The year was 1904 and Dreamland Park was just built on Coney Island, just one year prior Luna Park opened and it featured over 250,000 electric lights and was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. In 1904 Abigail Thompson was 17 and she had never been to Coney Island but that was the year the Thompson family finally went there.
On a Saturday in the beginning of the month of May they decided to go in the late afternoon and stayed on through the night to see all of the spectacular lights at Luna Park. They all had a wonderful time walking on the boardwalk, eating carnival foods and riding the rides however nobody enjoyed it more then Abigail. She absolutely fell in love with Coney Island. Coney Island is also where she met Jonathan, who she thought was the most handsome young man on earth. He was also there with his family. Johnathan was 20 years old and he too was from a very wealthy family. Come to find out he only lived several blocks from Abigail. Abigail met him while waiting in line for the Ferris Wheel so they ended up riding on it together. Johnathan told Abigail he was going to be leaving with his family the day after tomorrow to go out of town for a holiday. He said he would be back in two weeks and wanted know if it would be alright to come over for a visit and of course Abigail said that would be splendid.
When Abigail was growing up she was the youngest and had been protected from many things of the world. A lot of people would describe her as spoiled or pampered. She grew up in a very religious household and her family was very wealthy. Abigail was always a sweet and beautiful girl with pretty long blond hair. Her father Harold spent a lot of time away from home on business. Her mother Charlotte was at one time a school teacher but now her job was to home school Abigail Because of this Abigail or Abby was extremely smart but very innocent.
By the time the next weekend rolled around Abby asked Charlotte a few times when they could go back to Coney Island? Charlotte said she did not know. The Thompson's had a house keeper Isabel Watson but everybody called her Izzy. Izzy's family was originally from Haiti but they immigrated to Brooklyn which was where Izzy was born.
Izzy was tall thin and always wore a kerchief wrapped around her head. Izzy over heard Abby asking Charlotte about going back to Coney Island. Izzy was psychic and always had visions of this or that. She had a horrible vision about Miss Abby at Coney Island and she just knew if she went back something bad would happen. Izzy took Miss Charlotte aside and said whatever you do don't let Miss Abby go back to Coney Island because very bad things will happen. Charlotte asked her is she had a vision and Izzy said yes a very, very bad one. Charlotte promised not to let Abby go back there. When Abby asks again she is told no and is forbidden to go back, Charlotte tells her that she has heard that a bunch of seedy carny types were starting to take over and it could be dangerous.
Abby could not stop thinking about Coney Island and was trying to think of a way to get there again. Because she was home schooled she did not have many friends however she did have one friend named Clara that just lived down the street. One day Abby was picking flowers and she came back in the house. She told her ma that Clara was out walking her dog and invited her over the next day. Charlotte said that's lovely dear what time will you be going over there and Abby said at 1:30 pm.
The next day Abby was putting on one of her favorite dresses. She was really getting ready to sneak off to Coney Island instead of Clara's. Soon it was almost 1:30 and Abby goes downstairs to say goodbye to her ma. Abby boards the trolley and ends up at Coney Island. Shortly after Abby leaves Izzy gets on a trolley and heads for Brooklyn to go home for the day for a visit. The whole time she is away visiting she keeps on getting this horrible feeling that something is up with Abby but she can't quite put her finger on it because she knows Clara and her family are good people. Abby is strolling about on the board walks, taking in the carnival atmosphere and doing all the fun things. She has lost complete track of time. By now it is quite late in the afternoon. All of a sudden a young man a couple years older then her gets her attention.
He had on a black derby hat, a black suit and he has a walking stick in his hand and his face is painted to look like a mime. She assumes he works there and that she can trust him. He says oh miss I need help, my puppy has been caught on something under this pier, oh please help me to get her loose. Abby agrees to help the young man. She follows him under the Pier, she looks around and does not see a puppy but she does see two other young men that look just like the first one, the same attire with face paint and all however the original young man was the only one with a walking stick.
One of the guys pushes her down, while the other one gets on top of her. Abby starts to scream but there is a roller coaster close to the pier so her screams just blend in with the ones from the roller coaster. The guy that pushes her down yells at her to stop screaming and shoves his glove down her mouth, the guy that is on top of her starts to rip at her clothing. The original guy with the walking stick can see that is friend is getting tired of her thrashing about about so he hits her on top of the head with his walking stick. The young men defile her in the worst possible ways. About three hours later Abby wakes up and she has a splitting head ache. She spits the glove out of her mouth and sticks it in her purse. Her dress is tattered and torn. She has scratches all over her body. She touches her head where she was hit and it is sticky with half dried blood.
She gets up off the ground but she is a little unsteady on her feet so she sits for several moments on a large rock, she was in a little bit of a daze. She starts to slowly remember one young men knocked her down on the ground while another one teared at her clothing and the other one hitting her on the head, she remembers everything going black after that. She looked around in great fear thinking one of them may still be lurking about however thankfully she did not see anybody. By now literally hours have gone by since she first arrived at Coney Island. She knows that her ma must be worried so she gets up off of the rock and heads to the trolley car to get home. In the mean time Izzy has a flash of her previous vision and gets back to the Thompson's house as soon as she can, when she arrives back home she walks in the door and Charlotte shrieks at her: ABBY IS GONE! So she tells Izzy to get down to Clara's (Izzy knows she is not at Clara's but she knows better then to question Miss Charlotte when she is this upset). Clara says she had not seen Abby for a while and there was no plan for her to come over that day. Izzy comes back to the Thompson house and relays the information to Charlotte. In the mean time as Abby is heading home she starts to cry after she realizes just exactly what has happened to her. She now has dirty brown streaks running down her face from the tears mixed with the dirt and the dust. She gets home and her ma is at the door wringing her hands with worry.
