The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-06-20
STARTED BY AN
ADVERTISEMENT
STORY OF THE LAlEANA DoY'g
ABDUCTION.
MANY ITALIANS ARK HELD
Body Formed With View to Kidding
Louisiana Of the ndesirableU Class
Of Italian Immigrants by Depor-
tation.

New Orleans.-One Of the most in
teresting and sometimes most surpris-
ing things in connection with import
ant subjects handled in newspaper rs
is the manner in which they are
brought to the attention Of the men
who spend lifetimes in supplying the
public with news. The small begin
nings from which stories Of national
Importance sometimes grow is mat
ter Of perpetual wonderment to the
public. No better Illustration of this
fact could be asked than in the La
mana case, already one of the most
celebrated in the history of Southern
journalism.
| For the past five days the papers Of
New Orleans have been printing co..
umns Of information concernig little
Walter I. Lamana, his abduction and
the events that have followed in its
train. The kidneping of the eight-year-
old Lamana boy has stirred New Or
leans to its depths No event in years
has caused so much interest, SO much
excitement or so much comment. Thr
recovery of the little boy has become
= state wide problem. The punish
ment of the malefactors who snatched
him from the home of his parents has
resolved itself into a grim PROPOSE
ton, with tragedy ever lurking in the
background. All over the United
States anxious mothers and loving
fathers are watching the newspapers
in their home towns for the latest
news on the result Of the search be-
ing conducted in this city. The La.
mana case has spread with the rapid
ity of the telegraph 1t is recognized
as the final rally of the law abiding
Italians of the country against the
| cowardly rascals who have long main
| tanned uninterrupted a reign Of ter
ror. Today it looms enormous in It's
proportions and its significance. Yet
| 1t all came from an cad" and an
observing newspaper man.
But for the advertisement the mat
| ter might never have attracted the at
| tention ithas received from the people
and from the papers. But for the in
slant action of the press of New Or
leans Mr.. Lamana might have paid
the price demanded for the liberty
| of his child, or the father and mother
might have worked out their own sad
vigil in the shadow of the stricken
home.
Sunday night, after the boy had
been absent twenty-four hours, Mr..
Lamana went to the morning papers
of the city with an advertisement. 1t
was not particularly strong publ
cation. Probably two-thirds of the
readers Of the newspapers never saw
the advertisement, or even knew that
| it was inserted. The advertisement
follows:
BOY LOST-$50 reward for the
safe. return of my son, Walter, aged
eight years; light brown hair, brown
eyes, dressed in white waist, blue
stripe, black dot; gray plaid Buster
Brown pants; brown plaid cap; M
shoes; last seen about 6 pm. June S;
if not living $25 will be paid for re-
turn of body. P. L.mana 624 st. Phil
| ip Street, New Orleans.
Anyone except trained newsgath-
erer might have accepted the adver-
tisement, named the price, sent it to
the printer-and forgotten all about
the incident. However, when it was
read by man trained in newspaper
work, he instantly became alive with
interest. He wanted to know" He
learned a little, and that sharpened
his appetite for more He found
enough to start the whole force of
newspaperdom working, with the re-
suit that the people Of New Orleans
knew that the little Lamana boy was
gone. and that there were grave fears
tina. the "Black Hand" organization
had hand in his disappearance.
That was all. There was no blowing
Of bugles or sounding Of brass trump
cts to warn the men Of the pencil
that a bold outrage had been commit
ted. It all came through simple, ap-
parently innocuous advertisement not
ing the loss Of little boy. However,
| it served to sound a warning, from
which has been evolved the most sig
nifcant movement in the history of
the italian people in the United Stats
Many interesting points have been
developed in the case but in all of