Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1914 — Kidnaped [ARTICLE]

Kidnaped

By EUNICE BLAKE

There was trouble in Captain Carr’s little home on the New Hampshire coast. The captain had received his title from the fact that he owned a sloop in which he fished in winter and took out pleasure parties in summer. She was both a motor and a sail boat and was named the Frederica from his wife.

The occasion of the trouble was that his daughter, Fannie, a comely girl of eighteen, had the night before been kidnaped. She had gone to visit her aunt a mile down the beach. It was early spring and the weather was mild. A half moon gave some light. Just before sunset a steamer about fifty feet from stem to stern dropped anchor in the bay not far from the house where Fannie Carr was visiting, and about 9 o’clock a boat was seen moving from the ship toward the shore. A party landed, went to the house, took the girl to the boat and pulled her to the schooner. The captain suspected that his daughter had been carried away by one whom he had forbidden her to marry. This man was Jack Austin, a sailor, without means, but with nothing else against him. Carr didn’t seem to know whether his daughter wished to marry Austin or not. Sometimes lie thought she did and sometimes he thought she didn’t. I got wind of the matter early in the morning,, and, seeing Captain Carr going to his boat with a wheelbarrow load of provisions and a carboy of water, I went down to the dock and without asking him where he was going—for I knew that he was bent on bringing back his daughter—l asked him if he didn’t wish me to go with him. He said he did, and before we started Ned Beam came down, and the captain took him along too. We knew there were three on the other boat, and, since we were three, there was an even match.

The captain had been told that the boat we were after—no one had seen her name—had turned her nose north ward after leaving the bay. So he steered in that direction. Every now and again when we met a boat Carr would describe to those on her the one we were after and ask if they hud seen her. Some had seen her and some hadn’t, but we got enough information about her to satisfy us that we were on her track. We followed her all day. and when the captain found we couldn’t possibly reach her before dark he was discouraged, for he felt sure the fugitives were making for Casco bay, where there are islands enough to conceal a whole fleet. After passing Portland we got in among these islands and lost all track of what we were following, but after meandering among them for four days we were sailing past Seguin light when the captain spied something near tlie main island moving westward that answered the description of the craft we wanted. We followed her down past Orrs island and saw her go through tlie narrow gut between Orrs and Baileys islands. That’s the last we saw of her for several days, when one evening, rounding a point of Cliff islhnd. we saw her anchored in a cove no great distance from us. We made for her. expecting to see some one preparing to receive us, but as we neared her not a human being could we see aboard of her. We anchored near her, and the captain and Ned Beanj got into the tender and went aboard her.

After awhile Ihe captain pulled back and said that they had found her deserted. Iler name had been painted off the stern, but they could see the white letters underneath - Rowena. She must have been laid up for some time, for her fires were out and the furnace only warm. His idea was that something had gone wrong with them, and they had been obliged to lay up. Probably they had seen us and , had left their craft and gone up into tlie island, though they could have got away from there, since the little steamers were stopping at the dock on the other side a number of times a day. Captain Carr told me that he had left Beam on the Rowena, and I was to stay on the Frederica while he went up on to the island to find out if any one had seen anything of the party we were after. Fie did so and returned disappointed, for he had found no one who had seen any such party. Leaving Ned on the Rowena, the captain and I turned in at 9 o’clock and turned out again about G o’clock. The captain went on deck and called to Ned. who did not appear. Getting no reply, he went aboard the Rowena, to find her not only deserted by her crew, but by Ned as well. The captain was mystified and so was I. Not knowing whiteto do, we did nothing. About 10 o’clock we saw Several men coming toward us. headed by Fannie Carr herself. She asked her father to cbme ashore to her and told him that Austin had kidnaped her, J>ut that during the trip she had forgiven him. The boiler of the Rowena having given out, they had been obllped to give up their flight. When the captain and Beam had gone aboard of their boat the men of the party, except Jack, hajl gone ashore, and she and Jack had hidden in the furnace. After a long powwow, the captain gave in. consented to the match, and we all went back on the Frederica, towing the Rowena.