Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-10-03
RAN AWAY FROM HOME
WHILE LIVING HERE
Since Moving From Here tho
Mother Has Resided In
Kenosha, Wis, But She
Never Gave up the
Search For Girl
From Wednesdays Daily.

From Wednesdays Daily.
Fifteen years ago young ghA
ran away from her home In OF
tumwa and the mother, Mrs. M J,
Owen, remembered by many Of
the older citizens, was left heart
broken. Later the mother re-
moved to Kenosha. Wis, but she
kept UP the search for her daugh-
ter. Now she has found her, ltv-
ing in squalid home in Des
Moines. and found that the life
of the girl who ran away from
home has been filled with such
hardships that her health Is ruin
ed. The Des Moines Register &
Leader this morning tells of the
end Of the mothers search as.
follows:
Mrs M. J. owen, whose hair 's
white with age and care, reached Des
Moines from Wisconsin yesterday ami
discovered her daughter living In
veritable human hog pen
The mother has been searching for
the missing girl fifteen years since
the then charming young girl disap.
peared from their happy home In OF.
tumwa. la. Now the daughter is con.
fined to her chair, crooked and
withered form, and lives alone with
her husband, who is in the clutches OF
the deadly tuberculosis The pair
have been living upon discarded veg.
etables and old bones picked up by
the husband.
The name Of the man is Fred Cur
tbs. They reside at Twelfth and Eas,
Court avenue.
Mrs. Owen appealed yesterday to
Mrs. Baird Of the Iowa Humane soci.
ETY. for help in her daughters case.
Hogs Have Better Quarters.
up In Kenosha, Wis. where live,
there are no hogs quartered In pens
rshacks SO humble or filthy as the
slough where l found my daughter. 4
said the mother. 1T makes my blood
run cold to think of it. She left me q
sweet. pretty girl. Now, through living
In damp easements in Des Moines
| she Is drawn almost doubled and
crooked from rheumatism and her
for m is wasted to mere skeleton" "
Il learned last week she was here ir
distress. came, Of course, at once, III
any mother would. When / entered
their hut, the poor thing tried to make
me welcome They even endeavoret
| 10 snow me hospitality. My daughter
could not rise from the edge of tn,
bed which Is her regular seat. Sh,
has cracker box and an old broke,
chair, which she pulls about with he
poor twisted hands when she wants
/ change. Pretty soon / saw her HUSBAND
get UP and leave the place.
Food Not Fit to Eat.
Tier husband returned and I Bav
he had few half-rotten potatoes an,
tomatoes in tin bucket These h
started to pare. He also had a Join
of beef, with scarcely any meat upoi
it. 1t looked like he had taken it ava,
from dog, and was dirty. He WASHED
1t and was preparing to put 1t on I.
boil when / asked him where in tn
name of common sense he got tn,
stuff. After much equivocation he toll
me he had picked 1t up in an alley.
"Of course l threw away the rotte1
stuff, and went and bought something
good. My daughter has been living OF
broth which he made by boiling oil
bones and such things. He would pu
in little water and get the marroy
out Of the bones. then pour 1t off Th
poor thing had to eat it and think |
was broth.
II hope to get them taken care OF b,
the authorities. have nothing excep
what ! earn by work..
Mrs. Baird has taken up the case.