The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-06

Then he told the boy to run along and
he took charge of the lost child.
III bet said the policeman to the re-
porter, that the mother is piping me off
somewhere nearby. They never go away
until they're sure the kid is in the hands
| OIL the police. After that they don't think
any more about the natter
Now the boy that brought this child
up to me got cents for his work and
his lie. This is no guess, it's a fact. 1t
has happened too many times before. for
there to be any doubt of the matter 1T
doesn't take these people over here long
to get on to a good thing. You see sew
e1al thousand children play on the streets
within live blocks of where | am stand
ing every day. They live in those tene-
ments, and their homes are very mis- err
able ones. The people are all poor They
caAnot afford to hire anyone to look out
for their children if they want to go any
where. We have had droves of lost chill
dren every month, especially in the sum
mer, for years, and, of course, there is
provision made for them at police head
quarters. There they have nice little beds,
hundreds of piaythings, the best of at
tention, good food and bath. AS a mat
ter Of fat, they are a hundred times bet
ter off in the city nursery than they are
at home.
We'll it hasn't taken these people long
to get on to this. No. sir, they have seen
| by experience how lost babies are treated
by the police, and they have made up
their minds that it is good thing. They
used to holler murder when the-7 lost
their kids, and the station house used
to echo with their wailings, but all the
crying they do now is faxed and is for
effect, because they know we ara on to
them.
III tell you what they do. Two or
three afternoons a week one Of these
lncthors will want to go out without the
kid MaYhc it's shopping and maybe it's
a call, but anyway, she don't want the
kid along. II isn't because she cont love
it. Lands sake, no! She loves it all right,
hut it is relief to get rid of i. for an
afternoon.
Now they know that the police will
care for the kids, so they just arranged to
kave them lost. They're not lost when
they come to us; my, no. Noue OF these
mothers takes her peppers off of her kid
,luLiI she seej it. II our hands. Nitp
that kid came up to me with this girl,
that mother was piping me off from some
where nearby. But how can you get onto
them in this crowd? Sometimes they have
the children cry so that we will take
them. If the children are not susceptible
to this sort of training, or are too young
to learn to act part why they take
them out somewhere and when the child
is looking the other way, they skip into
a doorway.
1.-The child loses them, but they don't
lose the child. The child screams, ana
unless policeman comes along and picks
it up or someone on the street takes
an interest in it and turns the baby over
to a. policeman, why the mother reveals
herself and later adopts some other ruse.
The most popular way is to get one of
these fly boys in the neighborhood to
take the child up to policeman or to
the station house. They give them cent
OF two and the boy does the work well
I'll never forget one woman who tried
to work this game on me. Just for fun
after the boy had left an alleged lost
child with me, l turned the child loose,
calling after the boy who didn't come
back at all, that I wasn't going to bother
with that youngster. We'll, L hadn't
taken a dozen PAGES when l looked
around and there was a woman with the
child in her arms, walking away as fast
as she could. She had been watching TO
see the little one in good hands, and
really thought / was going to desert the
! child.
ST remember that I was in the station
house ON a small case a half hour later
that same day, and in came the officer
WHO 0du the post next TO me With the
| same child. Hows that for persis tence?
It's being worked all over the East side
| by mothers and say, it's getting to be a
| horrible nuisance. Lots of mothers who
wouldn't think of doing this thing at first
/ are doing it now, because they see that
their neighbors' children always go
through it without any trouble I'll bet
they know this kid over at head
| quarters" and the policeman took the
child by the hand and led it away
They did know the child there she had
! been in the nursery three times in two
weeks. She seemed quite at home and
never cried when the policeman took her
up to the nursery in the elevator. The
sergeant at the information bureau said
that the same children were entertained
at the expense of the city almost every
month. OF course, he said. there are
some genuine lost children, but the per-
centage of this kind is very small.
And oh, you ought to see the tears
when they come after the kids" said the
sergeant They're the best fakirs you
ever saw. Why, If the children had been
really lost and had been gone a month
some OF them could not make more fuss
than they do"