The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-08-22
INCUBATOR
BABY STOLEN
Kidnappers Had Weap-
onS In Kansas.
TOOK CHILD FROM A YARD
Two Men And a Woman Drive
Away Hurriedly.
Marion BIeakIey, Five Years Old, L.
Victims OF Mysterious Plot
Bay Has Had Unusual
Career.
TOOK CHILD FROM A YARD

Topeka, Kas., Aug. 21.-Marfon
Bleakley. the st. Louis Worlds Fair
incubator baby, who was the cause of
litigation extending over several years,
was kidnapped in q sensational man
ner from the home of her mother here
this morning.
Two men and a woman were en-
gagged in the kidnapping. and the child
was secured only after an exchange
of shots. which. however. went wide
of their mark.
police were notified Immediately and q
posse was soon in pursuit.
Mrs. Charlotte Bleakley. who was
awarded the child by the Federal courts
two years ago, lived with her mother
at 1927 Garfield Avenue. which 10
mile and q half from the business dis
trict. She worked down town as q
stenographer.
The little girl who is years old,
had been carefully guarded in Topeka
and had been constantly watched.
This morning woman, ostensibly
selling soap, appeared at the Bleakley
home. she soon left. Half an hour
after a buggy in which were two men
and the same woman, appeared in front
of the house. One man aiighted ana
entered the yard where the. child was
playing with a neighbor. in whose
charge she had been left
AS the kidnapper ran toward her the
neighbor,- a youth, attempted to inter-
fere. The kidnapper shot at him but
missed. He then knocked the boy down
with his revolver. carried the child to
the buggy and drove OF.
Marion Bleakley has had stormy
career. She was born in st. Louis and
was placed in one of the incnbators
shown at the exposition there. While
there she was formally adopted by
Mrs James G.. Barclay. of Moline. Ill.
Mrs. Bleakley signed release but
she afterwards sued to recover the child
and was successful in the Illinois Su-
preme Court and the United States Fed
eral Court. She brought the little girl
to Kansas and the child was kidnapped
from the mother in Montgomery Coun-
ty, but later recovered.
The young man who was in charge
OF the child today was Clarence Belk-
nap. OF Jackson, Tenn, a cousin OF Mrs.
Bleakley and who Is visiting at their
home. After he had been struck down
he recovered suffiefently 10 tfoll6ws the
buggy and caught on the rear 6f the
vehicle but was Beaten on.
All the railroad stations In the vi
entity OF. Topeka were notified and a
second posse in automobiles left for the
west. $50
The buggy in which the kidnappers
escaped was found at l O'Clock today
at a point two miles from where the
child was stolen. 1t had been secured
from a local livery.
The kidnappers of Marion Bleakley
are still at large tonight and officers
are securing. the counsry around To-
peka in an effort to apprehend them.
A theory has been advanced here that
the intention of the kidnappers Is to
get out of the State as soon as posi-.
BILE, In the belief that the court order
of the Kansas Supreme Court by which
the mother, Mrs. Charlotte Bleakley
had been keeping the child. will be Inc
validated in. another State.
The penalty for Kidnapping In Kan
sas is a penitentiary sentence of from
six months to Ave years.