ABDUCTED GIRL

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 342, 1 May 1928, Page 13

ABDUCTED GIRL

GREAT PURITY CAMPAIGN RECALLED WHEN W. T. STEAD WENT TO GAOL The burial In Abney Park Cemetery o£ a woman named Rebecca Jarrett, who died at the age of SI in a Salvation Army home at Hackney, recalls the most sensational trial of the 19th century, in which Bramwell (now General) Booth and W. T. Stead, the famous jurnalist, who perished in the Titanic disaster, were the principals. Rebecca Jarrett, with Bramwell Booth, Stead, a Greek named M.ussabini (who was also known as Sampson Jacques), and two women, Elizabeth Combe (a Swiss Officer of the Salvation Army) and Mme. Mourez were tried at the Old Bailey in connection with the abduction of Elizabeth Armstrong. Stead was sent to prison for three months, Jarrett for six months, Jacques one month, and Mme. Mourez was sentenced to six months’ hard labour.

Bramwell Booth was acquitted, and ] Elizabeth Combe was dismissed from I the case. The case was the outcome of a great purity campaign initiated by Bramwell Booth in ISS4 for the suppression of the white slave traffic. I Bramwell Booth sought the assistance j of Stead, who was then editor of “The j Pall Mall Gazette,” and the great j journalist exposed the evil in a series of forceful articles under the title of ! “The Maiden Tribute of Modern \ Babylon.” vyhole Nation Stirred Such was the vigorous nature of i these articles that the nation was | stirred to its depths and divided into j two camps. An enormous petition j organised by the Salvation Army was j presented to Parliament in July, XSSS. I praying that the age of consent should ! be raised to 16. Stead, foreseeing that the dis- ; closures might be regarded as merely j sensational journalism, conceived the idea of buying a girl ostensibly for the purposes of betrayal, and he and Bramwell Booth evolved a daring plan. Rebecca Jarrett, who had formerly kept a house of ill-fame, but had reformed and was working for the Salvation Army, was pressed into service. Then the help of Combe and Jacques was enlisted. Eliza Armstrong, an illegitimate child of 13, was purchased by Rebecca Jarrett. She was taken to a house, and after she had been drugged Stead entered the room. She was then sent under excellent protection to Elizabeth Combe in France. Thus Stead’s contention was proved. But in his eagerness to prove his case Stead had broken the criminal law. Opponents of reform seized their opportunity. The Government was compelled to prosecute, and in due course Bramwell Booth, Stead, Jarrett and Jacques were placed on trial at the Old Bailey, with the results stated above. Stead’s object, however, was achieved, for the Government was | compelled by public agitation to pass the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Ever since the trial Rebecca Jarrett had been cared for by the Salvation Army. She disappeared from the public eye, and lived contentedly until her death helping in the home at Hackney.