In late March of 1904, an odd local story was picked up by the Sedalia Democrat.

St. Joseph police had arrested 26-year-old Miss Helen Kuenster and 78-year-old John Adams. The two were living together in a small home on South Twelfth street, passing themselves off as father and daughter. In reality, there was no familial relationship between them.

“It is a strange story the girl tells, and one that has caused considerable discussion among those who have heard it. She says she was fascinated by the gleaming and wicked eyes of the old man, and that he has since had a great power over her. She is unable to resist this strange influence, and does as she is commanded by the old man.”

I picture a Svengali-like creature, but according to the Sedalia Democrat, “Adams is a man of very ordinary appearance, except that he has strange eyes. He is uncouth and uneducated, and the contrast between him and the young woman is very striking.”

Beyond the 52-year age difference between them, Miss Helen Kuenster appeared to be as different as humanly possible from the rough and unkempt Adams. She was clearly a cultured, well-educated young woman, with refined manners. She belonged to a good family in Nebraska.

Miss Kuenster was taken to the hospital of the Rescue home, where she was being treated. According to the Fremont Tri-Weekly Herald, the girl told officials that she loathed Adams, but he had once hypnotized her and she had never been able to break free of his strange power over her. He had enticed her away from her home in Omaha, Nebraska and had since compelled her to live with him.

Helen had fallen into the clutches of opium addiction though, and physicians were treating her morphine habit. They believed Miss Kuenster was probably insane and that her belief that the elderly John Adams could control her was “only the hallucination resulting from the disordered state of her mind.”

“At one time the young woman was beautiful, and still shows indications of the beauty that is fast fading away,” the Sedalia Democrat added ungraciously.

But even after the young woman was carted off by officials, John Adams, whoever he was, had by no means given up on her. He made a number of efforts to get Helen out of the Rescue home. When this failed, he complained she was being held prisoner there, but the police refused to act on his complaints.

The doctors vowed that if they could cure Miss Kuenster, they would send her back home to her people in Omaha.

This little scrap was all I was able to learn about this strange tale. Kuenster and Adams were both common surnames in Nebraska and Missouri, but not another word could I find about Miss Helen Kuenster nor Mr. John Adams and his wicked eyes.

I suppose the most likely outcome was that she was sent back to her wealthy, prominent family and they successfully swept the story of her strange elopement and morphine addiction under the nearest rug. But who knows?