St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-05-23
Gbe Californian.
ii. John-bury, Thur-day, May as, 1889.
STORY OF AN Addicted CHILD.

The death of Allen Thorndike Rice
calls to mind ain international cpl
sode in which he was an actor when
a mere child His father, Henry G..
Rice. married a Baltimore girl in
1850 The marriage proved very
unhappy one. and in 1856 they sep
arated permanently. The full name
of their child was Charles Allen
Thorndike Rice, and he lived with his
mother until 1860. In the autumn
of 1858 Mrs. Rice secured a divorce
in Indiana with a decree granting her
the custody of the child. The father
and mother then entered into writ
ten agreement by which the father
should have the custody of the child.
In January, 1860, the father IN turn
obtained a decree of divorce in Mary
land, with decree giving him the
custody of the child. The mother
tested the question of the legal guar
dianship of the child, and the Massa-
chusetts courts confirmed the fathers
claim.
The Massachusetts decision was
rendered August 1, 1860. Mr.. Rice
was spending the summer at Nahant,
and had placed his son at schoolnear
his hotel. Father and son were COM
parative strangers, as young Charles
had lived with his mother until few
days before. On August 4, while the
boy was reciting, three men rushed
into the school-rOom. One of them
rushed School-master Fette across
the room and another held Il club
over his head and threatened to strike
him if he resisted; while the third
seized young Rice and carried him to
Il wagon i'll waiting and drove off.
The other abductors also escaped
When the terrified youngster was
told that his mother had sent them
for him, ne Gained down and aided
them in the plan of escape. Mr.. Rice,
when the news of the abduction
reached him, put detectives upon the
trail which ran through Massachu-
sets and Vermont into Canada. But
beyond this no trace of mother or
child could be found. 1t has since
been learned that Mrs Rice dressed
Young Charles in girls clothes, and,
when the excitement had partly died
away, boarded Il European steamer
Her son was quite large and very
active, and his antics excited the
amusement if not the suspicion of the
passengers. Nevertheless, Mrs. Rice
arrived safely in Europe, and we are
told that the boy was educated in
Germany and France as girl, >"
which may have had something to
do with his success in life. HcfnaIly
escaped from the thraldOm of skirts,
and with girls education and the
habiliments of Il young man he re-
turned to America His mother died
about the close of the war for the
Union, and he became rcconciled to
his father, who also died soon after
ward Young Rice then dropped his
first name, returned to England and
secured an Oxford university educa-
ton
The case came up frequently in the
courts on various motions and pro-
cesses, and III 1861 was presented at
length to ajury upon the prosecution
of Amos K. NIckerSOn and the two
other abductors. This case, which
ended in damages awarded to Mr.
Rice, created much excitement at the
time on account of its romantic fea-
lures and the prominence of some of
the parties involved. The memories
of an unhappy home and romantic
adventure NAV have had something
to do with the fact that Allen Thorn
dixie Rice never married. Springfield
Republican.