The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-14
LITTLE BOY RUNAWAY
Worry Over Him Breaking
His Mothers Heart.
HAS A MILLIONAIRE MANIA
Mad Thirst for Wealth Makes
Him a Wanderer.

view 1Orh, Jan. LINE journal says.
1t is one hundred and one times that my
little son Victor has run away from
home. L have kept count of every time
he's been away and I know 1 haven't
made mistake.
But this last time since my little boy
ran away on the 9Th of last July has been
the longest he has ever been away from
me-
1 am a broken-hearted mother now. I
have cried SO much that my husband
tells me there is sob in my voice every
time 1 speak, no matter what 1 may be
talking about
l suppose that IS because am always
thinking Of my lost boy.
For years we have thought it treat to
have him home on Sunday. We always
expected that he would get away Mon
day. Then we usually spent the rest of
the week hunting for him
But now six long months have passed
and we have not seen or heard of him,
except by rumors that he has been seen
at one place or another
1 suppose no boy ever had such strange
adventures as my boy Victor has had on
his runaway trips.
Victor does not run away just 20 be
bad. He does it to make money. lie has
| comfortable home at No. 1929 HeKalb
avenue, Brooklyn, and we givehim pen
! nies to spend. But he IS not satisfied with
| that
The oldest part of it all is the WY he
first got the idea Of running away.
When Victor was eight years old, near
ly five years ago, :e surprised his lathor
che day by asking:
Papa, how can L be & milIionaire:"
We'll Victor sad his fa-her, that
is question almost too large for my lit
| tie boy to undersEb"d,' and then went
TO tell his son III 1t a COY should first
g. to school and learn as much as poss-
IDLE and get big and strong.
! But Victor was not satisfied with that,
| and said:
why ask you the question, papa, is
because want to be a millionaire some
day and 1 want to know the quickest
way to get started. 1 want to begin
right away"
How little I thought that strange idea
of my little boy would make me so much
trouble.
OIily d lew udES alter IndI VICTOR
aunt called and gave him five cents to
buy candy with He went to the store
with some other boys and that was the
last we saw of him that day BY night
l felt sure he must be lost and when his
father came home he asked the police to
| help find little Victor
L was distracted I thought my boy
had been stolen or that he had wandered
away to the beach and got drowned
His father and uncle spent nearly the
whole night searching for him, and his
uncle finally found Victor toward morn
ing wandering through South Portland
avenue.
When he was brought home to me 1
was sick with grief and worry. When L.
sobbed over him and asked him how he
had got lost he said:
why, mamma, he said, 81 just Start
ed out to be a millionaire. 1 bought
some things with the five cents auntie
gave me and sold EN- at the big fair mp
a. the armory last night. Then 1t was
50 late, I was afraid to come home"
Then he cried and said he W 1uld never
run away again if papa and mamma
would forgive him.
But that was only the beginning of my
little boys curious mania for runnAg
away. 1 have kept track of all the one
hundred and one times that he has been
away since.
1t is a diary of mothers sorrow. Here
are just a few leaves from if.
Sept. g, 1876
1 have noticed lately that my little Icy
money. He will stop playing marbles
and come to me and suggest some new
way to get money. This afternoon he
disappeared from home again, and 1 fear
he has run away. We have given the po-
lice his picture and asked them to look
for him, so that he might not get far
away. But it is midnight now No It'd
ings come yet from my poor boy but
shall sit up till dawn waiting for him. for
l am worried almost to death
Sept. 10. 1895.
My darling boy is found. Two terrible |
nights of suspense he was away from me- |
A friend of ours found him this afternoon |
near the Brooklyn Bridge selling news |
papers with his own picture in them and |
the reward which his father offered for
his return. Now the latest editions of the
evening papers are telling how he was
found and saying in big black headlines:
He makes the news and sells IL"
cannot understand my little boy at all.
When I asked him why he did this he
said that he saw people buying the papers
so fast, telling about himself as the lost
boy that he thought that he could make
more money by selling papers than in any
other way.
Nov. %. 1885
Again my little boy has been lost and
found again. This time when they
brought him home to me he had a little
book on astronomy in his pocket that he
had bought. While I was weeping for
JOY over him he said:
"Oh. mamma. what beautiful night
1t was last night. l just walked around
and looked u2 at the stars and read
about them under tAe street lamps and
tried to pick them out by name" Was
there ever such a boy as this bef0rc2
am almost frantic. What VIII become Of
him If he keeps running away?
This time too. he was away selling
things on the streets and trying 10 set
started. as be always says. TO be a nil
ionaire. I tell him II Is impossible Tor a
little boy ike him TO stay out all night an
The streets and keep well enough 20 get
Itch. But none OF my pleadiazs seem to
have any effect on my little boy. sud ne
5 so young. only nine years 1lI this