Intense interest has been excited by the mysterious disappearance of Miss Hicl man, a lady doctor who was temporarily doing duty at the Royal Free Hospital in Gray's Inn Road. She walked out of the hospital in the middle of the day a few days ago, and no one knows where she went. Nothing has been heard from her, and although innumerable amateur detectives have announced her discovery, or xt least clues which must lead to her discovery, all these stories hare proved baseless Tt may seem a little heartless to reflect on the conduct of the suffering father in these circumstances; but Mr. Hickman hus conducted himself so injudiciously that he has compelled public notice to be taken of his debaviour. He has daily written long letters to the papers enlarging on his daughter's. merits and_ suggesting wild theories as to the cause of her disapperanev. First he expressed the conviction that she had been enticed away by the Italians and held in bondage or worse in the Italian colony round Saffron Hill. Then he sus pected the Jesuits, and wrote a letter making such gross insinuations against that order that no newspaper would print the ts entirety. It may be unjust to Miss Hickman but certainly the effect of these letters has been to create a strong peemimotico in most people's minds that jer disappearance is due not to the misdeed of other people but to some act of folly on her own part. This impression is intensified by a story which appeared yesterday morning, and which would surely have been promptly contradicted if untrue, to the effect that Miss Hickinan on the day of her disappearance had some disagreement with other members of the staff of the hospital and went away in a state of great agitation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.