A Remarkable Story.

Manawatu Herald, 7 May 1904, Page 3

A Remarkable Story.

A ten-year-old girl, residing with hep parents at Drummond, in the far south, tells a remarkable story, according to the Winton Record. The girl, who is described as “ stout and robust for her age,” disappeared in her nightdress from about midnight on Sunday until 4 o’clock on Monday afternoon, when she was discovered in a paddock not far from the house in a very exhausted condition. The statement made to her parents was to the effect that upon leaving the house she went to an outhouse, where she encountered a ragged old man, who seized her, put his’ hand over her mouth to prevent her crying, out, and made off with her through the fence and across the paddocks behind the Drummond school. She struggled with her assailant, who struck her a blow in the. face. She heard her mother calling her, but was unable to answer. The man put her down in a paddock and told her to stay there, or he Would fetch a knife and out her head off. She crept under the gorse fence to escape the man, and remained there all night, having nothing to cover her. At daybreak she fojjpdjier way on to the road, when a man on horseback picked her up. sat her on the horse in front of him and took her as far as the Winton road, putting her down at the crossing. She then struggled to a pad dock near her home. The child bore no evidence of serious injury. From enquiries (says the Invercargill News) the case appears to bo one of unaccountable wilfulness and imagination.