WHERE WAS SHE?

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 4, 26 March 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

WHERE WAS SHE?

AN ABDUCTION MYSTERY A MISSING EVANGELIST For months past Los Angeles and the Western States of America have been following with almost feverish excitement the sensational trial of Mrs* Aimee Semple McPherson, the worldrenowned evangelist, on charges of conspiracy and perjury. These charges have now been dismissed at the request of the Los Angeles District Attorney, who declared that the case had collapsed because of perjured testimony given by the principal witness, a Mrs. Wiseman. Mrs. McPherson, a pleasantfaced, buxom woman of 33, with head surmounted with quantities of red hair, was accepted as one of the greatest of American evangelists. Last April she conducted remarkable religious services at the Albert Hall, London. She became pastor of Angelus Temple, a huge building in Echo Park, Los Angeles, and attracted thousands of adherents. An amazing story lay behind the charges which were preferred against her. Last May she disappeared in dramatic fashion while bathing at Ocean Park, a suburb of Los Angeles. According to her narrative, she was suddenly seized, hurried away into the Mexican desert, and blindfolded, so that she did not know where she was going. Meanwhile, she had been reported drowned, and her followers mourned her as lost. Ten days later, however, she reappeared in a distressed condition, having been found wandering about in the desert by a * Mexican policeman. She was restored to the fold at the Temple amidst the great rejoicing of her disciples. It was then alleged that, while she was supposed to have* been held to ransom, she was having a good time in an hotel on the Californian coast with Kenneth Ormiston, the attractive radio operator at the Angelus Temple. Los Angeles was divided bitterly into two camps during the trial, which has now been brought to an abrupt conclusion.