The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-05-13
STOLEN WHEN A BOY,
An Indiana Man who Is Trying to
Identify Himself.

There resides in Evansville, Ind, a
man who does not know his real name
or his parents, and whose one aim,
ever since he came 10 the years of I'M
| derstanding, has been to try and know
himself. He has gone by the name
| of James Wilson, but it is certain that
Is not his name. For Is years he has
sought his relatives to identity him
self, and has striven to delve into the
innermost recesses of his once childish
memory to try and find some cI2w
to aid him in his search. He has fig
ured prominently in the Charley Ross
| case, having once been taken for the
| lost boy. AS near as Wilson, who is
now 80 years old, can ascertain, he was
stolen from his parents when four years
| old. He believes himself to be we'll
connected, and it vaguely fingers in
his mind that his home was near
| large river.
He remembers his home as filed with
| kind faces. Besides his father and
mother, there were two sisters in the
family. But from the day he was
stolen he has not since heard of them.
Wilson remembers the circumstances
of his abduction distinctly. \ strange
and well-dressed man one day invited
| him to take ride in a buggy. lie
! climbed in with the man, eager for
| the treat" He was driven to a neigh
| boring town, where train was board
| ed. After a ride of few hours the
man took the child from the train, and
| gave him to an old woman to keep.
| This woman seemed to have strict in
structions about allowing young VIII
son to play with other boys, or go
| from the premises. He remembers hat
the old woman lived near large river.
| During the four years or more that
| Wilson was in the custody of the old
woman, he was kept locked in a dark
ened room most of the time. One day
| be saw two men enter the yard, and
| although he was locked securely in his
room, he heard great quarrel between
the men and the old woman. From
| the conversation which he heard, he
gained the belief that these two men
were his friends or relatives. Shortly
after this occurrence, the strange man,
who had stolen him, put in his appear
ancc, and the boy was taken to coun-
try place.
| From this time on the abductOr never
again made his appearance. Wilson's
memory does not furnish him the loca-
| ton of his new home, but it was but
! few years until the family removed
to indianapolis. Sickness and poverty
soon compelled his foster parents to!
| lum at Nincennes, Ind. He was now at
an age when he began to realize his
peculiar situation. He was entered in
the asylum simply as James Wilson,
no parents" and by this change, the
poor fellow lost track of the only per
sons who might give him a clew to his
| origin. He has spent his life toling
as farm hand,as a miner, and anything
at which he could make a living. Every
| cent was saved. that possibly could be,
for the purpose of prosecuting the
search for his relatives. This one desire
| consumes him, but now, at the age of
80 years, his hope has begun to wane,
| and he walks the streets with the aD-
pearance of being a hroken-hearted
man. lie possesses remarkable natural
intelligence. and leads a life that wins
the admiration of those who know him.
| He has never married
The father of the lost Charley Ross,
Of Philadelphia, recently paid Mr.. Will
son a visit, and although the circum-
stances of the two abductions We're sim
liar, it was well established that VIII
son was not Charley Ross. Being a
man of some sentiment and natGra! re-
tinement, Wilson realizes the sadness of
his fate. His outcast state has weighed
heavily upon him, ard those who would
measure his misery can do so by imagin-
ing themselves in his place.-Cincin-
natl Enquirer.