MISS KATE MARSDEN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue XV, 11 April 1896, Page 406

MISS KATE MARSDEN.

With the abandonment of her suit for libel against the London Times Kate Marsden passes into darkness. Tombe des nues ! Here is a woman of whose sublime unselfishness it was said, ‘ It is the nearest approach to divinity which the world has ever witnessed,’ who has fallen from the clouds. Here is a woman who received the homage and the admiration of the philanthropic world ; who earned the Red Cross on fields of battle in the East; who devoted her life to the relief of the lepers in the wilds of Siberia ; who was under the patronage of the Princess Christian of England and the Empress of Russia ; who wore a special order of merit from Queen Victoria similar to the one conferred on Florence Nightingale ; who rode horseback fourteen thousand miles to relieve distress—who attained all these things and yet is now denounced as an adventuress and as a morbidly immoral woman. Kate Marsden is the daughter of an English barrister. She is a woman about forty years of age, of strikingly liandsome appearance. She came into prominence about the time of the death of Father Damien, the * leper

martyr,’ ami undertook to complete his work in a different direction, turning her attention to the leper colony of Siberia. She had previously been a nurse in the Wellington Hospital, New Zealand. She enlisted the active support of the royal families of England and Russia, and secured moral and financial support in the United States through Mrs Elizabeth B. Grannis and Miss Isabel F. Hapgood. She published a book recounting her adventures in seeking to aid the Siberian lepers and describing their deplorable condition, which made a success. Money flowed to her from all quarters. She lectured through the United States and Europe, and when finally stories were told reflecting on her honesty in accounting for the

funds given her, and her morality as well, few could be found who would believe it.

In St. Petersburg she passed as a lady of independent means, having large property in New Zealand. The statements in her book on the Siberian lepers are to be relied upon. They are vouched for by official documents, but the incidents of the journey were exaggerated. When she first came St. Petersburg she did not appear to discriminate between her own funds and the leper fund clearly, and her accounts were muddled. When Mr W. T. Stead wrote on the subject of her financial irregularities he excused them on the ground that she was liable to periods of illness, during which she could not be fairly held responsible for her actions

Subsequently he was warned against Miss Marsden, the charges having by this time accumulated. Mr Stead expressed regret that he had been misled into recommending Miss Marsden, but offered to make all the reparation in his power by inserting a paragraph disclaiming further support. He, however, strongly deprecated any public expose on the ground that it would involve many innocent women. He also related a most astounding story which Miss Marsden had told him. It seems she asserted that while walking one day in a wood in Siberia she had a vision of the Holy Spirit, who assured her that her sins were forgiven and solemnly enjoined her to persevere in her work, promising her supernatural aid.