Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-22
LOSICHIL. |: {
CLEARING. HOUSE
,vhere The Adventurous Juvenile.
strays Are Entertained by
BurIy Policemen.
scENE AT HEADQUARTERS.
na,,y happenings Wherein Patlios and
The Ludicrous Arc Blended
some sample Instances.
4, ,a,,n Yes. this is the police sta

.fIIello. Yes, this is the police sta
ion" 4,
How is he dressed
swell, we've got him here.
..Yes. we'll take good care of him
Il mil YOU come down.
The desk sergeant hangs up the tele-
nhone receiver and wheels around In
hid chairto smile alta chubby, smudge-
.beeked little chap, maybe two or three
- four years old, sitting munching
/, NJ, Y at an apple or sucking an orange
Z and Kicking his little heels against the
}s5r,,nps Of n chair, entirely content with
all his SURROUNDINGS
Il Then %. Is, 20 or 30 minutes later, ac-
$1oording to the car service or the speed
NJ an automobile, a woman dashes In
to the room, with Its wire netted. desk
and uniformed occupants, and with q
~ yanks chat S the most descriptive
World Jack from the chair with the
hing and caress or the relieved anxious
mother The sergeant turns and looks
mt Of the window to hide what might
DO considered weakness.
DEPOT FOR LOST KIDS,
THAT is all daily scene at police
Headquarters, the depot for lost kids, :"
as we'll as the place of confinement for
evil doors. Such scenes have occurred
almost daily, some days as often as
4 eight and nine times--but each time
the sergeant still looks out the window
when the mother takes the little fellow
& IN her arms. s
In the constantly shifting scenes OF
the police station there are none of
more! appealing interest than those Of
the lost child, They are all pretty
much the same-it's either a case, or.
the tot out playing in the street and
whose curiosity leads away of down,
what seems to it, the long, long lane.
until 1t Is lost in the little world too
big for 1t. or the wonderment OF the
street, while the mother Is shopping,
Z leads Il astray in search of childish adj
venture, or again the Irresistible child
ish curiosity.
PATHos AND TILE LUDIcRoUs.
In either case, unless the child has
been recovered by its guardian before
& it has gone too far. awaygi it is sure to
fall into the hands Of a blue-coated
policeman. The little tot, invariably
unable to tell its name or its home, rs
taken to the station, where it is held
32.until called for a. measure Of time
that varies from five minutes to hours.
Pathos, the ridiculous, as well as the;
Z strange, enter into the cases of the
anissing child and almost every one
Of them has its shade Of difference.
f Not long ago FOUR ear-old was
picked up OH the street during the af-s
ternoon by a patrolman and taken to
the station when he could not tell
where his home was As night fell. and
& no report of a missing boy had been
Z received, the founding was turned over.
tothe matron, given q bath, fed and
quito bed. IL was two days later when
distracted mother reported to the po-
lice the disappearance of her boy-tlle
chap the police had been keeping for
two days. Then the story came out
z the young mother thought the boy had
gone to his grandmother's, two blocks
away and was staying there, which had
been something OF habit. The grand
mother, although the boy had missed.
two days in visiting her. had thought
nothing of it, until she and her daugh-
ter met that afternoon with the mutual
question and almost In the same breath,
Where's Jimmy 2" 1rhe CONSERVATION
OF each at the reply. IT don't know
can best be Imagined. But in half an
hour, after the police headquarters had
been called up. both the mother and
grandmother had the boy in their arms
THIS BOY A TRAVELLER.
One of the most unusual cases oc-
Cured month or SO ago when a chap
years old was found wandering about
at First South and West Temple. then
questioned by Sergeant Roberts the boy
said that he lived across the tracks,
hut couldn't tell just where. He was.
taken to the station and cared for The
next morning some Of the officers at
headquarters read In the paper of the
search for a lost child at Pocatello,s
and how the Portneuf river there was
being dragged in the fear, that the boy
had met his death by drowning. On
the chance that 1t might he the same
boy the Pocatello officers were com
munioated with-and the lad picked up
the night before proved to be the miss
ing boy. He had boarded the. train at
3Poeatello and playing about the car the
thought he belonged to some
passenger and gave but little heed to
him He came through on the train
TO Salt Lake and, arriving here. got off
with the rest OF the passengers and
started UP town.
THE SOUP KID"
There's one little 3-year-old fellow
that is classed as a regular, and is best
Known as the soup kid Five or six
months ago he was found lost on the
street and when taken to the station.
was given bowl of soup by the ma
iron. Since then he has been picked
up four different times, and each time
MS first cry when taken into the station
was Soup, soup. gwen with a gleeful
ehuckle and a pointing finger to the
matrons room. s
me youngsters as theyBare brought
IN provide as varied a picture for study
as the stream of offenders whose names
go on the docket. Some, taught the
terror of the BRASS buttoned bluecont,
cry and shrink back in fear: others find
a playground and as much fun as they
could in the nursery. The brass but
tons become something to play with.
and there is enough about the desk
sergeant's office or the matron's room
70 satisfy their eager curiosity for
hours. It's funny. too, that when a
lost child is brought in there are mo
policemen about. There area lot of
DIG ,.5ys, who skirmish around and
manage to find oranges, bananas, candy
and toys, and who can think UP all
KINDS of good games. In fact, there are
such good playfellows about police
headquarters that often the little fellow
mas to be tugged away entirely against
ms fearful protest. III
6 The lost child. isn't so very bad
OF When he falls into the hands of the
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