"Leslie F. Stone - Men With Wings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stone Leslie F)

The accounts described the strange abductions in detail, but the signed
columns
of Brent's held the meat of the whole affair.
"In searching," he said, "through the records of various South American cities
I
was startled in discovering that the old files held record of many unsolved
woman-nappings as far back as two hundred years before, and that then, as
today,
only women of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Scandinavian blood appear to have been
the
victims!
"That fact in itself points to at least one clue and it is evident therefore
that all these strange disappearances can be laid to one person or ring
working
under one head. The South American police have naturally been baffled, for in
all these years no other clue has ever come to the surface, and all the
combined
efforts of the various governments of the Latin countries have not availed in
discovering the culprits.
"What is hard to understand is how have they managed to keep these serious
matters away from the world. Of course such news would be most injurious to
the
nations of South America who look forward to the in-pouring of tourists and
wealthy visitors. In Brazil the Argentine, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia,
Colombia and in fact every country where white women have visited the toll
has
been taken. How many more than the four hundred and thirty-five recorded
kidnappings have taken place, we have no way of telling. And perhaps our
South
American friends might have continued to hide the truth had not the abductors
themselves become so careless in their actions as to give away more clues,
forced themselves, in fact, on public attention, so that our friends below
the
equator were forced to admit what was happening!
"I might even say that the woman-stealers have become incensed by the
attitude
of the South American police, at the utter disregard of them by the
officials,
and are now making it a point to bring themselves to the notice of the world.
On
the other hand it may be that, so long unrestrained, they are merely becoming
careless and with a spirit of bravado are indulging in wild escapades, in
extravagant gestures.
"It was the disappearance of Marion Hally, daughter of the well-known Herbert
Hally, sportsman and dilettante artist of New York, that first brought Rio de
Janeiro to the realization that something had to be done. In two weeks' time
more information has come to light than in over two centuries.
"On March 4th the thing happened, but for almost two weeks the news was kept
secret as there was hope of finding the missing girl. It was the father that
exposed the truth to the public when he offered the munificent reward of one