The Mineral argus., 1884-09-18

that two burglars had been killed while ~,
9ing house IN Bay Ridge; that one. Mosber
died instantly and that his cOmrade Dou0Isss'
lived only long enough to confess the steaI,n53
Of Charley kosss and 10 solemnly swear tbaf
No one but the dead man knew his Ebersah,,,,t
and 80 II Is to-day that the fate Of thai Ettio
sunny faced, golden haired boy is still vrannad
in a dark mystery fP'u
The SAFETY of millions Of children has been
purchased, 1t seems too sadly true, by the life
Of one though the parents OF that one still
fOndly cling 20 the hope that their son will some
day appear among them
Tho hue and cry that rang this great Repub-
lie, said Mr.. Ross, "strangled this species Of
crime in its birth No one dreamed before
what hold a child Of years had on the heart
Of nation, and, though at the time my child
was stolen there no law by which his kid
nappers could be punished, this and a number
Of Othor states have since then made the crims
Of child-stealing for the purpose of extOrtiOD
Imprisonment, with hard labor, and fine Of
$4,000.
Il have continued Mr. Ross, Examined
personally into 200 cases Of boys supposed TO
be my son since his disappearance: have
Travelled thousands Of miles in pursuit OF him.
and spent over SCI, 900 in trying to trace him in
vain In the first two years alone over three
hundred children, scattered from Maine 10
San Francisco, and even in England, Scotland
Cuba, Nova Scotia and Canada, were sup
posed to be my child from the resemblance 10
his pictures or the mystery surrounding them
have often thought Of the extraordinary
number, If girls are included, or children
about whose existence and surroundings there
is something suspicious.
''Has this hunt for Charley ever resulted in
the return Of any lost children to their
parents:"
'sYes. 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 1 know was that OF little
Henry LAchmuller, Of St LOUIS, who was
stolen from his fathers garden by two tramps,
who had q woman with them, and wanted a
child to beg. Mr.. Lachmuller offered large
rewards, and employed every available means
TO recover his child, travelling all over Europe,
and several times in this country advertising
his loss, but all in vain.
'sWell, one day received letter from Ches-
ter. Ill, describing the trAmps who had been
brutal in their treatment Of = child supposed 70
be Charley and TO disguise him had thrown acids
into his face, badly disbguring him, dyed his
hair and SCARED his poor little body. My
brother James went on at once, and saw that
was not our lost lamb; but the publicity given
tbs case by the papers reached Mr. Lachmuller,
and, on bare supposition of its being his son,
he came on, and found, indeed, that il was
his child
strangely enough, though the villainous
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 a scream Of joy. There has also been an
other class Of cases in which, though the prop
er 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 children"
"a great many of them can never be account
ed for. Some have left asylums or homes;
many are illegitimate, and quite number be-
long to families in which domestic unhappiness
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 desert
ed, or where they have run away from guard
ians glad to get rid of them. Children are
not unfrequently found among Italian OF gypsy
bands who cannot be accounted for.
''Yes," continued Mr. Ross, in reply 70 ques-
ton, dozens Of children have looked me IN
the face and said their name was Charley Ross.
In fact that name has become the synonym OF
a lost child, and it is frequently given N poor
houses and asylums Hardly week passes
without a letter or clew of some sort being
sent to me now and, of course, the claimants
are frequent Why, fortnight ago a little
tramp calling himself Charley Ross looked me
right in the eve and said he remembered my
singing him to sleep with Moody and Sankey
hymns never sang tune in my life.
81 do not know what TO believe any more
than you do; but until 1 know he Is dead his
mother and l shall watch for his coming,
concluded Mr.. Ross, with emotion.
Six other lovely children played about the
| Ross homestead, one of them a fairy girl bear
ing a striking likeness to her lost brother, but
as l walked back through the shady lanes to
the station / was struck by the fact that, though
ten summers had fled since the cruel robbery,
not child could be seen frolicking on the
hiQhWays