GIRL’S STRANGE ROLE.

Shannon News, 17 April 1923, Page 4

GIRL’S STRANGE ROLE.

BOGUS PRINCESS’ ADVENTURES.

STORY OF THE PRINCESS CARABOO.

In the early days of the nineteenth century Dr Wilkinson, of Bath, was well known as a kindly and humane man.

It Avas q lite natural, therefore, that his servant should call him out of his study one wet evening, when a young woman Avas found, cold and dripping, upon his doorstep—and a young avoman, moreover, Avho could speak not one word of English. She was a strangely picturesque figure, this young foreigner, pretty and slim and appealing, Avith great dark eyes, an olive skin, and Avith vivid feathers and floAvers twisted into he long, black hair.

She Avorc a single, bright’y coloured garment, and strings of barbaric beads round her neck, together Avith a chain of twisted gold She pointed to these continually, repeating the words,, “Jessee Maunduce.” Dr Wilkinson Avas vastly intrigued. This aAvas something unusual in the quiet life of fashionable Bath. 1-ie took the girl into his house, provided her A\ r ith food and clothes and tried to smooth her timidity and di cover her name and race. But signs were her only known language, although she talked incessantly in an unintelligible tongue, Avhicli sounded rather like Hindu.

By signs, then, the doctor at last discovered that the girl was called Caraboo, and that she was a L’rincess in her oavii land, the island of Javasu, Avhere Jessee Maunduee, her father, reigned as King. Dr Wilkinson also gathered by degrees that the pretty Princess had been captured by pirates, carried across the seas, and finally jumper overboard and swam ashore Avhen they came in sight of land —arriving finally, by this means, at Bath, and the house of the good-hearted doctor. A CLEVER DECEPTION. News of the iriteresting stranger spread rapidly, for Dr Wilkinson had many friends in Bath and Bristol and they all came to visit the savage Princess. She Avould not wear the sophisticated clothes which the doctor provided; she would eat nothing except frogs and fish, and these must be fresh and raw. Once a week she Avent up into a little room under the roof and worshipped the sun, which she called Allah Tallah. The doctor discovered that she could write, and provided her with pens and paper. Sitting upon a mat, she covered sheet after sheet with fine script which seemed oddly European in formation and yet conformed to no knoAvn language. Dr Wilkinson and his friends from Bristol and Bath pored over the pages, and could make nothing of them; then they Avere sent to the most learned scholars of both Oxford and Cambridge— Avitli the same result.

The girl’s beauty and sweetness of expression, her gentleness and timidity drew people to see her from all over the district. Several wealthy ladies of Bristol wished to adopt her, and gave her money and trinkets; she was grateful, but she made no attempt to learn to speak English, or to communicate except by signs. Caraboo had one fashion. She loved to fence with the weapons in Dr Wilkinson’s collection, using sword and dagger after the mediaeval fashion,, one in each, hand.

After the Princess had been a wonder for considerably more than nine days, suddenly and without warning, she disappeared—and when a hue and cry was raised to discover her whereabouts a good deal more was discovered than either Dr Wilkinson or his i'rineds had desired.

For it was proved beyond the possibility of a doubt that Caraboo was an imposter—probably one of the cleverest frauds on record, as her past history showed as well as her latest adventure.

SERVANT GIRL’S MASQUERADE. Her real name was Mary Baker, and she had been born in 1792 at the little Devonshire village of Witheridge, her father and mother being respectable labouring people. From childhood the child had been wild and strange. Her mother taught her to card and spin wool, and, in the summer, she was employed by a neighbouring farmer to weed the fields, but from the lirst, Mary cared only for boyish occupations, wandering half-naked through the woods, and swimming like a flsli in every pond and stream. What remains as so extraordinary is that, in spite of this running wild, the girl somehow acquired a knowledge of human nature and human habits, which enabled her to play many parts—and play them well —in the years which followed. Mrs Baker soon despaired of Mary as a useful member of society. As the girl would not help her in the house or garden, her mother got a place for her as domestic servant in Exeter, but she ran away after a few days, and embarked upon a series of the most amazing adventures. .Mary Baker must really have been one of the greatest amateur actresses the world has ever known.

She rarely begged outright; that would have been inartistic. She pepended rather upon her prettiuess and her pathos to excite pity and and gain help, food and money. In this way she was assisted during her wanderings by many private persons, by the Strangers’ Friends’ Society, and by the chaplain of a London hospital, where she was carried when seized with fever.

This chaplain found her a situation as servant, which she accepted gratefully, and left very soon after. For Mary had come to the conclusion that life in service- was too dull to be en-

dured —at any rate as a girl. She put

on man’s dress, and actually took the place of footman in her own nati\ r e village of Witlieridge, at a large house near to her father’s cottage. Here she remained for a long time without being discovered by her parents, for the future Princess Caraboo possessed the extraordinary art of so altering her features as will as to be utterly unrecognisable. After several years of a footman's life, Mary was sent one winter’s day in a message to a village some miles away, and Avas overtaken by a terrible snowstorm. CWerwhelmed in a drift, she Avas nearly frozen to death, and only rescued just in time by some country people, avlio took her to their cottage. In their efforts to revive her, her sex Avas discovered —and once more Mary ran aAvay in search of further ad\ r entures. ADVENTURES IN. SCOTLAND.

She found them this time in Scotland, where she played the part of a pretty ‘war widow,” saying that her husband had been killed in the Napoleonic wars, and giving her name as Mrs Mackrinkam. She held various siuations, provided by people who took pity on her apparent helplessness, ai-v sympathised as patriotic Scots, with her assumed nationality.

For—and here is where her clever ■ ness is so amazing—this Devonshire girl who had never before been across the Border, managed to speak with the Border, managed to speak with such an unimpeachable Scottish accent that she deceived all who met her.

After a year or two Mary wearied of Scotland, and set off towards the South again, tramping the roads, sleeping under hedges or in hayricks but often obtaining comfortable shelter by means of those appealing eyes of hers.

It was in this way that she reached Bath, and suddenly formed the scheme of impersonating the Cannibal Princess, Caraboo —a scheme which succeeded so well that, even after her exposure as a fraud, many people refused to believe that Mary Baker and Caraboo were one and the same person.

Her part, as we have seen, was sustained amazingly well. The language which she talked was not mere gibberish—so many scholars affirmed — but something which had definite words and phrases and sounds, though they must have been of her own invention. And the same' must be said of her written language; it could not have been obviously rubbish, since it deceived the learned students of the two Universities.

How this girl obtained the requisite knowledge is a marvel, since she had practically no education, and since she set out to deceive not ignorant and easily-duped people, but a society of clever and well-read men and women. When the imposture was discovered, as we have said, Princess Caraboo vanished —and so did Mrs Mackrinkam, Mary Baker, and all the other aliases which she assumed. After she left Bath in the character of the savage Princess, no more was ever heard of her. That 3he played many future parts we can scarcely doubt, for Mary had surely as many lives—and as many roles—as a cat. But as Caraboo, the lovely savage, she flutters into the limelight for one brief moment—and then disappears.— B. Methley, in the Scotsman.”