Daily Republican., 1880-05-19

| On tno Aotn uay OF last feDfuary tue
Is year old son of Mr.. Joseph II. Stokley
residing at No. COS East Third stree
ran away from home. Where he went
NO one knew. Neither could kny caus'
be asoribed to his going. Nothing was
heard Of the rscreant lad until recent
ly. The father learned of inaS iries being
made for the parents of a lad who hat
died in Titusville, Pa.
Later he received a letter from a
man signing himself "a tramp, "statinE
that a lad giving his name as Willie
Carter, but whom he supposed to be
Willie StOkley, and son of the party
addressed, had fallen from barn loft
Titusville and was killed. The nexi
day circular containing full account
of the occurrence was received at the
Police Station here. This circular stat.
ed the case as follows:
"On Monday night, May 3rd, 1880,
two foot passengers reached the s1b'
urbs OF Titusville, Pa, and sought
shelter in a farmers barn. The elder
was a professional tramp, but the
younger one was a fine looking and
fairly dressed lad, of apparently not
over fourteen Years of age. About 2
o'clock in the morning the lad came to
violent death by falling from the loft
Of the barn.
All that is known Of the personal his
tory Of the boy or his death, is from the
testimony as developed at the coroner's
inquest. How much evidence can be
given to the professional tramp's story
is probematical. The boy was just five
feet high, large, well-shaped head,
high forehead, regular features. brown
hair, (well cut and trimmed) good re-.
gular teeth-the upper front teeth ra:
ther prominent and space between
them, no scars or marks"
This description was so nearly that
Of the missing lad that Mr.. Stokley, af-
ter reading it wrote on to Titusvills for
a photograph. On the receipt Of this
he felt confident that Il was his son.
Willie had always been Of rowing dis
position and had run away before;
when he came back his father used all
mis- influence to get him to stay, but it
was of no avail. He was born on Feb.
IL, 1864, and was therefore over sixteen
years OF age.
The case excited much interest in I'll
tusville as the following account Of the
funeral from the Herald Of that place
of May 5th, will show.
Son Saturday afternoon the remains
of the boy tramp whose name is sup.
posed to have been Willie Carter, were
lad to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery. Al
parallel case has seldom If ever occlr-
red within the memory of our readers.
A boy wanderer-s stranger in strange
land-meets with an accident in eur
city which results in his death. The
body is carried to Undertaken Halls,
where his fair young face excites the
profoundeat sympathy throughout the
community and the remains are daily
visited by hundreds Of people.
Quite early Saturday afternoon, the
day of the funeral, crowds began to
stream into Mr.. Halls stors to take a
last look at the strange face that was
dead. And this crowd kept growing
denser and denser until the hour ap-
pointed for the removal Of the body to
the church. The remains lay enshroud.
ed in beautiful casket, tastefully or
namented by flowers, while the boys
left hand held q handsome boquet,
emblematic Of the transient and fading
nature of life.
As the visitor took a farewell look at
the handsome young countenance,
which looked as if reposing in a peace.
full sleep, many lady's eye became
dimmed with tears. The casket was
surmounted by two silver plates; one
bore this inscription:
"Somebrdy's Darling, Willie Carter; Died
May 4, 1880. Aged about IA years."
the other plate was inscribed:
"Take him up tenderly,
Lift him with care;
Fashioned so slendsriy,
Young and 70 fair"
The church at which the services
were held was thronged and the great
est sympathy was expressed a: the
boys untimely fate. Several ministers
were present, among whom was the
Rev. E. Fl. Rowley, of the Baptis:
Church. In his remarks during the
service Mr.. Rowley said that it was not
improbable that the dead boy had been
led away by reading the nonsensical
stories Of cheap heroes tina: were 80
widely and so detrimentally spread
over the land, and he made an earnest
appeal TO parents to watch over the
reading of their children.
The reverend gentleman also re-
marked upon the touching scene Of
sympathy which was presented by the
presence of 80 many people of all clas-
ses at the funeral of stranger-oneI
whom they had never known or heard
of before-who SO sadly met his death
10 their midst. He said the touching
spectacle was one that it would be impos-
sible to see eqaaled in any other land,
and that it showed the great sympathy
and kindness so uniquely eharacteris-
tic of the American heart.
After q Fortune.
George W. Morrison of Hare'a Corner,
sailed in the steamship "Oh;o" for Eu-