Mysteries of the missingSmith, Edward H. (Edward Henry)
History
Mysteries of the missing
Smith, Edward H. (Edward Henry)
Biography; Kidnapping; Missing persons
The reader is warned not to take this as a sample of monastic life
or justice as it might be discovered to-day or even as it generally
existed then. Sister Jovita had simply got herself involved in one of
those sad tangles of scandal which had to be kept hid at any and every
price. She was the victim not of monasticism or of any form of religion
but of a political situation and of her relations with other men and
women, some of whom have been hard and evil from the beginning of the
world, respectless of vows or trust.
In one particular, however, her treatment was a definite result of
certain religious beliefs then prevalent in all strict churches. She
was accused of being devil ridden or possessed by the fiend and many
of her cries of anguish, screams of madness and acts of defiance were
attributed to such a possession. It was then customary in certain parts
of Europe to drive the devil out by means of torture. This was in no
sense a belief peculiar to Catholics. Martin Luther held it, and so did
John Wesley, as any historian must tell you. Therefore many of Jovita’s
sufferings were the result of beliefs general in those days except
among the exceptionally enlightened.
With this record copied and safely in his hand, Masilewski moved
immediately and directly. One morning he and a squad of Gallician
gendarmes appeared before the convent of St. Mary’s and demanded
admittance in the name of the emperor. The abbess, certain what was
about to happen, tried to temporize, but Masilewski entered, arrested
the abbess with an imperial warrant and commanded a search of the
place. The mother superior, seeing that there was nothing to be gained
by resistance led the company down to the lowest cellars of the
building and turned over to Masilewski a key to a damp cell.
The detective opened the door, felt rats run across his shoes as he
stepped inside and found, crouched in a corner on a pile of wet straw,
the shrunken form of what had been the beautiful Barbara Ubrik. She was
brought forth to the light of day, to see the sheen upon the autumn
trees once more and the clouds sailing in the skies. Alas, she was no
Bonnivard. Life had lost its colors and symmetries for her. She had
long been hopelessly mad.
There is still a detail of this famous case of mystery and detection
to be told. Father Gratian had disappeared when Russia drove out the
clergy. Masilewski was determined to complete his work and bring the
malefactor back to answer for his crimes. After the ruin of Barbara
Ubrik had been lodged in an asylum, Masilewski set out to find the
priest. After seven months of wandering through Austria, Prussia and
Poland, the detective was rewarded with the information that Father
Gratian had gone to Hamburg. He went immediately to the great German
seaboard town, searched there for months and found that the man he
sought had gone to London years before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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