Evening star., 1927-11-14
DISAPPEARED TWICE.
Mrs. Forbush Found i'm Woods After
One Flight.

Mrs. Forbush, twice before the vic
tim of an obsession to seek solitude,
complicated by an hallucinatiOn of
being pursued, slipped from Keith's
Theater here by one exit while her
husband, fearful that she intended
going away. watched at another.
The couple were on motoring trip
to Florida, rendered them by the
pastors congregation. in the hope that
it would prove a mental cure for Mrs.
Forbush, who had disappeared from
CanandaiGua three weeks previously
and was found three days later 200
miles away. crouching in thicket
near her abandoned car.
Victim of Influenza.
The first time she fell victim to the
obsession. induced by nervous depres-
sion following a long siege of influenza
while doing war work in Baltimore,
she was recuperating at her home at
Port Washington. Wis. She was found
after two days later hiding In the
woods.
For eight years. she appeared to be
normal. She became the mother of
four children. the oldest years and
the youngest IS months, and was
prominent in work of her husba nd s
church in Canandaigua, besides taking
a leading part in the civic and social
activities of the town.
Telling her husband that she was
going to a meeting of a church or.
ganization. Of which she was president,
she drove 200 miles the latter part OF
September, and was found by posse
of 100 fellow towSmen and friends
from Rochester.
AS soon as she disappeared from
Keith's Theater here, her frantic hus-
band sought cooperation Of police and
four days later a posse arrived from
Canandaigua. The home town group,
at one time numbering 80 persons. in.
cluded Mayor William J. MacFarlane,
Judge L. w. Van Deusen. Sheriff John
c. Bolles of Ontario County. Fred d.
Cribb. city attorney; DIR. Fl. c. Burgess,
alienist. and other prominent citizens.
representing all denominations.
Park Is Searched.
Acting on scores Of leads. the posse
futilely searched Rock Creek Park and
made an intensive survey OF the ter.
ritory lying along both banks of the
Potomac River.
Bloodhounds were placed in the
woods at several points where women
resembling Mrs. Forbush had been
seen. but they were unable to find any
trail. After they had been returned to
their kennels at Occoquan, they were
recalled October 90 for an all-night
search Of Burdoff's woods, near Whea'
ton, Md, where two colored laborers
reported seeing woman resembling
the missing wife lying in a thicket
near the Kensington road.
A fresh posse of four Canandaiguans
and B. A. Mckinney. Boy Scout ex.
ecutive of Rochester. and Clifford A.
Parmenter of Rochester. participated
in the search which was conducted by
police of Maryland and the District of
Columbia and assisted by scores OF
volunteers On the following day,
more than 100 volunteer firefighters OF
neighboring Maryland towns aided in
the quest.
All Clues Fail.
All local clues failed. Rev. Mr.. For
bush motored to Canaan, n. H., No
vember 2 to investigate information
that his wife had been seen in the
woods 40 miles from there, and had
obtained food at a farmhouse in the
Green Mountain region. He followed
the theory that she might be attempt
ing to make her way to their Summer
cottage at Canaan.
Mrs. Ellen G. Ramsey, mother o,
the missing woman, arrived here No
vember ! and. after the departure Of
the husband, directed the Independent
angle of the local search. She was
assisted for a time by DR.. Robert G
Cook, head of Brigham Hall SAM
tarium, and Rev. G. e. Finlay, pastor
OF the Baptist Church at Canandaigua