The weekly soliphone., 1917-06-07
PARAC0ULD YOUNG MEN POSE AS OFFICERS; OBTAIN WOMAN
 WHO DEMANDS THEIR ARREST
PARTIES SEARCH
 OZARK MOUNTAINS
Hunt for Fourteen-Mont hs-Old Rect Child Continues-Father Is
 Workink Alone.

Springfield, Mo-, June 5.-Into the Ozark mountains today and to- night went searchers for the miss ing Lloyd Rect 14month-old son |of J. Holland Rect, wealthy Spring field banker. With the announced determination of seeking out hiding places from which future abduc- tions similar to that of the Rect ba- by might by directed and in which the band responsible for the present crime may be found motor carloads of citizens of Springfield and the surrounding country went in large numbers, planning to search the hills as carefully as could be done.
 The Ozark mountains hold Springfield within a tight embrace. For many miles they extend in all directions, mostly low, scraggling hills, yet largely timbered and sparsely inhabited except along the railroads and near the larger streams In years past moonshiners, bands of thieves and others hid in the caves and the almost inaccesi- ble backwOods. But of recent years the law has reigned all through the hills, the mountaineers feuds of a decade or more ago seemed all to have died away and Springfield had no fear of those who live in the hills. But the Rect Kidnapping has aroused the fears of many.
 Knowing that former haunts of the lawbreakers might again be- come the rendezvous of abduction bands, and believing that perhaps such a band had established itself somewhere near at hand, citizens of Springfield met today and de- termined to carry out a thorough search. This was decided as was announced by Judge A. A. John son of the Springfield court of ap- peals, for the double purpose of seeking the Rect baby and of quieting the fears of other women that their children might be ab- ducted by a band running loose through the hills.
 MIR. KEET PLAYS LONE HAND.
 The other outstanding develop ment of today's search for the miss ing baby was the growing convic- tion that MT. Rect has determined to play a Hone hand" in seeking the captors of the baby: He re- fused the aid of friends and of county officials in the hill search and told them that such a search meant putting a dagger at the throat of the child. The exact sig nificance of such course cannot easily be determined. Rumors have been afloat that Overtures have been made for the return of the $6,O00, and that MT. Rect believes | it would be unwise to seek them out now He has received scores of letters, telegraph, telephone calls and communications from many persons recently. While he has said that they are principally offers of assistance from interest persons, detective officers and others, it is possible that one or more of them might have come from members of the band proposing ransom. This could be neither verified nor de- nied, and it is believed that the next few days would reveal the truth or falsity of the theory.
 Seemingly, the wealthy young banker has a plan that he believes will result in the return of the brown-eyed youngster, What it is can only be surmised, but he made it plain to the county authorities today that he desired permission to proceed alone.
 HAS KEET MET KIDNAPERS?
 A rumor gained headway here tonight that MT. Rect had gone to meet the kidnapers of his child All efforts to located him in Springfield since o'clock had been unavailing. At his home at II o'clock tonight, however, friends said that MT. Rect was asleep.
 By the invention of attachments