SEVENTEEN DAYS WITHOUT FOOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12955, 26 August 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

SEVENTEEN DAYS WITHOUT FOOD.

WOMAN'S FLIGHT FROM ASYLUM

TO THE MOORS.

That truth is- stranger than fiction is aptly demonstrated by the remarkable case of Miss Saral' Ellen Armstrong, a Macclesfield teacher, whose escape from Parkside Asylum has caused a great sensation in that district. Miss Armstrong escaped ou June 23 from Parkside.. and mysteriously disappeared. The mystery has now been cleared up. Miss Armstrong: had been massing eight days when' a strange figure appeared en the hills between Macclesfield and Buxton, and concerning this there were many rumours. One talc-ran that a wild woman had been seen running at dusk over the old Roman camp at Macclesfield Forest, and the same evening a figure, most peculiarly dressed, was said to have been seen four miles nearer the town. Other ales were that a half-clad woman had suddenly appeared near a. Avail, and then at the sound of a footstep had slunk away in the darkness There were persons who declared that they had actually seen the missing woman, and" the most emphatic were a number of teachers from Macclesfield, who were walking above Walker' Barn when they saw a woman climb a wall and run away. The police made a thorough search of the outbuildings and moors, but it was useless, and others joined in the search with the same non-success. The missing woman was discovered a day or so later. P.O. Broome found a woman asleep by a brookside in the village of llainow, on the borders of the moors. "Broome questioned her as to her antecedents, and she then made statements that her name was Gibson, and she had been a draper at Urmston, but as she had been on the spree for some time she had come to the hills. The woman was emaciated and thin, and bore no resemblance whatever to the photographs which had been, circulated, this, of course, being duo to her sunken and weak condition, She was charged with sleeping out, and was committed for seven days, and removed through the streets of the town en route for Strangeways, and, ■ although Miss Armstrong was well known in Macclesfield, she passed unrecognised. The seque to the arrest is the most extraordinary feature of tho whole affah. The Rev. Wm. Laycock, 'vicar of Hurdsfield, has devoted days to the search for the lady, who had formerly been a teacher in his schools, and, hearing of the arrest of the woman who called herself Gibson, he came to the conclusion that Miss Armstrong and " Mary Gibson" might be one and the same. He wailed upon Mr. Yates, the magistrate, from whom lie secured permission to visit Strangeways to interview "Mary Gibson." The reverend gentleman, accompanied by Miss Armstrong's father, visited Strangeways; " Mary Gibson" was brought before them, and she was at once recognised. She presented a 1 forlorn appearance, and, though emaciated and weak from her long exposure on tho wild hills, she was much improved, and looked far better than at the police station. Mr, Armstrong was overcome with joy, and tears rolled down his cheeks, Miss Armstrong, having been sentenced, could not be liberated until the completion of her time. Miss Armstrong escaped from the asylum on Friday, Juno 23. Whilst in one of' the rooms of the ground floor in the asylum she quietly slipped through a window, and, after dodging amongst the bushes to escape observation, she went up Buxton Road to the hills, where she remained 17 days, sleeping in ditches and behind walls during the day, and wandering about the heather and along the stream sides at night, in order to avoid detection. It is believed that during the whole of the 17 days Miss Armstrong was without food.