River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-01-12
A VERY STRANGE STORY.
Recovery OF Child Kidnapped in
Pennsylyania-The Chase to the Far

West.
The Kansas City Times gives the fol
lowing account of a recent occurrence,
which, though founded on fact, reads
like romance:
About ten days ago the associated
press told of the kidnapping of a four
year-old child named Maggie Pickett
from her home at Latrobe, Westmore-
land county, Pa, by man and woman
supposed to be John Burns and wife.
Last evening the little child was at the
Union depot in this city. in charge OF
her uncles, John and Enoch Davis, and
the story of her recovery reads like a
romance, the two young men having
followed her over 1900 miles, and at a
point only few miles from the Indian
Territory line she was overtaken and
released from the clutches of her kid
nappers.
The child, who is a beautiful little
girl not cutie four years of age, was
born and raised at Latrobe, her parents
being well-to-do people of the middle
class, and her beauty was known from
one end of the town to the other being
of that order which made people stop
in the streets and ask who she was. 1t
is supposed that this was the cause of
the abduction, her kidnappers hoping
that large reward would be offered for
her return; not, however, by her par
ents, who were poor, but by the city or
state. The child was stolen on the af-
ternoon of Friday, December 8, by a
man thought to be John Burnes, a coal
miner, and his credited wife. A late
train took them to Pittsburg, and there
the trail was lost for time. Two
young men, uncles of the girl, however,
went to Pittsburg, and at that point col
umn after column was written about
the case, and at last it was ascertained
that man and woman with golden
haired child had purchased two tickets
for Kansas City, via Chicago, On Mon
day, December II, and thither the two
men fastened. The trail was easily
followed by the baggage checks of the
two trunks belonging to Burnes and his
wife, and at Chicago the couple came
to Kansas City over the Chicago & AL
ton road, and stopped at the Valley
House, situated on Ninth street. be-
tween Hickory and Mulberry The
two uncles, John and Enoch Davis,
reached Kansas City last Friday morn
ing, and at once searched the registers
of all West Kansas hotels, and at the
Valley House were found the names of
John Burnes, wife and child, and the
girls in the house remembered the
beauty of the child. But they had
gone, and not until late that afternoon
was it discovered that John Burnes had
purchased the tickets for Wichita via
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road.
The same night found the two uncles
bound for the same point, only thirty
six hours behind the stolen child, and
the chase became most exciting. At
Wichita it was found the parties had
gone to Arkansas City, and when the
pursuers reached that point on Sunday
last the discovery was made that Burnes
had hired a pair of horses with driv-
er, and was making for the Indian Ter
ritory. The Davis boys did the same
thing, and after hard drive the first
carriage was overtaken and the child
taken from her abductors. The little
one, when she saw her uncles, held out
her arms and begged to be taken from
"this bad, nasty woman" and cried and
cried for her mamma. The two Davis
boys were without arms of any kind
at the time of the meeting, and after
recovering the child they allowed
the two abductors to escape; they
then drove back to Wellington,
where Monday night they took the
train on the Kansas City, Lawrence &
Southern Kansas road for Kansas City.
Or the train yesterday the child was
the recipient of great attention from
the ladies in the cars, as the story of
her abduction and recovery became
known to every one, and the two men
who, like sieuth hounds, followed
Burnes over ], 800 miles, were also con-
graduated upon their sagacity. In all
its bearings the case is one of the most
remarkable on record, as the child,
when first stolen, was so closely shad-
owed that not. even trace could be
discovered of her hiding ar prison
place. And then the long chase from
Pittsburg, Pa, to the Indian Territory
line, south of Arkansas City, was a very
clever piece of detective work. When
the party reached Wellington on Mon
day a telegram was sent to little Maggie
Pickett's parents at Latrobe telling Of
her recovery, and last night an answer
was received by John Davis at the
Union depot in these words: "God be
praised. Hurry home with our child"
The two men and the child left last
evening for st. Louis via the Missouri
Pacific road, where they will take the
Vandalia train for Pittsburg.