Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-08-20
very exciting scene occurred at the De-

Possession Of her child.
A very exciting scene occurred at the De-
troit & Milwaukee depot last evening, Incl
dent TO the unsuccessful attempt Of a man to
get out Of town with his little boy which he
had stolen away from its motheF in Birming-
ham, Oakland county, the details Of which
are these; .......-..-
Not long before the arrival Of the Detroit
and Milwaukee train, due at Gas, officer Joy,
the policeman on duty there, received the
following telegraphic dispatch from conductor
Briscoe, dated Royal Oak;
"Be on hand to arrest man who is taking
child from It's mother. Both are on board
Of train"
This from its uncertainty, puzzled the eau
tious officer, and he consulted q prominent
lawyer who happened to be in the vicinity,
as to his power to act on such an order, and
the lawyer shook his head. Soon the train
arrived, and from il there came man, appa-
rently Of some fifty years, and closely follow
ing was a woman much younger than the
man. he was the father and she the mother.
She had separated from him by reason of his
bad habits, or nl-trestment, retaining in the
meantime and supporting the child, and Rp-
plying for q divorce. He had by stealth got
possession Of the child yesterday, but not
stealthily enough to keep the knowledge Of
the fact from the mother and her friends, who
got on board the same train to come here and
IL possible prevent the husband from carry
ing the child beyond reach of decisions of
Michigan Courts.
The woman and her friends beseeched Off
Ger Joy 10 prevent the man from leaving with
the child on the Toledo train, till she could
get out a writ Of habeas corpus, or resort to
! other legal measures TO decide as to her
claims to retain the idol Of her heart. Mr..
/ Joy told her that however strongly he sym
pathized with her, and however much he
would willingly do were he not an officer Of
the law, yet being an officer, he was power
less. The crowd gathered around, and their
hearts beat warmly for the mother, and had
4 q hand been raised to beckon them on, they
I would have thrust him into the river. The
little boy nestled up to his mother, and
/ begged her, iu childish accents, TO "come
away" for the excitement and the crowd an
1 noyed him.
Nothing could be done for the mother
Hon. Jacob NJ. Howard, who happened to be
in the depot saw no legal way TO prevent the
husband and father from going with his child
| whittier he pleased. The mother apparently
I made up her mind to that being the last time
she should see her child, and she poured out
/ her heart in expressions of love and grief,
/ and in the bestowment Of fond earesses and
attentions The time approached for the de-
parture Of the Southern train; the man had
bought his ticket, and started to get his seat
4 dragging BY the hand the little boy The
mother followed to enjoy for the last second
the sight Of the loved object, so soon to be
torn forever from her.
She took seat with the father, sitting
near the window. The air was warm and
close, and she raised the window. Scarce q
moment elapsed before she grasped the boy,
thrust him through the aperture to a stout
man, and he with the rapidity of lightning
darted for the street. the crowd making a
clean passage for him. The father in the
rage of despair, started too out of the car and
after the stranger, but the crowd did not steI
aside. They yelped in his ears, clung to his
coat tails, and in every way impeded his pro
gress.
The stranger, a powerful man, gained the
street safely, jumped into a hack-some say
hejumped through the wiDdows-and ordered
the driver off at the top OF bis speed. The
pursuer was too late, but he followed as fast
as he could, for the distance of q block or two
and then wisely concluded that he had beer
outwitted, he found his way, painting with
his chase, back to the depot. The mother
was still at the cars, but her heart was light
Her child twas safe, with friends" and she
was happy. Many an eye was moistened in
sympathy with her joy, and loudly they
jeered and derided the man who had thus
been so smartly prevented from doing fou
wrong. He went back to Oakland, and sh'
remained in the city. We were unable a
the time to learn their names.-DetrOu I'D
Uertiser