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Show 1 .... ' .'. . ' . . . . . j . . . , . , Bio Orande trainmen art dlscustinf the strange case of a woman who was 1 en route to Salt Lake and . who was taken front the through passenger train at Grand Junction..' This train. arrlTes here dally at 10: 0 v m. DntCTod by a false friend of herself and hosband, kidnaped and forcibly carried nearly 2000 miles on trains, and then, when her senses began to ret tun, declared Insane and held in a Grand Junction hospital from which she escaped es-caped only to be arrested. Is the tragic story told by Mrs. Ella Wltte, a handsome hand-some Chicago young woman. Patrick O'Connor, a wealthy" Pittsburg Pitts-burg yonng man, is said to be the false friend sod kidnaper, according to a statement made by Mrs. Witt. Mrs. WJtte is heartbrok'en and in a""state of nervous collapse, fearing, she says, that ber husband will refuse to believe her itorr and extend his forgiveness. After recounting her harrowing sd-ventures, sd-ventures, Mrs. Witte coUspsea and begged that nothing be added to mag-nifr mag-nifr the horror of her statement!. Mrs. Witte cannot remember the places to which she was taken when O'Connor had her in Denver, as she was under the influence of drugs, which she savs were being constantly administered" admin-istered" t her. 8trange Men Aid Kidnapers. After leaving Denver for Salt Lake, Mrs. Witte says she began to recover from the effects of the drugs, but became be-came very sick owing to the high altitude, alti-tude, as the train was climbing Tennessee Ten-nessee pass, near Leadville. Her condition con-dition became so alarming that the train conductor advised O Connor to leave the train with his "wife" and take her back to Grand Junction, where medical attention xnight be secured. O'Connor and two men whom he had met in Denver and who seemed to be in the plot, took Mrs. Witte froi the train and helped drag her to Grand Junction. This was last Saturday. The rest of the storv, as told bv Mrs. Witte, follows: Fought the Men. "I fought against being taken from the train and brought back to Grand Junction, but they overpowered me. -- ' ' . . Whea we reached this lac I cried sad carried on so that people were at-' at-' tracted7Trot O'Connor alwavs explained that I was ersiy. They took me t St. Mary's hospital here, where I was locked op. "Between 8 and 9 e'eioek that night, while the nurse was ont of the room, I Jumped from the bed, opened the win-low win-low and leaped to the ground. I had on only a night gown and a pair of shoes,, all my clothing having been taken away from me. I ran across the street to a house and knocked for admission. ad-mission. A man came to the door and I told him I had escaped from the hospital hos-pital and begged for protection. At first he thought I was crsry, but when I answered his questions satisfactorily, he told me to. come in snd said he would eall the Sheriff. Sheriff Offers Eefuge. "I told him I did not care who he called or what became of me if I could only keep out of the clutches of O'Connor O'Con-nor and his two friends. "The next morning Fheriff Brothers brought me to the county jail and placed me. in a cell upstairs. He left a man to watch me and to report how I acted. I did not make any trouble and the guard told the Sheriff I was not crazy. "Sheriff Brothers kept me locked up until Tuesday, wh en Mr. Schrader, the new Sheriff, took charge. A few hours later I was taken from the cell and brought down to the livine-room and turned over to good Mrs. Schrader, who took charge of me. I was still sick and weak, but I did not believe I was insane. When I told them my story, they said I could remain with them as long as I wanted to.'' After having been taken in charge by Sheriff Brothers, O'Connor called on the Sheriff and insisted that Mrs. Witte was'crary. The Sheriff told him to mind his own business and keep away from Mrs. Witte. O'Connor thereupon disappeared and has not since been seen. Wltte Family's Reputation Good. , CHICAGO. Jan. 15. The Witte home here has been closed since Thurs-dsy, Thurs-dsy, and Mrs. Witte is not to be found. According to the neighbors, Mrs. Witte has been gone about two weeks. The family bears an excellent reputation, and no one in the neighborhood knew Mrs. Witte had been kidnaped. |