The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-04-23
KIDNAPPED
:,
One Story Leads
to Another
i
BY SILAS ARMSTRONG

/ |
MARX" said Mr.. Chandler, "here's
cent; go get me paper"
1t was o'clock in the evening, and
day and night were mingling. A boy,
who was ten years old, started for the
paper. The walk before him there and
back would require about ten minutes.
Twenty minutes passed and he had not
returned. His mother began to grow
anxious. Her husband laughed at her.
Dinner was announced, and still no
word from Mark Mrs. Chandler in
sisted that the father should go to the
newsstand and make inquiries. He
consented and learned that the boy had
been there, bought a paper and gone
away with 1t in the direction of his
home.
This is what happened to Mark.
While walking home a carriage drove
up to the sidewalk beside him, two
men alighted. seized the boy, put him
into the carriage. got in with him, shut
the door and were driven away. There
was not a person near to see what had
been done.
Mark Chandler was a very bright
boy. He was boys boy, not girls
boy by any means. He had no use for
indoor playthings, except that in the
garnet of his home he had a workshop
and various electrical contrivances. He
knew nothing of electric theories, but
had played with batteries to turn min
iature mills, ring bells and make tiny
lights so often that he had become
quite conversant with the adjustment
of wires. His other amusements were
baseball, football and in winter skat-
ing. Altogether Mark was as well cal
culated as any boy of his age to take
care of himself.
He knew he was being kidnapped.
and from the lingo in which his cap
tors conversed he judged they We're
Italians. OF course he was terribly
frightened. but it didn't take him very
long to recover his equanimity sutt1-
GENTLY to notice the direction in which
he was being taken. He had been
about the city more or less and knew
some locations. But he was not driven
in a straight course and soon lost his
bearings. 1t was in the spring of the
year, the length of the twilight had
considerably heightened, and the boy
could see landmarks If he only recog-
nized them. Presently he passed rink
where he had skated After this the
carriage turned down broad avenue,
which he distinctly remembered, but
did not know its name. The lamps were
lighted. and he saw the names of the
streets crossed. Bogart street was one
of them, and into this the carriage
turned Not far from the corner of
the street and the avenue the carriage
stopped at a large house. 1t stood
alone and had the appearance Of being
unoccupied. Mark was taken into it
by a back door, but there were no
lights, and after passing through a
basement hall and up a short stairway
he found himself in handsomely fur
nished room in which a gas jet was
burning. Besides the two men was a
woman, veritable bag, and, though
he understood not word of their talk,
he knew that the men were turning
him over to her as his jailer After a
brief consultation the two men went
out Of the room, followed by the wo-
man, who locked the door after her.
Mark threw himself on a lounge
and cried till she came back with some
bread and a little butter and sugar on
It. She told him in Italian English not
to cry, giving him to understand that
he would be well treated. This helped
him to recover his equanimity, and be
ate the supper she had provided for
him. Then she took him upstairs to a
large bedroom, in which the gas jet
was turned low, and told him to go to
bed
The kidnapers were evidently either
caretakers of the house or. knowing
that it was vacant. had forced an en-
trance and appropriated it to their use.
Mark didn't consider this. He was too
young But he did consider means Of
escape. His father had once locked
him in a room for disobedience and
shortly after found him playing base
ball with his boy companions. Mark
had slid down drain pipe. As soon
as the woman left him he began to
make Investigations He raised a win
dow so stealthily as not to make a
sound that could be heard and looked
out He was on the third story in the
rear of the house and nothing near by
which he might get down. He noticed
a telephone wire leading into room
below and wished he might get near it
long enough to send message. But 1t
was not likely that his captors would
permit him to do so.
He longed also for the battery he had
at home and wires to connect it with
the telephone wires, thinking he might
send message But he was perfectly
safe where he was. and at last. giving
up trying tc devise means of escape,
he threw himself on the bed. There
he fell to thinking how anxious his ia
Their and mother would be about him
and cried himself to sleep.
Early in the morning the woman
awakened him and took him out Of the
room he occupied. She had no idea of
letting him stay in the daytime where
he might attract the attention of those
outside and communicate with them.
She took him downstairs to the kitchen
where she gave him something to eat.
After that she compelled him to re-
main there with her while she did GER
tain ahoroc