Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1916 — GIRL RESTORED TO FETHER AFTER LONG CAPTIVITY [ARTICLE]

G IRL RESTORED TO FETHER AFTER LONG CAPTIVITY

Montana Maid Was Sold by Gypsies to Rich Romany Leader. FORCED TO JOIN STROLLERS i She Finally Succeeded in Escaping and 1 Was Taken Care of the Police—Slave of Wandering -Trit/e for Nine Years. Helena. Mon When Evelyn Mit- ' chell, a sixteen-year old girl who for nine years has been the slave of gypsy bands in this° country and the-old World, threw herself into the arms of her father, a ranchman residing near a Montana town, it was the first time either had set eyes upon the other since the day of the mother’s funeral in Helena nearly ten years ago. M. L, Rickman, 'secretary of the state bureau of child and animal protection, escorted the girl to the ranch from Glacier park, where he .met her in charge of Miss Georgiana Allen, a Havre schoolteacher, who agreed to chaperon the girl to Montana from a house of detention in Oakland, Cal. H. A. Davee, state superintendent of public instruction, who was attending the National Teachers’' association, iwas besought by the Oakland authorities to provide escort for the girl back to Montana. The city paid her expenses. Superintendent Davee learned that Miss Allen, a teacher, was shortly to come home, and the latter went to the house of detention, where the girl has been kept two months to guard !her against kidnaping by the gypsy band from which shq was taken. There arrangements were made for bringing her home, and the teacher and the girl departed secretly from San Francisco, embarking on a steamer for Astoria, from which point they went by train to Glacier park. In Terror of Band. The necessit/ for keeping their whereabouts secret was urged by the girl, who was in terror of being seized by the band. She declared that she was likely to be taken from a train by members stationed along the road and on watch, hence the trip by steamer was devised. . _.The history of. the young woman reads like a romance. For several ( years she hns been trying to escape from the gypsies, but, alone and friendless, she was given no opportunity until about three months ago, when the Oakland officials secured possession of her after a desperate fight in the courts. The Marino band, to which she was sold for $2,000 in 1912, is rich, and money was spent lavishly to defeat justice. About ten years ago, following the funeral of the mother, the girl and a sister were placed in the St. Joseph’s orphans’ home. There they remained for perhaps six months, when Evelyn was taken to Butte, and in Judge Donlan’s court, upon the representations of an attorney adoption papers were made out for “Mary” Mitchell, placing her in charge of a couple named Gichi. It developed later that the Gichis were members of a gypsy.band. ’ Evelyn was an attractive little girl, and she was soon dressed in rags and started out as a beggar. Her pretty face and sadi.eyes affected the charitably disposed, and her collections were not the least of the loot of the band. As the girl grew older she longed for a return to ‘'American life,” as

she called it. Living in wagons or tents along the highways, half starved, and beaten by the Gichi couple whenever she did not bring home as much money as they considered adequate, her existence was unhappy. Through the eastern states and down south the band wandered, and in the winter-of >912 at Los-An-geles Evelyn enlisted the sympathy of an American woman and the authorities were notified. Fearing that they might get into serious trouble If caught, the Gichis sold the girl for $2,000 to a rich leader of gypsies - named Marino. In order to hold her Marino had his son, a boy of ten, marry her under gypsy law. This marriage, of course, was not binding, although Evelyn believed it to be. Then the Marinos embarked on a long pilgrimage. They coached Evelyn as a fortune teller and went first to New York city. From there they went to France, then to the Isthmus of Panama, then to Honolulu and the Philippine islands, eventually coming back to the United States. About, three months ago the girl escaped and was picked up by the Oakland authorities on complaint of the Marino gypsies, and thus she was given an opportunity to tell her story'in court. As a result she was consigned to the care of Matron’ Rich of the Oakland detention home., Gypsies Fight Case, During her stay with the Marino band Evelyn war beaten severely, and to her pleadings for freedom she was told that as soon as she earned the $2,000 which they claimed to have paid for her she would be allowed to have an automobile and to go where she pleased. During the trial of the case, which, was bitterly fought, the gypsies claimed that Evelyn was not of sound mind.. Mental experts came from the University of California and made tests, showing that she graded 100 per cent In intelligence and sanity. This disposed of the .subterfuge of the gypsies. Mrs. Rickman says the girl returned to tlie band the jewelry which she wore at the time of her escape, except a string of pearls given to her in Honolulu by a member of the American colony. She was dressed in American clothing f6r the first time in. years, discarding the picturesque costume she wore as a gypsy. The girl is able to read and write, and says she learned by bribing schoolgirls for ten cents each to teach her. She was compelled to do this slyly, as she made her way about the cities as a beggar and fortune teller. The gypsies were opposed to her obtaining education of the most meager sort.