Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-10

truth. Mr.. Beard. then the New England
| manager of the Associated Press, would
send clippings Of these fake stories to Col:
| Clarke, who was the St. Adams agent of
the Associated Press, and would ask: Why
| are We not served with this news? Other
Boston daiiies are complaining"
| This Boston romancer and the Advertiser
made all the sensation possible out of the
| bogus Charlie Ross, and between them and
| that little liar the town nearly wen daft.
And Mr.. Beard was kept in continual
worry because the Associated Press stories
| lacked certain sensational details found in
| the st. Adams specials
| One afternoon in the early spring of 1875
| the Boston train brought in small boy,
| some eight or nine years of age, who pro-
| fessed to be Charlie Ross. He boarded the
| train somewhere in New Hampshire and,
| having no ticket, began to tell his STORY
| saying he was escaping from his abductors.
Col. Clarke was on the train, and so was
Mr. Rugg, leading ST. Adams resident.
Col. Clarke did not believe the lads story,
but Mr.. Rugs did and he took the boy home
| with him. The next morning he brought
| the lad down town, and the little scamp
told his story to crowds of people Sympa-
| thetic women kissed him and cried over
| him. He was a ark-complexioned boy
| with wavy, dark brown hair, and he was
| thoroughly versed in the Charlie Ross case,
| and certainly showed familiarity with the
street upon which Mr. Ross lived. In fact,
| he knew too much for an infant who was
| scarcely four when abducted. There were
many ueleCtS, however, IN some Oh MS ue-
| tails, defects that showed his ignorance of
| things with which he professed to be IA
miliar.
The fact that he identified photographs
| in an albumin Congressman Smiths
| house-of a certain Philadelphia family,
and described their house, which was near
| that of Mr.. Ross, was considered conclu-
sive evidence that the boy the real
Charlie Ross. This identification took place
| after the boy had been in town several
| days
Mr.. Ross had been notified to come on
| and get his boy, and had sent a courteous
letter i'll reply, asking for fuller informa-
ton, etc. Col. Clarke at this time was sick
| with a fever and the management of the
Messenger devolved upon the only reporter
| on the paper and the bookkeeper. When
| the boy identified the photographs the
crowds in the street Kissed the Messenger
which had persistently declared that the
| lad was an impostor-and they tore down
| its bulletins. Then the bookkeeper weak
| ened. and advised the reporter to let up,
| and accept the evidence as conclusive. The
| reporter, however, refused to he convinced.
| The boy was too large, and too dark; he
| was certainly lying.
| The next morning after the Messengers
bulletins were torn down one-armed con-
| stable from New Hampshire town step
| ped off from the Boston train and took a
| look at Charlie. We'll, Jimmie" he said,
| II see you are up to your old tricks again.
Your mother has sent me after you, ID i'm
| ME- looked foolish, and momentarily threw
| up the game. He acknowledged to the Mes
se,.ger reporter that he had fooled them
| we'll But in the afternoon, when he was
| taken to the station to wait for the train
going to Boston, when the constable was
| buying the tickets, he appealed 20 some of
| the on-lookers for protection. telling them
| that the officer was one of the kidnapping
gang, and that he was again being stolen.
| The station soon filled with crowd Of ex-
| cited men-many of them leading citizens.
A collection was hastily taken up and a
prominent business man was sent along
| lad had fair play.
Before the train had gone fifty miles
| however, Jimmie owned up, and laughed at
| his champion, who took the first train back
| home.
The little impostor-James blanchard
was the son of a shiftlesS Frenchman and
| smart. Woodworking mulatto woman, who
was the head of the family. The boy was
constantly running away. and always had
some story to tell in order to get trans
ported and cared for without cost. The
good people who had cried over and petted
him were a good deal crestfallen for a few
days. But instead of Growing over them
the messenger came out the mex, day with
a sympathetic editorial prasing The people
for their generous and well-meant SYM
patty.
Altogether it was the mos sensational
affair St. Adams had seen since the conied-
crate raid in time when the corfed-
crate marauders robbed the banks. fired
upon the citizens and compelled a bank
cashier to take the confederate oath