Republican farmer., 1919-02-07
BEDDING
Special to The Times.)

of the PIumtree 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 bridle supposed to have been slipped from the head of a horse which the girl had ridden from Bethel This horse saddled, but brfdleless, was , found about daylight in the same To- 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 l Ing of trousers, sweater and g. cap. 1 These, It was afterwards learned, she | had borrowed from her stepfather in -lethel without his knowledge when she made a surreptittous departure rom their Bethel home about 10 o'clock the previous eve vening.
 i Dr. Smith was called and soon re- ] stored the young woman to conscious 1 ness. She bore no marks of physical 1 injury, but was in a state of low vi- 1 tality from exposure to the keen night 1 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 l length by pr. 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 it was plain that she did not tell more because She did not wish to. Her stepfather 1 arrived during the day and was also ! disposed to be uncommunicative He admitted that he had spoken reprov-
 ingly 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
 also did not withdraw
 The substance of the disclosures ob-
 tatned from her was that she ran
 away from a sudden impulse on ac-
 count of ill-treatment What was her
 destination or her specific purpose if
 she had any, or when and how she
 came to be unhOrsed, she would not
 say, claiming, on the latter point, to
 have no recollection. Neither did
 she explain another peculiar circum-
 stance. When found she had fasten-
 ed to Ter waist by a belt an ordinary
 hammer presumably intended as a
 weapon of defence or offence. Asked
 if she was in the habit of carrying
 this or something else In the nature
 of a weapon when she went out al
 night she sad she was not and stop
 ped there She was also reticent or
 the subject of her acquaintance witt
 young McCumber, who found her
 The latter admitted that there hac
 been something of an acquaintance and that he and she met in Danbur7
 last Friday and Saturday. He sought , however, to convey the impression
 that their acquaintance was slight anC
 that their meetings were casual ant
 without particular significance. Ina
 she had started for Bedding for tn
 purpose of meeting McCumber ant
 having with him an interview sh
 would not acknowledge.
 While this comprises about all hay
 ing direct hearing on the case whicI
 the authorities learned their genera inquiries disclosed the presence anC :, doings in the same locality that Sun : day morning of two strange men who , it is surmised, may have borne som relation to Miss Wende's presence ant ' what she was trying to accomplish provided of course that she had a spe /. cific purpose in view. These men shortly after midnight, called at tn
 house of Andrew Beruuist, locatet about a, mile below the McCombe - place, and asked where the McCum 1 bers lived They were told and wen away. At about ? o'clock the Nc ; Cumbers heard noises indicating tn . presence of some Cne in their bac1 E yard, the sounds giving the impres , sion that person was clamberin . over the board fence. No respons coming to the hail shouted at the in
 truders from the window one of tn
 McCumber youths-there are three O
 them-fired a pistol and the noise
 ceased. Three hours later Ware
 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 sz asked if he had a job for them or
 he knew of any work to be had i
 the neighborhood. On his replyin e negatively they seemed disposed {
 finger, but quickly departed when an
 other of the McCumbers entered tn
 room. About clock two men, sun
 posed to be the same, called at Dl
 Smiths house and inquired about get I ting work An hour or so later the d threatened and chased Lester Free = man, a colored boy who was startin T, for A. G. Barnett's where he work. 1 This was the last seen or heard c ,, the couple in the vicinity. Owing t the dim light no one secured a goo
 view of their faces. One of the locf IL officials interested in the case eX III pressed the opinion that if they wer 7 friends and companions of Mis m Wende, as some think, it was strang y that they should vanish from tn IS scene leaving her in such a pIigt or as she was. ''Yes," rejoined anothe
 citizen, 'but perhaps the men did nc 1e attempt to get the girl into a hous le because they realized that an attemI B to explain matters would place thel t. in awkward position
 ye REDDING---5
 st The girl and her father returned t is Bethel in the afternoon and have nc I'd been further heard from, at least b rs the Bedding authorities, who felt the an had done everything in the matte