The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-05-22
KANSAS NEWS.
A Wichita Girl Of Twelve Years
Has a Long Tramp.
Compelled to Walk and Beg
From Memphis to Orleans.
FROM HOME
A Stranger Promised to Place
Her on the Stage.
Dazzled by Promises She Fled
From Her Home.
FROM HOME
Her Mother Leaves For the
South to Reclaim the Child.

Wichita, May 22.-Mrs. NJ. A Rainey
left here yesterday for New Orleans to
get her daughter Gertrude, than whom
few children have had a more trying
experience, as evidenced by letters
which Mrs. Rainey had recently receiv-
ed from her.
It will be remembered that Gertrude
Rainey was a girl aged II, living in
Wichita, mature for her age, possessed
of a charming voice, and a progresses
ing manner a pretty face and very
bright, winning eyes. Last July her
mother went to Great Bend, Kan, and
o Gertrude with her. On July %
last, in the forenoon, Gertrude asked to
go to dinner with a new acquaintance.
This request vas granted. Her mother
has never seen her since. On February
/, last. Mrs. Rainey received word that
Gertrude was in the Memorial Home,
New Orleans. She had appealed to a
Presbyterian minister who had k
her away from a man with whom she
ran away and had her placed there.
There she still is, and there her mother
will go to find her.
In her letters to her mother Gertrude
has explained what a terrible time she
has had. The man who won her away
from her home had many aliases, among
them that OF Sweeney. He met her, and
knowing her ambition to go on the
stage, told her that if she would come
with him he would get her a position
in a theatrical company at once He
went from Wichita and she went from
Great Bend and they met at Newton
and went to Chicago. Her mother
thinks hat Gertrude vas there made
by her brutal companion to sing upon
the streets for pennies. At any rate the
officers were on the hunt for them and,
Mrs. Rainey says, Sweeney decided to
get out of Chicago. She says he forged
a telegram saying that his wife was
very i'll and got passes to Decatur. Ii.
At Decatur he worked fha ca n pra mo
and got passes to st. Louis. From there
the couple reached Memphis, when
S~weeney's ingenuity played out, and
they took n country roads bound fer
New Orleans. The girl seems to have
been practically a prisoner. The man
never left her out of his sight, aecOrdin3
to the letters, nor did he leave her side
at any of the farmers houses where
they remained at night, when they were
fortunate enough to AVE a roof over
their heads through hospitality. The
walk was a terrible experience for the
girl. Down long country lanes, over
railroad ties, in the rain and in the hot
sun, ill-clad and a prisoner, her energy
at last succumbed. At Vicksburg she
could go no longer, but sank down.
There the couple remained for several
weeks. On January l, they came to
New Orleans, tramping into the city.
Gertrude Rainey's whole vitality was
now held up by the desire to get away
from the man who was to have been
her guide to fame and fortune, but vac
led her so bitter a life. She was, by him,
placed in a room in New Orleans and
kept there three weeks. At last. how
ever. she found aid and was placed in
the Memorial Home. Since then, Mrs.
Rainey understands, Sweeney has made
several attempts to get into the institu-
ton and take Gertrude away. A police
guard was established at one time to
prevent this. Gertrude has been out of
the institution but once, Mrs. Rainey
says, since she went there, February l.
This was to see a big parade and she
was under the protection of a police
man.
Mrs. Rainey is overjoyed at the antic-
ipation of regaining her child. She Will
a her to relatives in Ohio and will
spend her summer there with her.