the same station. These men had
seated themselves Immediately behind
her. They had insisted on paying her
fare despite her protests, assuring the
conductor the woman was not rational
and was in their custody.
When the train reached the terminal,
where the husband should have been
had he not been delayed. the conduc-
tor saw the two men hurrying the
woman away, and that was the last
seen OF her. Whether she was too
frightened to make an outcry or had
been heguiled into temporary acauies-
scencc by a clever story, neither the
conductor nor the husband knows
Not long ago a woman was stolen
from ferry boat between New York
and New Jersey in much the same
manner, as this young New Jersey
wife," said Mrs. Laidlaw. And only
because she was able TO escape after
friends ever learned what became of
her.
"A Rochester girl. who was kid
mapped between her home and Ruffa 10.
fell into the hands of the probation
society here one day after she had
been arrested, and after her health
had been restored, she was restored
to see again. and which had never
received one word as to the cause OF
her disa appearance.
Must Right Conditions.
And now to right these conditions,
what? Not the minimum wage scale,
not economic adjustment of that sort.
Because most of these women have
been stolen from their homes and
forced TO live in such places until
their senses are dulled that they
have lost all sense OF where they came
from or where they would again he
received.
"Precocity in young girls does not
account for one -thousandth the num-
ber of women who go wrong: the or
dinary commonly accepted causes for
a young girls misstep and subsequent
life are far from the truth
Before these terrible evils can be
remedied the city's civic corruption
must be remedied. There can be no
safety for women in New York unless
there is decent city government.
What progress can be made against
white slave1s. with their agents every
where in every walk of life and sta
tion OF life. as long as prominent Of
ficeholders, politicians. judges. mag
istrates and the police not only coun-
tenance. but actually make money out
of the traffic in women.
Our city government must be puri-
fled. The present Mayor and the po-
lice commissioner must not dictate a
or immoral. but combination OF both
There is nothing in the present admin
iStration to deserve public support
Take. ms an example, Mayor Gay
nor's speech to the young students of
a university recently. ! have preserv-
cd that speech as a relic of the barbar-
Gus ages 1t WAS practically brief
for these young men to go out and
pander. For. In that speech, Mayor
Gaynor told of n mans frailties from
time immemorial,' and justified this in
decent, sub-noral conduct on the policy
Of outward decency and order
The facts surrounding white siav-
cry, and the way in which $4,000 Amer
ican women year are deliberately
sacrificed to II. are more lurid and SEN
sational than the most morbid. over
wrought imagination could conjure"
Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, together
with her husband. addressed meeting
of the Equal Suffrage League OF Vir-
Rinia at the Ieffnrsnn Hotel A1dito..-