YOUNG NUN KIDNAPPED

Southland Times, Issue 18939, 12 May 1923, Page 7

YOUNG NUN KIDNAPPED

ESCAPE IN OVERCOAT. Sister Cecilia, 24 years of age, teacher of music at Notre Dame Convent in the outskirts of Frederick (United States), was kidnapped recently, drugged and carried away in an automobile, to be held for ransom. Stripped of her religious garb and dazed, she escaped from a secluded house to which she had been taken, making her way back to the convent, where she arrived at 10 o’clock at night, having been gone eight hours. Sister Cecilia was kidnapped by a man and a woman, both foreigners. The man entered the convent and seized and beat Sister Cecilia, drugged her, and, with the of his companion, took her to an automobile. The nup was taken a considerable distance to an abandoned house, where her clothes were taken away and she was held a prisoner. The kidnappers began drinking and discussing the amount cf ransom they should ask. It was then that Sister Cecilia seized an overcoat and escaped. She reached Camden Station, Baltimore, fifty miles from the convent, where she was picked up by a man in an automobile, who recognised her because of her short hair as a Sister in trouble. She was able to tell incoherently where she belonged. The man who found her drove her back to the convent. Sister Cecilia told Father Kane that she noticed a woman peering in a window of the convent while she was giving a music lessen to a little girl. That was soon after 12 o’clock. The woman’s face Sister Cecilia paid no attention and went about her work. When the music pupil had gone the woman apparently gave a signal and the man entered the room in which Sister Cecilia was alone. It was an hour before Sister Cecilia’s disappearance was discovered. There was a vacant period in the music schedule and a second little girl arrived for a lesson. When she found the teacher absent she sat down and played, but when the teacher did not appear in what she thought was a reasonable time she notified other teachers. Sister Cecilia’s rosary and handkerchief were found cn the floor and a search was started w’hich did not end until she returned.