The Wide World, June 1920

THE WIDE WORLD MAGAZINE (June 1920) This issue features "The Mystery of the Missing Nun of Glen Arbor, Michigan," a factual narrative by Elizabeth Mason Ray illustrated by W.C. Nicolson. The story concerns the 1907 disappearance of Sister Mary Janina (born Josephine Mezek), a nun serving as Superior at Holy Rosary Church's convent in Isadore, Michigan. Josephine became a Felician nun at eighteen, entering the order's Mother House in Detroit, and was transferred to Isadore in 1906 to teach parish school after proving an exceptionally bright pupil. The article traces her background and introduction to the parish, detailing the convent setting amid swampland and introducing Father Andrew Bienowski, the church's thirty-six-year-old priest of mixed Japanese-Tartar descent. On August 23, 1907, Sister Janina mysteriously vanished after leaving her prayer-book open and hanging her rosary on her cell door. The narrative establishes the factual basis for this twelve-year-old mystery, noting local verification from the Glen Arbor postmaster and county school commissioner. The issue also contains automotive product advertisements and a violet ray therapeutic device advertisement.