Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-03
VICTIM OF LOST
IDENTITY SEEKS
NAME AND AGE
Kidnapped When a Babe,
Man Seeks Key to Mys-
terry of His Life.

an outlaw band, four men and
one woman, when but a mere
! tot; spirited away from some
where in Illinois to Texas
and there adopted by a rat, stolid
and none too tidy Indian sQuaw;
reared under her tutelage midst a
brood of squalling, quaTreling pa
pooses; now gray at the temples
yet uncertain of age, name or par
entage, truly man without a coun-
try-such is the weird story of a
stranger who calls himself Louis
| A. Welch, as told to Sheriff John
P. Fleming yesterday.
What is my name, my age and
who were my parents ?" These are
the questions Louis Welch is ask
| ing wherever he goes, in the fast
waning hope that someone, some
where, will be able to drop a hint
that might enable him to supply the
missing chapters in a life's tragic
story.
But so far all in vain. And Louis
estimates himself to be approx
mately SO years old. "It won't be
! long until the curtain drops for
, keeps with me, for 1 am getting
Ii. L
like to know before 1 co." he con-
wonderful, anticipated secret to me
all these years, Withal a terrible
nightmare"
my first recollection, a hazy one
to be srue, is that of my mother.
She lives in my minds eye as a re-
fined, middle-aged woman of small
lrJfa IL;
and golden haired and oh-such
loving hands, always busy in tender
ministration. will never forget
her and if she lives, I feel that
blind-folded 1 could pick her from
a thousand.
81 was a mere child-an infant 1
guess-for can't remember de-
tails. Otherwise / would recall
more wildly that terrible night
that cost the lives of two, tore from
IA loving mothers breast her babe
and seemingly doomed forever a
human life to infinite insignificance,
without knowledge of that most
precious heritage dentity-brand-
ing him a nameless thing, an out
cast of society.
Family RecOlIects Raid.
dim recollection brings to mind
the wild raid, a sinister swoop Of
human vultures after the golden
prey had f1own-how in uncon-
trolled rage those heartless crea-
lures wrenched me from my faint
ing mothers arms and sped away
Vague is the picture of my father
and deputy (he was sheriff of his
county, as they raced to catch my
captors-as in a dream I remember
the ambush when my father and his
man were felled by outlaw bullets
and left to die.
Fearful of detection the band
sped on. l was carried and hauled
on horseback and in my captors'
arms through woods and across
country for many hundred miles
We reached Texas and for months
roamed the great, arid southwest.
1 was given no liberties and was
forced to do what work l could at
our camp sites. To make identifi-
cation impossible tie gang cut GER
tain nerves in my left eye, render
ing me blind and disfgured for the
rest of my days. l was beaten and
cuffed as the cause of their mis-
fortunes until existence became a
drudgery, we'll nigh unbearable. l
was finally given to and adopted by
Mary Moosennah (Snake-in-the- |
grasS), an aged squaw of the Choc- !
taw Indians. Under her pet work |
and be damned" theory l grew to |
in total ignorance of my
blood or forbears.
Squaw Kept Secret.
After reaching my majority |
pressed the old Indian woman for /
but with the sealed lips |
and stoicism Of her race she would |
only humble, through toothless |
gums, Heap secret, never tellum
white man, and to this decision /
she adhered despite pleading,
threats and the offers of large sums
of money.
I'm the little Texas town of Elmo /
I became quite popular and more
for joke than anything else was
pitted against a strong candidate
for sheriff of Kaukmann county. To
my astonishment l was elected
over my rival by over 200 votes but
refused to accept the nomination
due to a determination, early ex-
pressed, never to enter politics. /
later removed to Rolands, Wyo.,
where l since have farmed. be-
came fairly successful and when 1
had accumulated a little money 1
determined to endeavor to trace my
and ascertain my origin.
Spurred on by a hint dropped me
by my squaw mother Mary, that
my birthplace had been in Illinois
On the Mississippi river 1 came to
the tri-cities. There while con-
Quoting my search / found work. I
Only Monday 1 hear that a certain
aged woman in Aledo might be able
TO recall a famous kidnapping case,
The particulars of which would fit
mine, and yesterday I came to this
city to run this clue, too, to earth.
But she could tell me nothing that
will help"
Welch is a small, man, square
iawed, with a shock OF reddish
brown hair, ruddy complexion,
sandy mustache, one good eye, the
right, and appears to be fairly we'll
educated. He sought Sheriff Flem-
CONTINUED On Page Nine.)