St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-08-06
fate of that little, sunny-faced, golden-haired

iobc VI Luut HUH, y-liceu, SOiucu-udlrcu
boy is still wrapped in dark mystery.
The safety of millions of children has been
purchased, itseem too sadly true, by the life
of one, though the parents of that one still
fondly cling to the hope that their son will
some day appear among them.
'The hue and cry that rang through this
great republic,'' said Mr.. koss ''strangled
this species of crime In its birth. No one
dreamed before what hold child of four
years had on the heart of nation, though at
the time my child was stolen there wss no
law by which his kidnappers could be pun
ished. This and number of other states
have since then made the crime of child
stealing, for the purpose of extortion, pun
ishable by twenty-five years of solitary i'm
prisonment, with hard labor, and fine of
$4,000.
Il have" continued Mr.. Ross, ''examined
personally into over seven hundred cases OF
boys supposed to be my son since his disap-
pcarance; have travelled thousands OF miles
in pursuit of him, and spent over $50, 900 in
trying to trace him in vain. In the first two
years alone over three hundred children
scattered from Maine to San Francisco, and
even in England, Scotland Cuba, Nova
Scotia, and Canada were supposed to be my
child from the resem blance to his pictures
or the mystery surrounding them. | have
often thought of the extraordinary number,
If girls are included, of children about whose
existence and surroundings there is some
thing suspicious
s'Has this hunt for Charlie ever resulted
in the return of any lost children to their
parentss'
Yes; of number; for, though mine was
the first case on which a ransom had been
put, other children have been stolen by
tramps to beg for them, and even in some
cases taken for personal revenge. The most
pitiful case know of was that OF little Harry
Lachmuller, of ST. Louis, who was stolen
from his fathers garden by two tramps. who
had woman with them, and wanted child
to beg. Mr. Lachmuller offered large re-
wards, and employed every available means
to recover his child, travelling all over Eu-
rope, and several times in this country ad
yertising his loss, but in vain.''
''Well. one day received letter from
Chester, ILL.,, describing the tramps who had
been brutal in their treatment of child sup
posed to be Charley, aud to disguise him had
thrown acids into his face, badly disfiguring
him, dyed his hair, and SCARED his body.
My brother James went on at once, and saw
that it was not our lost lamb; but the public
ity given the case by the papers reached Mr..
Lachmuller, and on the bare supposition of
its being his son. he came on and found,
indeed, that it was his child.
strangely enough, though the yillainous
treatment he had been subjected to had made
the boy forget even his name and the place
where he came from, he recognized his
father with scream of joy. There has also
been another class of cases in which, though
the proper parents could not be found, the
children have been taken away from the
wretches who had them in charge and been
properly taken care of by the authorities
"How do you account for this large num-
Der of stray childrenl"
IA great many of them never can be ac-
counted for. Some have left asylums or
homes; many are ilegitimate, and quite a
number belong to families in which domestic
nnhappiness has prompted either the father
or mother to take them away and keep them
in concealment. There are also instances
where the children have been purposely put
on trains and deserted, or where they have
run away from guardians glad to get rid of
them. Children are not unfrequently found
among Italian or gypsy bands who cannot
be accounted for.
''Yes," continued Mr.. Ross, in reply to a
question, Ndozens of children have looked
me in the face and said their name was
Charley Ross. In fact, that name has be-
come the synonym of lost child, and it is
frequently given to children in poorhouses
and asylums. Hardly week passes without
letter or a clew Of some sort being sent to
me now, and, of course, the claimants are
frequent. Why, fortnight ago little
tramp calling himself Charley Ross looked
me right in the eye and said he remembered
my singing him to sleep with Moody and
Sankey hymns. never sang tune in my
lifep'
''Do you believe your son is living now?"
81 do not know what to believe any more
than you do; but until / know he is dead
his mother and / shall wat III for his com.
ing" concluded Mr.. Ross, with emotion.
Six other lovely children played about the
Ross homestead, one of them a fairy girl
bearing striking likeness to her lost b. other
but as l walked back through the shady
lanes to the station was struck by the fact
that though ten summers have fled since the
cruel robbery, not child could be seen
frolicking on the highways.