Mexico weekly ledger., 1882-06-01
THE BANKERS DAUGHTER
WHO EXPOSED HER OFFSPRING
IN A BASKET,
Leaving 1t on a Second CarOndele,
Avenue Door Step.
THE DETECTIVE WORK DONE by
A GERMAN WOMAN
Missouri-She Signs an Agreement to
Give the Founding Up But Breaks It
Mary Reynolds" Love and Sh amt.

Give the Founding Up But Breaks It
Mary Reynolds" Love and Shame.
From Saturdays St. Louis Chronicle.
Scarcely a day passes but that sew
eral babies are found ON steps in st.
Louis, and the police regard the find
ing Of a founding as a matter of lit
tie moment, making a report of it to
headquarters as brief as possible and
then forgetting about it. From the
many reports this year a Chronicle
reporter selected one and determined
to follow it both WAYS, to see If posi-
BILE, where this particular baby came
from and what became of it. AS the
investigation proceeded a story of alb
sorbing interest developed.
To find who vas the respectable
lady who had refused to allow her
name to be reported to headquarters
was of course an easy matter. The
reporter commenced Investigations in
the neighborhood of 2309 Second
Carondelet avenue, and found that
though it had been some time since
the mother deserted her child the cir
cumstance was still a theme Of Cos
sip. 1t was said that the mother was
the daughter of a banker somewhere
in the interior of Missouri, who had
come to st. Louis to hide her shame ;
that the baby, after having been kept
a short time by the lady who adopted
it, had suddenly disappeared, the
story being that q stranger had come
to the house and carried it away to
its mother. The mother was described
as a young girl very beautiful, and
EVIDENTLY A LADY.
For further particulars the reporter
was referred to Mrs. Henry Rackow,
wife of the substantial German citi-
zen who lives at 24OO Second Caron-
delet avenue, she being the lady who
had taken the founding in.
The reporter found Mrs. Rackow
last evening" handsome, motherly
German lady, and he found too that
she was not willing to talk about the
baby.
"But it has disappeared-no one
knows where it has gone he urged.
mo such thing said Mrs. Rack.
ow," it's with its mother" And af.
ter another question Or two she was
fairly launched into her story. "The
night the little thing was found,'' she
went on. 81 saw it and its little feet
were almost frozen. 1t was a pretty
child, and l thought 1 would take il
for my own, and l did. l kept il
two or three days and then some one
came to make inquiries about it. ]
couldn't find whose it was, but if ]
was going to have the child, 1 wanted
it for my own without having anyone
else bothering with it. So 1 made III
my mind I'd find who its mother wa!
and make her sign her name to a pa
per giving the child up. So 1 wen
to the officer on his beat in the da,
: his first names Joe 1 don't know
the other name-and he told me Their,
? was a house on Menard Street, ives
:. side, between Russell and Ann aven
ues kept by a midwife named Ora
: mellach or some such French name
| where lots of babies were born.
: put on my bonnet and went to Sc
, her. I told her she knew about tina
baby on my step and I wanted t.
know the name of the girl that LEI
t her house that night. 1 had come t
| the right place. She said the girl ha,
been boarding with her for over
month under the name of Mary Rey
nolds. She was a pretty brunette
t rather tall, and she was very well ed
ucated. She had told the mldwif
several stories about her family, say
ing that her father had once bee,
very wealthy but was now poor
!. though he still held his property I'm
s der mortgage. The midwife didn'
believe that Mary Reynolds was he
$ real name, though her letters cam
, directed that way"
"Where did she get her letter
from?" / asked her.
"They were ~postmarked Mexico
+ Mo-" she told me, and then l aske
o her what she had ever said about he
father. She told me the girl wa
l very particular
ABOUT THE WATER
she drank and said that on her fatt
er's place there were three wells who
e everybody said had the finest wate
in them in the whole country. He
fathers place was about half a mil
from the public square in the tow
she lived in. This was all the mic
wife told me, and I came home, an
l brought her with me, for I told he
she had to come and see it it was th
. same baby. That's it, she said, 6
q soon as she saw it. Its the sam
baby and the same shawl and blanl
. et.' This vas Friday over thre
- weeks ago. 1 came home and. tol
my husband 1 was going to Mexico
o 1 took the train and got there tn.
e day. At the depot I got into a 'bu!
but the driver didn't know any fam
ly named Reynolds. I went to a Ii,
cry stable and got a carriage. II
driver took me to a frame house, an
/ I went in. A Mr.. Reynolds live
there, and / told him / wanted to 81
1t his daughter Mary. He said he di
not have adaughter Mary-his daugl
ter Maggie was visiting friends in S
Louis on Seventeenth and Washin,
j. ton avenues. / didn't believe hi
, at first, but he convinced me and
- came away. l found out afterwart
that the girl who called herself MAJ
r Reynolds was not
vi NAMED REYNOLDS
at all, bat Reynolds was her mother
lie name. / kept making inquiries uni
n 1 found what house it was half a mi
e from the public square, where tn,
IL I'll xl.o~ ill "a A. l -~A~.