Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-03-23


he had taken the gentleman to be an
officer of the Society for the Proven
tion of Cruelty to Children, as he
was so elegantly dressed and the
child was so filthy and poorly clad.
''That was my baby" the woman
cried, and she sped on with fly
ing garments and disordered hair.
Soon she was lost in the crowd, and,
excited and bewildered, she uneon-
retraced her steps down
until she found herself
again in front of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Office at Spring street. She
ran into the office, and to the clerk
who had sold the ticket to the abb
ductOr of her child, crying, ''Oh, my
God, my God, what will his father
say when he hears of this?''
The clerks, Mr.. William Hoffman
and Mr.. Joseph Hyer, tried in vain
to comfort the poor mother, and at
length she ran wildly into the Po-
lice Central Office, and after she
had told her story, Detective
Jere Wood was assigned to investi-
gate the case. 1t was sseertained at
the railroad office that the gentleman
had purchased through ticket for
Mobile by the Pennsylvania road,
and was intending to start by the
six o'clock train.
The detective and the woman, who
called herself Mrs. Annie Welsh, of
So South Fifth avenue, went to the
Jersey City depot of the Pennsylva-
MA Railroad to await the arrival of
the man who had stolen her child.
The clerks at the railroad Office de-
scribed the strange Southern man
as strongly resembling Col. Sim of
the Brooklyn Park Theatre.
At about Z o'clock last evening, as
Inspector McDermott was smoking
at his leisure in his office a dark
faced man entered, and said, with
some excitement, that he supposed
the whole police force of New York
was on the search for him. He said
that he was a New Orleans merchant,
and that he and his wife and six
children were boarding in a Broad
way hotel. He told the story of the
ticket Office as it is recited above,
and added that he took the babe
home to his wife, and sent down
town and bought clothes for it at q
cost of $50.
As the gentleman said this a shut
fling noise was heard in the corridor,
and Detective Wood and Mrs.
Welsh entered the inspectors Office.
As soon, as the woman caught
sight of the gentleman's face she ex-
claimed: "Yes, that's him, that's
him, l know him; he stole my child, y
and she ran toward him.
''Hold on" the Inspector said, and
the woman was quieted, and the
gentleman finished his story. He
said that he had six children, all
bright and handsome, but that the
moment that he saw the woman's
infant he fell in love with it.
'If you have so many children,
what do you want of another?" the
puzzled Inspector inquired:
'Well, I'll tell you," was the re-
plv. ''It is just this. You see, Pve
been married about twenty-seVen
years, and I've wished and prayed
for ight-eomplexioned child, but
none came to me. There were chill,
dren with dark eomplexions, DARK
eyes, and black hair, all that I want
ed; but no fair-faced girls and boys
The feeling grew upon me, and Pd
have given anything for a pair Of
blue eyes in a child. When l saw this
child to-day and looked at it, L wa
nearly wild, and 1 asked for it and
took it away. l intend to do vel
for it if the mother viii allow me tC
hold it as she said she would"
After the story had been finished
the Inspector asked the woman
whether it was true, and she quietly
answered "Yesl" and then added
that she could not let the baby go
! She said that her husband was a Ia
bOrer, that he had been out out Oi
work for many months, and that hI
was at his sisters in Poughkepsil
now, looking for work. She feared
his great displeasure if she should
give away the little babe, which
is one of only two children.
''I'lI tell you what to do" Inspeo
tor Nc Dermott said; "you go bOmI
and think it over, and if you can de
eide to part with the baby, yOV
meet the gentleman at his hotel al
ten o'clock tonight and let hin
know" Mrs. Welsh thereupol
went to her dingy room in Soutl
Fifth avenue.
The clerk of the fremont Hous
said last evening; ga gentleman
DIR. Easton of New Orleans, ha
been stopping here for two OF tbre
weeks, and his children are running
all over the hotel. l heard of hi
child stealing this afternoon, and
can't understand what he wants o
any more boys or girls; but the fac
| is, he is more than insane on tn
subject of blue eyed children"
DR.. Easton has letters of referenc
from the most influential merchant
and other citizens of Mobile an,
New Orleans.
Mrs. Annie Welsh called at tn
fremont House at a little past tel
o'clock, and was conducted to tn
elegant apartments of the EastOl
family. She recognized her bab
with smiles and tears, and said tha
she could not surrender 1t. Dl
Easton and wife parted with the in
fant with regret. The doctor has
supply of small clothes that ne
willing to sell at liberal discount
" y, San,
Dom Pedro.