Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-08-24
MISSING YOUTH,
BACK, SAYS He
WAS KIDNAPPED
Harold Whitman, of East Or
ange, at Home, While Par
ents Seek Him in Texas.

Glad he is home and looking none
the worse from the rough experiences
he claims to have had, Harold Whit
man, the seyenteen-year-o old son OF
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Whitman,
of 81 Watson avenue, East Orange,
who returned last night after being
away three months is at the home
of an acquaintance, while his parents
are somewhere in Texas hunting for
him
Putting a pipe and smiling occe.
sionally as he narrated his eXpe-
riences, young Whitman unraveled a
tale when seen at the home of Mrs.
Harrison T. Crawford, of 146 Mum
avenue, south, East Orange, where he
went last night upon finding his home
locked up that scarcely seemed i'm
aginable.
The young man, who Is tanned and
looks the picture of health, asserted
that after he met two young men,
a little older than himself, at a dock
in New York when he sought to get
aboard a launch that would take him
to view the naval display on the
Hudson river on May s, the day he
vanished, he knew nothing until he
awoke one morning on steamship
that was speeding to Texas.
Thought 1t Was Lark.
81 though it was all lark" he
said, "as | attempted to collect my
thoughts and as | looked about at
my seemingly peculiar surround
ings." Who the youths he met in
New York were Whitman does not
know, and neither is he able to say
what they did to him that made him
lose consciousness. "They gave me
nothing to drink and / positively
cannot account for the manner in
which ] got aboard the steamship"
he said
Attempts to get in telegraphic COM
munieation with his parents have
been futile, and it is not known ex-
actly in what part of Texas they
are. The youths mother and father,
who were almost broken-hearted over
their only sons absence, left for
Texas after receiving a postal from
the youth, which was mailed at Gal
weston a week ago today.
1t took seven days for young Whit
man to get to Galveston on the
steamship, he declares, and though
he was in the southern city for about
four weeks it never dawned upon
him that his parents might be anx-
ious about him, and for that reason,
he said, he did not attempt to let
them know where he was.
Worked for Army Officers.
When he got to Texas, Whitman
asserts, he got job caring for horses
for army officers In Texas City. Il
had to put my trousers and hat in
soak in order to secure pair of
khaki pants and a hat so that I could
work around the horses,' he said.
Providence was good to him, he said
all the time he was away, and he at
tributed the fact that he is now safely
back in East Orange to good fortune.
Young Whitman declared he spoke
to no one on the ship that carried him
South and did not even try to learn
who was defraying the expense of his
voyage or how he was taken aboard.
He learned, he said, that he was a
second class passenger, and that he
was unable to eat the food that was
given him.
my mind seemed hazy all the
while | was on the ship he said.
land most of my time was spent
Whitman stated that
after he worked around the army
horses he landed a job driving auto
but that his employer did
not keep nlm long DeCduSe the idlleI
did not like his method of driving.
81 had to hobo it for some time
before | got a job on the ship that
brought me back to New York
Whitman declared. Asked what he
did on the return trip the youth de-
clared sometimes he acted as pilot
and as lookout. The youth was
asked If the two strangers he got In
with in New York had robbed him
and he replied that they took all his
belongings, including money, a watch
and q tie clasp.
The young man declared that the
ship he returned on encountered the
storm that visited Galveston recently
and that the craft was much dam
aged All the windows on the vessel
were smashed, he said, The fact
that a workman aboard the ship was
taken Ill before it left Texas enabled
him to get job, he declared.
The youth mailed the postal to his
parents the day he sailed for New
York. The return trip required eight
days, Whitman said