The San Francisco call., 1897-07-03
The Infant Stolen by a Rival
for the Affections of
Its Mother.
ABDUCTOR KILLED BY THE
ST. LOUIS CYCLONE.
COnfessss on HIS Deathbed and
Gives a Clew to the Missing
Boys Whereabouts.

PHOENIX, ARIz.. July 2.-Tbe last act
IN as dramatic story OF real life as was
ever penned by the romancers occurred
yesterday at Mesa City, when q middle
aged man and a grown boy met in hay
field apd-hgurs lively, at Ieast-wept in
each others arms. The middle-aged man
was Dr. l. H. Hammond of St. Louis; the
grown boy was reared in San Francisco as
Henry Creelman. They were father and
son, with an enforced separation of
eighteen years between them. For ten
years or more the father has wandered,
broken-he hearted, searching for the son
whose .unaccounta bic disappearance when
but three years OF age drove the wife and
mother to an untimely grave.
In the closing days Of Gus CIark's ad-
ministration as Marshal of Phenix there
came 10 MIN a letter, signed by DR.. Ham
mond of St. Louis, asking him for any
possible information as TO the where
sbouts of 4 young man named Henry
Creelman. 1t is probable that the Chiefs
Of Police or City Marshals at all promi-
nent points on the coast received the
same inquiry at that time; but only
Gus Clark was able to give any news
of the young man. Such a person had
been in the employ of the Rio Verde
Canal Company for long time and had
then been lost sight of at Prescott. DR..
Hammond Immediately came to the Ter
ritory and began fresh inquiries at Pres
colt. 1t was only matter of few days
before young Creelman was traced to
Mesa City, where he had secured work on
a ranch.
ho hat fath
was affecting in the extreme, particularly
on the fathers side. Tne boy quit the
ranch at once and went with his father TO
the Kimball House, where they passed
The night-perhaps such night as boy
and man ever passed before-Lhe boy in
telling OF his aardships and wanderings,
the father In relating a most re marka BILE
narrative, the details of which could
hardly be given in the limits of newspa-
per article.
1t reaches back to placid rural scene
in an Ohio Ashta5uia-twenty-tw tw 0
years ago. Then and there Miss Dom
dson, the only daughter of a very re-
spectacle family, was the belle of the vii
lage. Suitors for her hand and heart sne
mum bered by the score, but OF them all
the one most favored was a young lawyer
OF great promlse-Ed win Creelman. In a
few months they were to have been wed,
and the papas and mammas OF the town
called il a fine match and predicted sue
cess for the lawyer and happy, prosper
ous home for the future bride.
Then there came 10 Ashtabula q young
medical college graduate-this same DR..
Hammond, the middle-aged man who
now Sis under the bright stars OF an Ari-
zona summer sky and tries to make IS
own son believe that he once had a iovin !.
mother and still has a fond father.
During the absence of the family physi-
clan Miss Donaldson was taken seriously
i'll. And now began the long life drama.
DR.. Hammond was called 10 the house,
The story writer's would say it was love at
tlrst sight, but it is sufficient for the para
grapher TO sum up the net result of that
meeting. The match with Creelman was
broken oil, and at the wedding the princi-
pals were The new doctor and his first pa
tieDt.
The green monster made a demon OF
the elected suilor. He upbraided his false
sweetheart in quite the fashion of the
melodrama stage villain, and he swore
to be avenged upon the couple, though it
took lifetime to accom- plish it. That
oath was kept TO the letter, for in real life
the Great Dramatist Is not bound by the
stage rules that require happy ending
and the snowy triumph of virtue.
-Four years after the marriage of DR.. l..
II. Hammond and the belle of Ashtabula
their only child, Leo, was stolen from his
home, ana from that day until the meet
ing at Mesa City yesterday the child
never knew or saw or heard OF his par-
ents. Large sums of money were spent
in endeayoring to gain some clew TO the
child, and a good deal OF this mon ey
passed through the hands of that prince
of detectives, Allan PInkerIon. All the
searching came to naught. The theory at
the time was that gypsies had carried off
the babe, and this was true, but not all of
the story. A year after the kidnapping the
grief-stricken mother received letter in
familiar handwriting with all Australian
postmark. 1t was from the re iected lover,
who calmly acknowledged the cowardly
theft of the child, and as coolly declared
that its parents would never see il again
Thus his oath of vengeance was fulf ed.
Then the mo;her died, and the father,
now quite alone and broken hearted,
began his wanderings. Many people
thought his sufferings had unseated his
reason. He went 10 Australia and from
there to South Africa, but could find no
trace of the villain OF his life's drama, nor
of the stolen child. A few years ago ne
settled down in ST. Louis and resumed
his practice as physician.
Even the elements play part in this
story and serve to bring about, in fact, it's
chief which, again, is con-
irary to the modern rules OF romance and
drama. When the cyclone passed over
s.. Louis about year ago, in the pub
lished list OF the wounded was the nam e
OF Edwin Creelman. Dr. Hammond saw
the name and soon the wronged man stood
at the bedside of his foe. Only the fact
that Creelman was at deaths door averied
a scene of violence and probable blood
shed.
The dying man confessed his crime
confessed that he had paid gypsy woman
to steal the child. that the child II ad been
taken TO San francisco and lodged with a
poor family which was paid by Creslman
for his keeping. Creelman posed as his
father, and gave him the name of Henry.
For several years remittances came regu-
larly from Australia. Then they ceased,
and the boy was put out 10 gain his own
living. Even Creelman, upon his return
TO America, could find no trace of him.
When the confession was ended tho victim