The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-19
LOST GIRL IN OLD ICE CHEST.
No ICE, NO DEAFNESS. Just a
HIDE AND SEEK CANE.
Little Mother Lost the q Cents for Kerosene
and Disappeared TO Escape ScOIdlng
Then Cops and NeIEhbOrs Got Busy
With Kldnapper and Murder Talk.

Little Mother Lost the 3 Cents for Kerosene
and Disappeared TO Escape Seeding
Then Cops and NeIEhbOrs Got Busy
With Kldnapper and Murder Talk.
Down in the gloomy ce liar Of the fat
house at ll47 Freeman street, away out in
the West Farms section Of Tn Bronx, is
a battered old ice chest that a tenan dis
carded several weeks ago. 1t has been
used since by the little children of the
neighborhood as a bunk" in the game Of
hide and seek. They grow children in an
indiscriminate sort of way out there, just
as they used to grow flowers and vegetables
within the memory OF folks who were wont
to table d'hote in that once delightful SUBJ
urban region. Thu children spring up
wildly and they do not reach the height Of
development that children used to touch
before The Bronx had become a tenement
district.
Very little for her age and for the Bronx.
Helen Cobb lives on the second floor of 1l47.
She fits the icebox with some inches to
spare, although she is 10. Her father
Patrick Cobb, a grimy car overhauler for
the Union trolley line, did not know any
thing about the use his little girl made Of
the icebox. which in length and width is
about the dimensions of a page of The Sun
and about eighteen inches deep, so he did
not think of looking into it when Helen
disappeared on Wednesday night. Helen
has had much TO do since her mother died.
about a year ago. leaving her to look out for
two little sisters and a very small brother
while her father was at work. 1t ia no
won der that she got a bit distracted at
tim es.
W hen Helen's father went home on
Monday evening he gave her 3 cents and
an oil can and told her to go to the corner
store and get kerosene. She stopped a
while on the way to talk to a little girl
friend. When she started to go on it was
dark. She could not find the 3 cents.
which she thought she had put in a pocket
in her dress, and fearing she would get a
scolding from her father she decided hat
she would sneak bac home and hid in
the ice chest until her father had gone to
bed.
After he had waited for her about an
hour he yer out to look for her. The
grocery mar said he had not seen her and
none OF the children Of the n~eiRhborhood
could recall having met her after dark.
Soon the whole populous street was on the
trail of Helen. They ven in groups in all
directions and shouted for her, aRnd she
heard some OF them. The father vert down
into the cellar. Helen heard him coming
ANA AAgo%NA WV ANAa AHV NNNMAhNN ANMok NAO ~
chest. Helen's playmates, thinking she was
lost for keeps, never thought OF looking
into her hide and seek retreat.
The father decided that somebody had
kidnapped or killed Helen and went over %
the fremont police station and told his
suspicious. Capt. McGynn sem out a
general alarm for the little girl and detailed
| two OF his detectives TO help the man ON
! post hunt for her. They looked into the
cellar and passed by the ice chest. Helen
lay as quiet as II some Of her playmates
were searching for her for fun.
Meanw lille the father went all around
the vicinity calling her name. He was
tired out long before daylight came and
vent to bed. Then Helen softly lifted no
the lid OF the Ice chest, squeezed herself
out, and went up to her room. She left il
again when she heard her father stirring
and went down into the cellar and slowed
herself away
The father ~telephoned to his employers
that his girl had disappeared and they ex-
cused him for the rest Of the day. He had
10 dress the little ones himself n act
father and mother to them. He did this
in "A hurry and. half eating a breakfast that
he had cooked himself, he started out
again 10 find Helen. lie went first TO the
fremont station house. They had heard
nothing Of her there. After inquiry among
the ~neighbOrs he returned 70 his fat.
Sitting at the head OF the table was his
little girl, playing the mother 10 the rest Of
the delighted tribe In her old-fashioned
way. She looked up at him nervously and
tearfully and asked him please not TO scold
! her. He wAs too much overpowered to