The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1920-03-26
KIDNAPPED BOY FOUND
LOCKED in HOTEL ROOM
Paul Little, Locked In Room Mt
Phoenix Hotel, Telephones To His
Mother to Come and Get
Him Out.


Little has been restored to his parents.
Kidnapped Wednesday afternoon and |
held for $25,000 ransom, the 12-year-
old son of E. r. Little, wealthy resi-
dent of his city, is again at home.
Nothing more dramatic and affecting |
than the scene when his parents saw !
him again for the first time, can IL
imagined.
The boy had never been out of this |
city. He had been in room in the |
Phoenix hotel all the time since his !
disappearance and really effected his !
own rescue. In the excitement, how
ever. no immediate steps were taken
to trail his abductor.
1t was a little after o'clock this
morning when the telephone rang in
the ears of the members of the dis
tracted Little family which had kept
ceaseless vigil through the night
Mrs. Little was the first to reach the
phone. At the first accent her heart
seemed to stand still. 1t was the voice
Of her missing child.
He said:' Hello, mother; this is
Paul; am at the Phoenix hotel; come
and get me; l am locked in"
The other members of the family
we're crowded about the telephone in
the Little home. The mother, collect
ing herself by great effort, told them
that Paul had been found. More swift
ly than it can be recounted, she told
those about her the thrilling news.
The father. E, r. Little, and Chief of
Police ]. J. Reagan, who were in con-
ference at the Little residence rushed
/ to the hotel. sped to the room, and,
suprred on by the boys cries from
within. smashed through the door.
In another moment the lads mother.
sisters and little brother were with
him, and in the hysteria and excite
ment of the happy reunion, following
so closely on the heels of the tragedy
of the KIDNAPPING, no one remembered
to set watch or sound the alarm to
catch the hdnaper.
I'm all right, daddy; don't cry any
more" we're the boys first words as
his father embraced him.
The blinds were down and the lights
out when Night Clerk Ira NJ Parrish
| went to the room with the relatives of
the boy. The child was seized in
warm embrace by the suffering
%,
they were on their way home again.
The room number was 651 and it
was taken by man who registered as
u. c. Cox, OF Cincinnati, March 20,
Tuesday, at sos o'clock in the after
noon. No one about the hotel remem-
bers seeing the man who gave his
| name as Con-. He was booked by Clerk
Berger on a reservation. He had asked
for the room the morning of March
90, but had not been able to get into
it until the evening of that day.
The boy said he had been in the
\ room all the time since he was kid
naped. He said he had been locked in
the bathroom part of the time. When
the man went down to the office this
morning he locked the room and turn
ed in the key at the desk However,
whether through absent mindedness
or intention. he neglected to lock the
boy in the bathroom. The boy, trying
the lock, found 1t open. He burst into
the room and found his captor gone. 1t
was the work of an instant to try to
call his home. At first attempt he said
he obtained no answer. A few agoniz-
ing minutes passed and then his
mother answered the call, the first
contact the boy had with the outside
world for thirty-siX hours.
In brief space he was rescued but
in the excitement of the moment no
precaution was taken to prevent the
escape of the kidnaper.
The whole house was so rejoiced and
excited that no one thought to station
a guard in the room to await the re-
turn of the abductor.
The room was locked and the key
taken to the desk and few papers
that gave no clue to the identity of the
kidnaper were found in the room.
Immediately after the boy had start
ed home. the entire police force and
sheriffs deputies, as we'll as many cit
izens, began a drag-net search of the
city for the kidnaper. The boys de-
scription and that of the hotel force
were so detailed that the police have
every hope of capturing the man.
Every avenue of escape from the city
was closely guarded, and all neigh
boring cities were notified.
The $4,000 ransom, which the kid
naper demanded in his pencil-printed
note sent to the father Wednesday
evening just after the kidnapping, was
placed, as directed, In public waste
paper can on one OF the principal
street corners last night at 1896 No
one approached the can, and at s
O'Clock the money was removed by
Little. II was determined then TO await
further instructions from the kidnaper
as 10 delivering up the ransom, and
the family and police were anxious for
some word when the boys telephone
message came from the hotel