Her ma takes one look at her and says you went didn't you? Even after I told you not to you went to Coney Island anyways. Abby starts crying again and says yes ma I did. Her ma says why did you disobey me? Abby says I don't know. Charlotte runs a very hot bath and makes Abby get into it - it is so hot it burns her skin and she can hardly stand it.
Charlotte then goes and tells Izzy that she needs to pack tonight then to take the trolley car back to her family Brooklyn in the morning. She says I am not mad at you at all Izzy but you do not have a job here any longer. Charlotte did not want anybody around that knew what happened. Her son was away at at college, the oldest daughter was staying over at her cousins house and Harold was out of town on business. Izzy goes and packs.
Then Charlotte grabs a scrub bush and goes to tend to Abby. Abby is crying profusely and keeps saying I am so sorry ma. Charlotte says there, there child we will not speak a word of this to anybody. Only you and I will know about this, if nobody else knows then it is just like it never happened. Charlotte takes the scrub brush and starts to scrub away very harshly on Abby's poor delicate skin that has already been pummeled and scratched. Abby says ma you are hurting me please stop and starts crying even harder. Charlotte just ignores her and continues to scrub just about every inch of skin, rinses her off and then dries her with a towel. Abby's skin is bright red, very raw and feels like it is on fire.
The next day Charlotte got Izzy and all of her belongings on the trolley headed to Brooklyn. Abby stayed all day in bed. Charlotte brought her meals to her on a tray. The next day Charlotte had Abby get dressed, Abby just felt numb. In the mean time Charlotte put an ad in the paper for a new house keeper and in a couple of days they found a new one. Her name was Ms. Arthingale she was about 60 years old and was a widow. Ms. Arthingale and Abby made an immediate connection because of this Ms. Arthingale was very good to Abby and was instrumental in getting her back to health.
Several days after Ms. Arthingale started working at the Thompson's a visitor came to the house. It was Johnathan he of course came to visit Abby. Abby was so excited because it was something to brighten the grey in her days. They sat in the parlor while Ms. Arthingale served them tea and cookies. Johnathan stayed for about an hour and a half. He promised Abby he would come to visit next week.
The next week came and Johnathan came to visit and stayed for almost two hours then he promised Abby he would come to visit again. This happened a couple more times. Johnathan told Abby he wanted to court her and said that he wanted to ask her parents for permission. Abby was so happy she could not contain herself as she went to go get her mom and dad. She brought them to the parlor so Johnathan could ask his question.
After he asked Charlotte looked quite dismayed while Harold looked very pleased. He could tell Charlotte was not happy so he told the young man that he would have an answer in three days and for him to come back then. Abby told Johnathan goodbye at the door, when he left she looked forlorn and confused because of the expression on her ma's face. Harold told Charlotte to come with him to his study so they could have a discussion. Harold closed the door and says to Charlotte you obviously have something against Johnathan, so why do you look so displeased with the idea of them courting? Charlotte says she is the youngest daughter her job is to take care of us when we get old. She says if they start courting it will soon lead to an engagement and then she will get married and leave us! Harold says but she will not be going far because Johnathan's family is having a big huge house built just for him right at the end of this block.
Harold then tells Charlotte she is being selfish. Johnathan is from a good family, with an excellent upbringing and he works for his dad's very successful business which he will eventually inherit. He is a good looking young man and you can tell Abigail really likes him because her face lights up every time she sees the boy. Then Harold says think of the beautiful grandchildren that we will have. Harold says it has been decided, Abby can court Johnathan! Charlotte looked very displeased but there was nothing she could do or say because once Harold makes a decision it is final. Harold calls out to Abby to come to him. When she does he says to her I have most excellent news; you and Johnathan are allowed to court. Then he says you also have my blessing if he decides he wants to marry you! Oh, daddy thank you says Abby. Three days later Johnathan comes back and Ms. Arthingale escorts him to the parlor. Harold makes the announcement to him and Abby.
By the end of summer Johnathan had an engagement ring for Abby. Charlotte takes Abby aside and tells her that she does not think it is a good idea to marry Johnathan but Abby reminds her that daddy already has given his blessing. So they planned on getting married on June 20th 1905. Soon wedding plans were underway. Ms. Arthingale stepped up to the plate as the wedding coordinator since it was obvious Charlotte was not going to do so.
Finally the big wedding day came, they had an early evening wedding at the church that the Thompson's had attended for years. Over 100 guests came. After the wedding they had a big dinner celebration. The big house that was being built was finally just finished and was a wedding gift from his parents. This would be their first night in the house and then they would be leaving for a honeymoon in Paris in the morning.
Because Abby had been so sheltered and innocent her whole life nobody ever took her aside to tell her what happens on the wedding night so she was in for a big shock. The whole time they courted and were engaged there was somebody always around or within the vicinity. So they never got beyond holding hands and a peck on the lips. Once the night finally approached and she found out that what happens is the same thing that happened that awful night at Coney Island Abby started crying and shaking. Poor Johnathan asked Abby what was wrong and all she could hear in the back of her head was her ma saying don't ever say a word to anybody. It only made her cry harder so she just ran out of the house with her nightgown and slippers on. She ran all the way home where Charlotte was waiting for her at the door, she wiped Abby's tears and said to her I told you not to marry him.
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