One hundred years ago
A ROMANTIC story has been got up by the evening papers about a Mr. Lid- derdale, manager of Stuckey's branch bank at Ilminster. It is asserted that a lady of large means, who was in love with him, has decoyed him on board her yacht, and is keeping him there in durance. The only facts known, howev- er, seem to be that Mr. Lidderdale has disappeared, that his accounts are all in order, that the day before he vanished he drew from a bank £1,000 of his own money, that he was engaged to be mar- ried, and that somebody or other has published an advertisement of his death on the yacht 'Foresight,' which yacht does not exist. The story does not look true. A millionaire might, we suppose, kidnap anybody if he was willing to pay a great sum down, and to submit to blackmail for the remainder of his life, but millionaires generally avoid those unpleasing situations. The only real mystery in the matter is the advertise- ment of death, which justifies strict inquiry; but it will probably be found that this was published either to arrest inquiries, Mr. Lidderdale choosing to begin a new career, or to secure a men- tal pardon from the lady who, if the story of an engagement is true, was so suddenly deserted. Death has an expia- tory effect.
The Spectator 27 February 1892
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