CROWDS DISAPPOINTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27058, 18 April 1949, Page 5

CROWDS DISAPPOINTED

STATUE FAILS TO WEEP PHENOMENON AT SYRACUSE NZPA—Copyright j Rec. 9 p.m. NEW YORK. Apl. 15. Scores of people who flocked to Syracuse to watch the 11-year-old girl, Shirley Anne Martin, kiss a broken plaster of paris statue of St. Anne, and see what were claimed to be tears falling from the statue’s eyes were disappointed to-day. The girl said her broken statue no longer shed tears when she kissed it. Devout, curious and sceptical groups gathered in front of the Martin house to-day, many hoping for a Good- Friday miracle. Some wanted the liquid for curative attempts. The little girl who has stirred international attention appeared at the window of the second floor of the Martin fiat with her statue head briefly this morning while Spectators stood below. Shirley said this morning that no liquid substance had materialised on the painted face of the plaster replica since her appearance with the image on a. television programme last night. She said that in the intervening time she had tried repeatedly without success to bring to the eyes of the statue what many witnesses who had seen previous demonstrations called tears. Repeatedly since the girl picked up the head of the broken statue after it had been discarded in a garbage can on April 2 she had kissed the head, after which witnesses said a watery substance had coursed clown the cheeks. The Rev. Robert Dillon, chancellor of the Syracuse diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, stated: “From the number and character of witnesses who have observed the phenomenon, it is certain that drops of liquid have appeared on the face of the statue when the young girl held it arid kissed it. The explanation of the fact or its . significance has not been established. The possibility of miracles is established beyond doubt. Whether this phenomenon is an instance of supernatural power at work has not been established.” The girl’s maternal grandfather announced that he would erect a shrine for the head of the statue on a vacant lot alongside his home, which adjoins the girl’s. He said he would refuse donations towards establishing the shrine. ;