The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-10-26
The Return Of the Last chiid.

The Return OF the Lost Child.
~ For nearly two weeks the whole city ha.
been keenly alive to the fact that Oscar, J,
child of Capt. McNeilyis of the Prop. T. M
Bradbury. living at No 435 st. Clair street
has been missing. Search has been made 70.
it in every probable and improbable place and
handbills and advertisements circulated thro
the country have extended the knowledge far
and wide. The chiId's parents were, as would
be expected. nearly distracted with the terri
BILE suspense, and many a fathers and mothers
heart has dropped tear of sympathy for the
afflicted household, as they have told to their
own children at home. the story of the disap-
pearance. But now that sorrow has been turn.
ed toJoy, and the tears which fall are those Of
thankful exultation, instead of despairing sus.
j pense, for The child is found-haying been dis.
covered in the following manner: al
On Monday last J. M. Kimball, an engineer
on the G. Z. & G. road. saw at Cresline a wo-
man with child in her arms. On the next
morning be saw the woman and child again,
Ten miles south of Crestline. He reported
these facts at the Police Office on Tuesday
evening. 1T was thought the child must be
Oscar, and officer John Odell was dispatched
downthe road yesterday morning. He heard
OF woman and child at various points. He
found she had stopped the night before with
German family at Gallon. He pursued his
mission 10 hand car and on foot making
careful inquiries at every village and of every
person he met. He at length found the wo-
man two miles this side of Delaware. She
was walking on the track,carrying in her arms,
q child which proved 10 be Oscar. The little
fellows legs were terribly scratched and there
were stripes on its back where the brute had
whipped it. He was thinly clad and had evil
IDENTIFY suffered much from cold. She at first
denied stealing the child, but finally said she
had taken it under the impression that it was
her own. She had had an ilegitimate child
about two years before, she said. which had
been stolen, and she had thought this was it.
This is her explanation. OF course it is alb
surd % 10
Odell tellegraphed to Marshal Craw thai
they would bring the woman and child in the
9:45 train yesterday morning. As the time
drew near for the train to arrive vast multi.
tude of earnest. excited men, women and chill
dren gathered at the depot to catch sight
at the child, and to witnsss its restoration to
its parents arms. Capt. McNelIy, with Marshal
Craw. had jumped upon the train at the foot
Of Superior street, and the father had seen that
the boy found was indeed his lose child. AS
the train entered the depot. the happy father
brought the child out, when he was greeted
with long, loud, enthusiastic cheers that told
in fitting tones of the interest felt in the mat.
ter. Men cheered, and women cried for Joy.
Hats were thrown up. and handkerchiefs were
waved in triumph, and the whole scene was
one OF the widest excitement. 10 the midst
OF 1t, Capt McNelly took his child to car
riage and drove rapidly home 70 gladden. the
heart of the waiting wife and mother.
Meantime fho ofioore rvoro anda..z.-
quietly remove the woman to a carriage to
take her to Jail. The crowd seeing her. rush
ed towards her with deep and meaning cries
to Inch her. It was with the utmost diff
Guilty that the indignation of the citizens could
De restrained from seizing her and tearing her
to pieces, and she will probably never again
nave 60 narrow on escape from violent death.
She was lodged in the county jail to await
trial, but We understand that such ia the ma
ture of the case that no law will reach her at
all commensurate with ber crime. The Law
to punish kidnapping applies only when the
person stolen is taken out of the State, and
she can only be tried for the larceny of the
child's clothes. Surely this ought not so 10 be.
The woman's name is Mary Jane Harrison;
her parents and brothers and sisters reside on
the West Side. She is known in the citv as
shameless prostitute, but for what eartblv
reason she should steal this child it is difficuit
to tell. She tells several different stories in re
gard to ner motive.
To the officers she claimed that the child
was hers, and that her husbands name was
Il arris; that he had left her to go to Pixies
Peak, and that she was going to Cincinnati
in search OF him She afterwards said il ~ as
an illegitimate child. born in Cincinnati. Oct.
10th. 1858. After getting into the carriage
that took her to Jail, she said that she took
the child because she thought it was hers; that
she had not seen it for over year, and wonId
not be satisfied that it was not her child until
she saw Mrs. McNelly
For two days after she stole the child she
stopped at shanty on The West-Side, ten
anted by Mrs. Kelly. She has ll-used the
child since she has had it, marks of beating
being visible on its person.-Cseretand Lead
er, Oct. 81.