The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-06
BEDDING
Special to The Times.)

pAuNeo lo oe 1t-yedT-otO Alud WeuuS of the Plumtree district, Bethel, was found about o'clock Monday morn ing lying unconscious by the roadside near the driveway leading into the yard of a house just below Redding Center and occupied by a family named McCumber. Beside her was a bride supposed to have been slipped from the head of horse which the girl had ridden from Bethel This horse saddled, but bridleles, was found about daylight in the same lo- cality and placed in the keeping of Constable D. R. Warner. Led by the barking of the family dog, Warren McCumber, aged about 20, discovered the senseless girl stretched upon the ground and helped carry her into the house. She wore mems attire, consist ing of trousers, sweater and a. cap. These, it was afterwards learned, she had borrowed from her stepfather in Bethel without his knowledge when she made a surreptitious departure from their Bethel home about 10 o'clock the previous evening.
 Dr. Smith was called and soon re- stored the young woman to conscious ness. She bore no marks of physical injury, but was in a state of low vi- tal1ty from exposure to the keen night air and the consequent chill. It was naturally inferred that she had been stunned by falling from the horse | and remained in this condition owing to the benumbing effects of the cold. During the day she was questioned at length by Dr. Smith, Constable War ner, Selectman L. s. Warner, and | members of the McCumber family, but her answers failed to give a full and satisfactory explanation of the circumstances connected with her es- capade. She is a pretty girl and in- | telligent enough and 1t was plain that she did not tell more because ] she did not wish to. Her stepfather arrived during the day and was also disposed to be uncommunicative He admitted that he had spoken reprov- | lngly to the girl on Sunday evening and said he knew of no other reason for her plight. The girl had pre- viously declared that he not only scolded but whipped her, a statement which later she would not repeat but 1 d1So OlQ not WlLndrdW.
 The substance of the disclosures ob- tained from her was that she ran away from sudden impulse on ac- count of ill-treatment. What was her 1 destination or her specific purpose ii l Sne mad any, or when and how she l came to be unhorsed, she would not say, claiming, on the latter point, tc 1 have no recollection. Neither df6 she explain another peculiar circum. stance. When found she had fasten. ed to her waist by a belt an ordinary hammer, presumably intended as z weapon of defence or offence. Asked 1T she was in the habit of carryine this or something else in the nature Of weapon when she went out a night she said she was not and stop ped there She was also reticent or the subject of her acquaintance witt l young McCumber, who found her The latter admitted that there hat l been something of an acquaintanc, and that he and she met in Danbur1 last Friday and Saturday. He sought however, to convey the impression that their acquaintance was slight ant that their meetings were casual anc i without particular significance. Tha she had started for Bedding for th purpose of meeting McCumber an, having with him an interview sh, would not acknowledge.
 While this comprises about all hay ing direct hearing on the case whicl the authorities learned their genera inquiries disclosed the presence ant doings in the same locality that Sun day morning of two strange men who 1t is surmised, may have borne som relation to Miss WenGe's presence an, what she was trying to accomplish provided of course that she had a spe ciftc purpose in view. These mer shortly after midnight, called at tn
 house of Andrew BerQuist, locate about a mile below the McCombe place, and asked where the McCum bers lived. They were told and wen away. At about 2 o'clock the Nc Cumbers heard noises indicating tn
 presence of some one in their bac
 yard. the sounds giving the irapres
 sion that a person was clamberin
 over the board fence. No respons coming to the hall shouted at the in
 
 McCumber youths-there are three C
 them-fired pistol and the noise
 ceased. Three hours later Warre
 McCumber answered a knocking an
 upon opening the door saw two me
 standing outside in the darkness. On
 of them called him by name an
 asked if he had job for them or
 he knew of any work to be had i
 the neighborhood. On his replyin
 negatively they seemed disposed
 finger, but quickly departed when ar
 other of the McCumbers entered tn . room. About o'clock two men, SUI q posed to be the same, called at b If Smiths house and inquired about ge
 ting work. An hour or so later the z threatened and chased Lester Fret :, man, colored boy who was startin = for A. G. Barnett's where he work
 This was the last seen or heard ( the couple in the vicinity. Owing
 the dim light no one secured a goo
 view Of their faces. One of the loct
 officials interested in the case e, pressed the opinion that if they wei t friends, and companions of Mi e Wende. as some think, 1t was strane y that they should vanish from tf s. scene leaving her in such a pligl n as she was. "Yes,' rejoined anoth, l. citizen, but perhaps the men did nt IT attempt to get the girl into houi
 because they realized that an attem] l. to explain matters would place the st in awkward position"
 s, REDDING---5
 E The girl and her father returned le Bethel in the afternoon and have n, of been further heard from. at least | 1t the Bedding authorities. who felt the le had done everything in the matt,