Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1888-05-10

Aud That shc Lost Young Mans Father
Also Knows where Tie H..


gent farmer, living about one and one
half miles from Cooperstown, in this
state, was in Syracuse yesterday on
business. and in the course of CONVEX
sation with friend the subject OF tine.
abduction of Charley Ross was men,
toned rs IN unexplained eveNt.
"tnexplaine,l?" repeated MIR. Reno
quickly. "Why, ! know Charley Ross
as we'll as do my own brother. He.
has told me the story OF his abduction
fifty times. tie lives right among us
in Cooperstown, and everybody out
there has no other thought than that
he was the child abducted SO strangely
from his Philadelphia home fifteen or
sixteen years ago. He worked tor me >
on my farm two years ago from Octo-
Der to April. lie has since worked in
Cooperstown on the estate of the late !.
Edward Clark. OF the Singer Sewing
Machine company, and is now there. =.
Every other sunday he comes to see
me and takes dinner with me. lie is
now nineteen or twenty years old, u
iine-looking young man, bright and Of
f;.ultless habits. lie is thought IA great
deal OF by the people of the town.
..I'iie story which ] have heard so
often from him, ana confirmed IN many
details by Others, is that n circus man
and woman entice1 him into theircar-
riage as he was climbing u tree. prom
ising to buy him candy. An hour
afterward he was put on board "a
steamship from New York, and from
there was Immediately taken to Cuba.
lie was taught all kinds OF circus per-
formanccs, how 10 ride bareback, Jump
and swing on the trapeze. After Inc
was brought to CoOperstOwn he often
showed up his circus tricks in tumbling
about the barn and on the backs OF
horses. The circus people were very
cruel to him. In one Of their rOOmsat
the Cuban hotel where they stopped
they risged up trapeze and trained
him in spite Of his fright. They used
to beat him with the buckle end OF u
strap unit il his back was all black and
blue. One day he ran screamingtown
, stairs into the barroom. The circus
!, man followed him and struck MIN with
his fist in the barrOOni, Telling him.
ter ended in the landlord taEingcharge
OF him. Subsequently an Episcopal
missionary in Cuba named Kinney
who lived in New York city, took an
. interest i'm the yOungster and took
Z charge of him.
The missionary took care of Char
, lev for n year or more. and then in.
9 trusted the boy to his father, Capt
. nj in nf II an
! line running between Havana and New
i York city. Capt. Kinney took him to
: the Cooper orpl,anaaca ut CooperstOwn
an Episropalian inst itul ion. the ma
tron OF which was then, and is now, Il
/ daughter of j Fenninore Cooper. The
!, boy was then about seven years old,
! believe Capt. Kinney was deeply IN
terest el in the boy, and s,ispected h'
was Charley Ross. as did the matron
What bot hered hem was that he pro
nor,nccd his name Russ giving the
Scottish accent. Of course iiecOuldn
spell his name. Correspondence wa'
!. entered into with Mr.. Ross, and pho
i tocraphs obtained of Mr.. and Mrs
Ross. The boy WAS awakened IN TIL
middle OF the night, shown one OF tn
:. pho, ographs, and asked If he knew
who il was. lie said it was his mother
lie also identified the likeness OF In
father. Mr.. and Mrs. Ross were theI
sent for and went to the Orplanage
Mrs. Ross had been rendered insane ID.
TX urief over the loss Of her son, b,i
Il. seemed toh we u lucid interval. Twen
ty men were placed in u room, ana tn
;! boy was asked which Was his iathei
T. lie went right to him. lie was the
pr taken into u room where there wer
of twenty-five women, and he picked on
80. his mother.
ei Mr.. Ross was then satisfied and pr'
Nv pared to take his child away. III
is trunk wa. packed and sent to I'll
of depot. Then Mrs. Ross strldeiil
burst forth in one of her ravIng spell
:" and insisted that the child be take
eS from her sight. Thee only way To qul.
" her was to leave the child behind. VI
Nv Ro.-. however, believed Charley ,o !
Du hi. son and often visited him, wrO'
n him frequent letters and pad Tor u
he cloth for several years. But vai
~ ous distractions, including the insa
| IA i,y OF his vile. l.,l Mr.. Ross deeper an
he deeper into dissipation, untii now
lie is "a wreck and seems To have lost u
lie interest in hl- son. II has been near
or "A wear since he has written HIM IA le
SIX ter. About the time of the Centenni
az exhibition Capt. Kinney took Charl,
me to Philadelphia and walked him up Il
Did 1t rect where he was playing when ii
ny Quoted The boy did not seem To r,
, o.nilc anything at first, hut present
1t. le.an to stop aud look around, al
i'll. then said: That j. the tree ] wa- I
nd when they took me away. The mi
ad ter WAS published in the toopersto'
my paisrS at the time of these occur renee
lly hut there were 50 many Charley Re
he II orirS about that time that this Il q
did not attract attention out -it
None of Charley, relatives admit
identity except MIR. Ro>, himself. u
v,unr man l. smart and j. bound
make his mark ia the world"