The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1911-11-02

By CLARA L EVANS
Copyright BY American Press Assoc
citation, 1871

way between the two cross streets,
could always see him By going 20 the
front door or a window. When Il
came time for the noon meal step
ped 10 the door to call him. looked
both ways without seeing him. Fright
ened. / ran out and up and down the
street looking for him. Ny worst
fears were realized when some chill
dren told me that a man had taken
the boy with him 70 buy him some
candy.
Al the time ] was too wild with ter
ror 20 get any description OF the man;
but. having waited several hours with
out my boys returning. I made up
my mind that be had been kidnapped
and. finding the children who had seen
him. learned from them that the man
was short and thick set with light
hair. called az the police Office 20
notify them OF the abduction and In
tended 10 give the sergeant what In
formation I had acquired. But l was
80 discouraged az the way the police
talked about the matter-they didn't
seem 10 know where 10 begin-that ]
concluded 10 handle the case myself
consulted with my husband. who.
though IN the same trouble as myself.
showed admirable self control, and be
agreed that we would wait for q de-
mand for ransom without taking any
action.
The demand came through the post
once written on a scrap OF letter paper
and inclosed IN an envelope. Who
ever wrote II was not so illiterate as
kidnapers usually are. The handwrit-
ing was that Of a man. and the spell
ing indicated q foreigner. Ny hus-
band took Il 20 a professor Of Ian
guages IN the university. who. judging
from a single word spelled as the send
e. would pronounce n. concluded that
be was = Ewede. His light hair tai
lied with this. since Rwedes nearly all
are fair.
We wrote q reply stating that we
would willingly pay the ransom. that
We would have nothing 70 do with the
police and that al we asked was the
return of our boy.
A reply came IN due time. and
looked the envelope over carefully be-
fore opening Il. I saw protruding
from under the dap OF the envelope
the end Of hair. Moreover. noticed
that Il was almost white. opened
the envelope very carefully. steaming
the gum 40 that ! should not tear the
paper. A surprise awaited me. On
exposing the whole hair-it was about
az inch iong-I found that. though the
part which had protruded was light. !
the rest OF Il was black. Il occurred |
20 me- that the man In order 20 escape /
Identification had dyed Il. Evidently
The hair IN my possession had grown |
since It's dyeing. about a week. the
time that had ELAPSED since the KID
mapping
The letter directed Us to 20 to a
certain suburb on a certain night and 4
on the northwest corner OF two inter
secting roads we would nnd a hollow
log. We were 10 put the money IN
this log. II would be useless. the let
ter said. for any 10 follow Us. for the
space for some distance surrounding
the log would be picketed.
Having now q ciew. we called In the
aid OF a professional detective He
said &C once that. while our lnforma-
ton would be very valuable In identify.
Ing the kidnaper. there was but one
way Of finding him. and that was 20
track from the postofIice whoever
called for the mail. This be under
look to do. But 10 facilitate his work
be suggested that we send an inden-
nate reply to the letter. so we asked
for time 10 raise the ransom and how
long he would give as. /,
A young man about eighteen years
I'D called for this letter. and as the
,lerk handed e to him be slgnaled
our detective. who was on the watch.
The young man lodged about for an
lour. making some very quick turns
n order TO lose any one who mirht be
Rut our detective was
ised TO that and refused to be lost.
1e tracked the man TO a vacant build.
ng that had been occupied for a
shop. Il was only a place
Il rendezvous. and after the delivery
4 the letter the young man departed. I
o be followed about ten minutes later
" another man. This one the detec.
I've followed 10 q Eve story tenement ,
The next day our man kept a watch
n those entering and leaving the I
and spotted a man whose APP
earance Tailed with the description , I
re had OF the kidnaper. He was
hort aud thick set. His hair and
card were blue black. but his shad- 3
wcr succeeded In getting near enough
B him 70 notice few days growth I
7 light hair under the black.
We were not willing to take any 4
sk Of our boy being killed. 50 we \
ecided to pay the ransom and make
he arrest Immediately afterward-
lat r.. n the kidnaper returned 70 his 4
uarters So we left the money In the
& aud the next morning heard our
oy crying outside the door, The 70. Il
Of we experienced Is inexpressible. K
Our detective. who was on the
atch. soon after midnight saw the o
an he had aDoffnd enter the building n