Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-06-13
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] DISAPPEARANCE. )
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
"Talking about mysterious and unao-
oountable disappearance" said . New
York theatrical man, ~ don't believe
there was ever one more mysterious and
unaocountablet than that Of Tom Maguire's
Kid. It happened about the time Joe
Arthur brought out The Still Alarm a.
the Fourteenth Street theater nine years
ago. Tom Mcguire was business manager
there and was standing In the lobby Of
the theater one day when wretched' look
ing specimen Of the street Arab pushed. 2
door open and went in. &: MS
"tSay, mister he said, 'hain't yous got
somethin for mo to dor don't want. to
beg nothin, mister. I want some money,
but I want to earn 1t. ~
Of the ragamufin rather struck Mcguire.
"'Well, what can you do?' he asked.
al kin do anything dat hain't bigger'n
L
'This pleased Tom Mcguire still more,
and as the theater was just then sending
out boys to, distribute dodgers he gave the
kid a bundle and told him to- distribute
them in certain district and come back
and get quarter. The boy hurried away
with the dodgers, and, before the time was
up, he was back to the theater. sf
"'I put 'em where you told me to-. mis-
49,. , 70 Il t4r~ Y9r11 H1~ %% Spn<z
some more to carry, SOS kin fill out me
time. SeeP' -, Il,
"The fact Of street boy being willing
to do more work in given time than he
was hired to do was something 50 new and
strange that Manager Mcguire was amaz-
ed. He said nothing, but gave the boy
another supply Of dodgers. In taking
them the boy made some suggestions about
the best places to distribute them that
were SO good that Mcguire told him to fol-
low them out. The little fellow was back
on time. Mcguire handed him the prom
Used quarter, and the kid asked whether
he could have another job. He was told
to come around the next morning at 10
O'Clock and they would see. At 10 o'clock
the next morning, however, there came q
sharp tap at the box office window, and,
looking down, Manager Mcguire saw the
ragged little chap of the day before. Ill.
"'Here I am, mister, he said. Wat a.
yous goin to put me at dis timer ..ss,.
"Maguire told him he could Distribute
some more dodgers and handed him some.
The boy took the paper, stood in an unde.
cided manner q moment and then boldly
said: 70
"Say, mister, kin yous do me favor?'
n - t.
"'Well, I'll tell you, mister said the
boy. Il been sellin papers lately an stayin
at de newsboys' lodging house. Sect
Well, tomorrow me week g up, an owe
de house 60 cents, an want to pay 1t. De
Is cents you paid me hain't enough to do
1t with, an besides-well, mans got to
eat. Seer Say, kin yous put up 30 cents
ON me sal'ryP' ~.
."The cool audacity Of this request al.
most carried Tom Maguire's breath away.
He gazed at the wretohed mite Of human
ity In mute Astonishnent. The boy met
the gaze with steady look Of hts own,
aud, before he knew what. he, was doing,
Mcguire had handed the boy 10 cents and
told him to come again at tho usual time
next day and get some more work. The
hid thanked the manager and went out
with his dodgerA >
":That'u be the end Of him, sure, said
Mcguire. We WOMB see him again.
"But at 10 the next morning the tap
came at the box Office again.
"'Here I am, piped the voice Of Toms
kid. Watts de somethin yous has got fer
mo to do dis timer ....:.,.
unqualified interest. He began to ask the
n114 ~, II
the little fellow knew was that his father
and mother were both dead and that he
had been left with no home or relatives
and had become wait. His story became
known about the theater, and Manager
Rosenquest, Harry Lacy, Joe Arthur,
Mrs. Rosenquest and Mrs.. Colville also
took an interest In him. When he was
transformed from the ragged and dirty
street arab into clean and we'll dressed
boy, be was found to be as handsome,
bright eyed a lad as any one would wish
to see. He didn't know exactly how old
he was, but it was judged that he was II
or 10. Joe Arthur wanted to take him at
once as the messenger boy in The Still
Alarm but Tom Mcguire objected to his
going on the stage. He took the kid to
his own house and got him q place In a
large kurO1Gur0 mousse Oh 1OuTt00QGu 6tTeoU.
"The boy continued to live with the Ma
guire family, but insisted on paying some
thing out Of his earnings for his board.
He also handed money to Tom every week
to keep for him. He became great favor
ite with everybody at the store, as he was
with all the theater people. One Friday,
after he had been a few weeks at the fur
niture store he was sent by some Of the
men at noon hour to fetch them their pail
of dinner beer. He had $3.50 due him
from the store for his weeks salary, which
would have been paid the next day. He
had also So or 81 of savings in Tom Ma
CURES keeping. He took the pail and
tripped melrily out Of the store on his. cr-
rand As he had done many times before.
He never came back. Manager Rosenquest
and Mrs. Co'vi]le made every effort to find
some trace of the missing boy, but with
out success. Nothing has ever been seen
or heard Of him from that day to this. If
that wasn't about as mysterious and I'M
accountable q disappearance as we'll could
be, then don't know what mysterious
and unaccountable disappearance are."-
Albany Telegraph.