The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-21
PULLING IS CASE
Of ERR|NG GIRL
MAYNARD WOMAN APPARENTLY
u.
LED A MYSTERIOUS DOUBLE
EXISTENCE.

Jekyll, and just as horrible, came up
in the police court yesterday to be for
gotten today because of the complete
disappearance of the person in ques-
ton. Perhaps it wasn't a case of
double identity; maybe it was only an
example of the influence of circum-
stances. At any rate it is mysterious
and tragic beyond the ordinary.
The story isn't a pleasant one by
any means. There might be no JUS
tification for it's telling, but for the
meat for serious thought that it con-
tains. Such stories aren't uncommon
at all. The police court records are
full of them. That half of the world
| whose life is spent in the %virtuous
sunlight doesn't relish the tragedies of
the other half and police courts were
instituted to handle such things. They
are supposed to take care of them
without undue commotion, but this
case possesses a touch of mystery
that places it above the ordinary and
a moral that seems to make it's con-
sideration necessary.
If you dislike sordid tales, or if you
hate to hav the calm of your peace
full ways disturbed by disagreeable
thoughts, don read this. One word
more. 1t is better that nc names be
used. Enough harm has already been
done.
This tale of many chapters begins,
so far as Missoula is concerned, with
an arrest that occurred a couple of
nights ago. Late one evening Il po-
liceman stopped a girl who was about
to enter one of the houses in the re-
s~tricted district. The girl was a
stranger, and the policeman thought 1t
his duty to take her before a magis-
trate. She was so young that the Of
ficer couldn't believe that she had any
right to be where he found her. The
girl demonstrated, but the policeman
locked her up. In the morning she
was taken before a magistrate. In the
courtroom she was vicious in language
and appearance. She said that she
knew what she was about and since
she sWore that she had reached the
age at which the law permits r to
sin, the magistrate had to let her go.
Now the story shifts to Helena n
goes back about a year. A gentleman
whose mission in life is the reclama-
ton of men and women, has taken
into his home a girl who has made a
first misstep from the straight and
narrow path. These stories are old as
the eternal hills and are too sorrow
fully the same. 1t is enough to say
that his case seemed due for a happy
ending. A wedding was almost ar
ranged and the girl was happy.
After a few weeks a home was
found for the girl in Missoula. Here
she was under the strict supervision
under the care of a kindly woman who
knew the details of the case and who
y treated the girl as if she were d
daughter. The girl joined a Sunday
school class in a local church and be-
came intimate with girls of her own
age. She was thoroughly happy and
= the letters she wrote to her protector
e in Helena We're full of new hope and
happy courage. She couldn't express
d her thanks for the help that had put
S her on her feet after a first slip, anc
$ she said that so happy was her ne"
v life that nothing could ever induce hel
to change her ways She began to at
& tend the e~vangelistic services that are
! still going on here, always under the
protection of the woman in whose
home she was living. n night shl
joined the line of converts and an
nounced her intention of becoming {
church member. In her letters Wher
she spoke of these things she seemed
too happy for words.
One day she sent a tear-Stained let
ter to the Helena man who had helpet
har Shn had hoar told in a 1attpl
that no wedding would ever take place
She was heart-broken, and the blow
was made doubly severe by disheart
ening news from home. The CIR
- wanted from the first to go home tt
her mother. The mother still hoped
for the girl and was anxious to have
her under care, but a sister, declaring
that shame enough had already beer
brought upon the household, was 81
u~nbending in her objections that she
won her point. The girl, now almost
! alone in the world, declared in the let
\ ter to Helena that her new faith would
uphold her and reiterated her state
ment that she had found real happi.
ness at last.
Now the final chapter. A day OF
g two ago the man in Helena received
r a telegram from the Missoula woman
r under whose care the girl had beer
placed saying that the charge a dis
appeared. He hurried to Missoula
o with his little package of letters, pitt
@ full and tragic in their irony now. and
s laid the case before the Missoula po-
lice. A little investigation showed that
s the girl had been walking the streets
for several days. Whenever the watch
placed over her was relaxed of late
she took advantage of the situation,
And the trail led straight to the girl
, who had been arrested two days be-
! fore. A search for this girl was fruit.
less. She had gone.