The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-03-03
BALTIMORE PARISH
KNEW SLAIN NUN

BALTIMORE, March s--Did the
, traRedy Of Sister Mary John, which had
tts climax in the Felician nuns disap-
pearance and supposed murder eieVeh
I wears ago at Isadore- Lelanau county
MICH. have its inception in BaltfmoreE
! Aesr more than a decade, and the
L .a.st-,- ~ n tody eleven months ago De-
----tb church near Traverse CITY
Moi the mystery is unsolved. 6ut
a -itI, tla establishment Of the TACT IhaI
sister Mary John, called in the FCIis s
language Janina, once taught schOOL "a
Holy Rosary parish here ana Ille a. a.
| tjonal fact that she became involved IN
! S.S.oo,5uct as did another nun, Sister
No. Elanka. who has, too, disappeared
a. seems that events are combining 10
throw finally some light on the case
Both Beautiful Women.
Path sister Mary John and Sister
Mary Blanka were, up until 1900 teach-
ers at Holy Rosary parOchial school.
Rotb women. If the memory Of the old
Darfshioners serve them right were
beautiful, and were close friends covert
acts of Sister Mary John, 1t is sslo'
caused her transfer from Baltimore
To a province in New Jersey Wnlle
Sister Mary Blanka's clandestine meet
inrs with a man remained undiscoV-
cred for several years
When, eventually, the denouement
threatened, Sister Blanka, then one OF
the most beloved of teachers, broke
ber VOWS and. casting aside her habit
and beads, left the Baltimore convent
and fed to the West with her para
noJr whom she is supposed to have
v,orried The pair, it is said, settled
in a suburb Of Detroit.
But. IL seems, the erstwhile Sister
BIauka could not, or did not forget
her friend, Sister Mary John. And, II
appears, there was another man. VINO
despite Sister Johns transfer from
Baltimore, was not to be cast aside. b
Lured to Michigan.
whether through connivance with
this man, or through friendliness,
Sister Blanka, from her home In
Michigan, dispatched communication
to sister Mary John which induced
her TO amply for q transfer to Michl-
/ gan In time. this was accomplished,
! and in 1907, Sister Mary John found
herself a member Of the community
I at -Isadore convent
A year later, she diSappeared-Wear-
was She murdered? Or is she stm
alive?
It is q mystery which only time
and the former Sister Blanka-can
solve. The authorities were, until
about eleven months ago, oblivious OF
the fate. or supposed fate, Of Sister
Mary John. A nun, they were told
had disappeared from the Isadore
convent in 1908. There was no crime
necessarily attached to q nuns mere
disappearance Sister Mary Blanka,
of the same order, had disappeared
similarly. from Baltimore in 1901.
Therefore, the police took no more
than a mere cursory interest In the
incident
If remained for the aged sexton Of
a church near the convent to revive
the case which now is claiming the
attention OF the entire country.
While -excavating. probably prepare
tory to making Improvements, this
man came upon several graves which
lsd been made a decade before. As
the site had once been cemetry,
there was nothing sensational In the
discovery, but curiosity end official
interest resulted in the G2ening OF
the Baskets All were dH1y accounted
for save one.
The Unexplained CRSket.
In this were found number OF
human bones and fragments Of cloth
which might, or might not have been
once the brown Franciscan habit OF
& nun But there were beads also.
Ostensibly, an unrecorded burial had
been made This proved nothing
however, since Identification was i'm
possible, but. as the fragments Of a
written page are pieced together
popular fancy had ii that the remains
were those Of the vanished nun. Log
fcaIIy, then, it was believed she had
been slain and buried surrepdtiously
in the old graveyard, which since had
been covered by the foundations Of
church
II popular fancy is correct, then
there Is no doubt left that the nun
was iured from the East to the Michi-
gan convent by persons VINO premeol-