Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-01-21
Lost Children.

not require an extensive nunJ, OUT the
children return in few days, are found
with friends or have merely gone to
. lodginghouses. Many Of these cases,
however, are never brought to light;
what becomes of the children is never
known; and vet in majority Of in
stances, they are held in families in the
CITY, perhaps no more than q half-hOur's
walk from their own homes. Not few
recoveries are made independently Of
the efforts of the detectives, by mere &C
cident, or through the agency of some
one Of the many institutions which are
devoted to the rescue of poor and orphan
children from the wretchedness of their
lot. 1t does not always appear when
these mysteries are solved that the lost
children have been abducted. Some of
them, with the hope OF better fortune,
which actuates many older people in
rash changes, have deserted their homes
and sought shelter wherever they might,
rofessing, perhaps, that they were with
out friends or that they had been driven
away from their homes by brutal parents,
or that they dare not go home because
they have not been able to earn any
thing. They are shrewd enough to adopt
strange names by which they are known
among their new acquaintance. 1t often
happens that they find better homes than
they left, and, either Of their own in
clination or through the influence of
those who hold them, they keep their
secret, live a false life, and become as
dead to their own parents. Among the
everyday occurrences of this nature
some are of marked interest, but are often
not made known to any outside small
circle of friends.
a case of more than usual interest, of
which the full circumstances have not
before been made public, was exposed
by simple question from an officer Of
one of the largest charitable institutions
in the city A girl Of about eleven years
was brought to the institution, over
year ago, by woman who prOfessed to
be her mother. Her story was that her
husband had quarreled with her and
was very brutal; that she feared he
would kill or iniure the girl, in his rage,
and she had brought her there to save
her from his anger. She was referred to
the court for the directions of the Judge,
Who after hearing the case, recon-
mended that the child be left at the in
stitution for q time at least. sShe was
there about six months, during which
time she gave no intimatiOn that the
woman who brought her there was not
her mother. It was noticed, however,
that she was a girl of refinement in her
manners and habits and suspicion was
thus aroused that she had not always
lived in the family Of vender. On the
day she was to be sent to a Western home
she was taken aside and informed that
she was believed to have deceived them
regarding her previous life although
they then had no cIew to her true his
tory. She seemed at first somewhat
frightened but finally said to her ques-
toner that if he would protect her she
would tell him the truth. She had kept
her secret because those from whom she
had come to the institution had threat
ened terrible punishment if she should
tell, and she had not rid herself of the
notion that they could by some
means fulfill their threats She now,
however, told her story. She was the
daughter of a dressmaker uptown,
whose name she gave and residence.
Her mother sent her out one afternoon
to buy some buttons; she missed her
way and walked about until dusk, when
she spoke to man who was fastening
his horse by the sidewalk, and asked if
he would take her home He told her to
wait minute; meanwhile he went into
the house, near them, and returning
shortly after led her in and said he
would take her home after dinner. Later
in the evening he told her she must stay
all night which she did. In the morning
he told her that they had a baby which
she must take care Of; that he should
not take her where she said was her
home; that her name was not what she
had called it, but Jennie Meesler, and
that she was his little girl whom he lost
when very young. Having heard her
SlOIN, tuG superintendent SOu3Lb OtG GIIC
girls mother at the address she had
given him, found her, and heard her sad
account of ner lost girl. She was in
formed that she could probably learn i'm
portant facts about her girl by going
with him. This she did, and there fol
lowed the joyous recognition and the
restoration of the daughter to her mother
and home. During the year that had in
tervened every effort had been made by
this lady that she and her friends could
devise; but all the work of detectives had
been unsuccessful, not the slightest clew
having been obtained To avoid no
toriety no action was taken against the
abductor of the child, who went I'M
punished.
Another recent case in which one Of
the asylums was the channel through
which light entered was that of girl
under twelve years of age. She was
taken to the institution by lady from