The evening world., 1911-03-30
No Trace Found of ii-Year.
Old Boy and Three Girls
Who Decamped With Him.
MAY BE OUT"
On Some Roof or in a Cellar,
Mother Thinks-All Night
Search in Rain.

etaylHs out Iignts, playlnB nookey
from school and reading Iurid Western
stories. and emphasized his objections
by span.lngs, George keenan,, eleven
years old. has run ava from his home,
No. 42i West Flfty-siIth street. accord
Ing to his step-mother. and taken hi.
two elder sisters and n neighbours little
daughter with him. And. further, Mrs,
Keenan, weepfully told an Evening
World reporter. shc believes thai George
and the girls are either on the roof OF
some apartment house in the vicinity.
or In n vacant fiat or cellar. playln;
they're camping out in the wilderness.
The sisters are Elizabeth and julia
Keenan,, thirteen and fourteen years
old. and tho neighbours little girl is
Helen birmingham. twelve years old.
% No. Gal West Fiftieth street. The
quartet disappeared Tuesday. when
they left home for school, and although
n general alarm has been sent out and
the police of the West Forty-seventi
street station have searched pretty
nearly ell tho vacant fats In the neigh
borhood and Children's Society agents
are on tho lookout there isn't u trace
OF them.
BIames Novels and Shows.
IT'S all becaues or george readinS
those books-the 'TIptop Library and
'Dicky Dobbs. the Detective and the
others-and going TO moving picture
shows and wanting TO sleep u nights"
said Mrs. Keenan,. land II Il hadn':
been for him the girls would never have
gone. The influence that hoy has over
those girls Is remarkable-it amt
natural. him being so much youngerJ
| they'll do anything he tells 'em.
I'VE have Two other children. Tommy.
| wbo IA sixteen. and Mabel. eIpht. ana
,,a,, ho,. 90 % .choo, ro,,iar ,oy.r
- -" 80 ..'.
pay t"e noo" nor s''o " " "'"''e'
trouoie' nut - George makes MS
father me SIT up Nights ana now
he's gone and aiken his sisters. We Just
moved In here from Flfty-fourth street
Saturday ana I took them to the school
a, s,x,,a,h s,rea, Nyopdav and bocysd
49,. ~, uo, r,o, a.. 80
~ W y. so"' ""' 0 '"' "' "
any more'
But Tuesday morning when they
started out there was a look In Georges
eve I didn't like, and he and the girls
was mighty oudet. His father had taken
nwav n ,ot Of those hooks from him the
night before. and promised him n whir-
ping n he caught him with 'em any
more. NO | was afraid the boy was plot
ting so,nethinp. He's little for his age.
no ia I'm, ho's got a hend ON his shoul-
dcls beyond his years. And It's full o.
notions about camping out on tho prai-
rIes, like he reads about, and once |
heard him talking with the girls and
l Hi Ian wln n IIe n no
'e'i"e leu" W.
~ N's"' oec'o" '" ns'n'
Well. they aiuht come pack from
school Tuesday' ana an mat night my
man ana me searcheo the streets ana
the parks. but never a WORD did we
hear. Then yesterday passed and
Keenan, stayed away from his work
he's an engineer--and last night he
asked the police TO help us. We were
out In all the rain all last night and
we haven't slept a wink, We went ia
the vacant Hats in Ffftieth street,
where he'd run away to before. bu,
nobody'd seen EN-.
I'm worn out and my hearts nearly
broke worrying about the girls. i dom
worry so much about George. because
he's done II before. but It's terrible fol-
girls like them 10 he out two nights In
this own"
Several OF the ~neighbors In West Fiji
tieth street. where the keenans used Il
live. say It's a combination of step
mother and moving pictures and trash,
stories that made George run away. an,
Dora Brown OF No. 542 West Fiftietl
street. who was one of he Keenan, chill
dren's ~playmates. says George took hi
sisters With him to git even with hi
parents.N
vuiia nav ca, N.i.L..
40 wv - '~'s"S''"
tina boy said Mrs, Minnie Brown
Dora's aunt, is IA wild 'un. but there
no harm In him. why. when they live,
near us he spent half his nights ava.
. from home. lie told some OF the neigh
! bors his stepmother spanked him. an,
my sister used TO let him sleep in ne
bathroom and give HIM things to eat
And lots O. nights he slept on IN
/; r~oofs-even In cold weather. He al
Ways had a bunch Of those story book