New-York tribune., 1919-01-24
Mother Finds Her
Holllesick Hero. ID
LIN Cuardhouse
Boy Soldier, Wounded Thre.
Times, Leaves France Too
Soon; Caught at Hoboken.
Ran Away to Get in Army

Two women in this city are wo,
ried for the safety of their runaw.n
sons-one because her son is in the .r-,s
and one because she is afraid hers u.w
not be. The first is Mrs. James Kav.
ney, of South Bend. Ind, who is s.,r
ing at the Y. W. c. A. building :.
80 East Fifty-second Street. The 81.
ond is Mrs. A. Bret Rather, of II F.,.
Ninety-seventh Street.
Mrs. Kavaney's boy, Charles r !.
vaney, is in just such a pickle as migb,
be expected of boy who ran awav 10
enlist in the army at the age of four.
teen. The War Department has no
juvenile bureau, fourteen-year-olds sal.
diers and their impulsivc ways beine
no part of the scheme of things IN
Washington. So Charles is in .bs
guardhouse at Hoboken and red-tansd
of1icialdom is in a quandary.
1t was N December, 1918. tha,
Charles left his home TO enlist. and
being rather large framed and muscn'
lar he encountered few difficulties No
went to the border and the FOLLOWING
June sailed for France While the
fighting was on events succeeded one
another in Charles's career with tbe
precision frequently noted bv such ON.
timistlc historians as Horatio Alppr
ard G.. A. Henty.
Wounded, Cited for Bravery
Charles had achieved three wounds
and citation when the armistice was
signed, the citation being shared with
thirteen other soldiers who engaged
with him in forlorn hope charge unon
German machine gun nest They
took the position and what Germans
remained alive. When Charles emerged
from the hospital for the third time
fighting had ceased; it looked to
Charles as though the war had been
completely ruined, and his thoughts
turned South Bendward.
We saw some NJ. T. {. Motor Trans
port Corps men at Florevillc, think it
was Charles explained yesterday I'm.
der the stern surveillance of an armed
sentry. "They had only been over
three weeks. but had received orders
already to go home. We had been in
France for year and a half, and some
Of us decided we'd like to 90 home
too. SO We went to Brest and | got
aboard the Moccasin- here am"
There he was, sixteen years old.
three gold service chevrons on his left
arm. three gold wound chevrons on his
right arm and in the guardhouse at
Hoboken under orders to be shipped
back to France for trial by court mar
tlal. He would be on his way now but
for his mother.
Goes on Still Hunt for Son
AS soon as she heard what was to
be done with her boy she hastened
to Washington and enlisted the aid of
Representative H. A. Barnhart. of
Indiana. Together they made sys-
tematic tour of War Department of
iiccs-"all we cound find," as Mrs. Ka-
vaney put it arriving eventually in
that of the adjutant general. And
few hours before the Leviathan. on
which Charles was to have sailed was
nudged out of her dock Wednesday an
order came over the wires from the
adJutant generals Office directing that
Private Kavaney. of Company F, 18th
Infantry, be held for further investi-
CATION.
The other fourteen year old hoy,
Victor Rather, ran away from his home
September 9. His mother is Ill with
worry because she doesn't know where
he IS. She said yesterday that if she
was certain he was in the army she
would be proud of him. But she doesn't
know. SO, with the assistance of the
Jewish Welfare Board. she is hunt
ing for him and has offered a reward
OF 500 for information leading to his
recovery