Evening star., 1923-08-21

Mrs. Peter Mckenzie. great names, with
i broughamS and
rictorias and coachmen and foot
men in livery choking the streets.
| but since New York moved up
town. 18th street draws virtually
all of its trade from the teeming East
and lower West sides. This. then.
was the scene of the KIDNAPPING, the
/ most pitiful crime of its sort that
F., New York has kniwn in many a long
! year
! 1t is certain the kiduaper could not
/ nave been looking for money. None
! of the surroundings suggested abil-
Ilty to ransom. The baby had on clean
I. but inexpensive garments. a little
! lace bonnet trimmed with baby rib
! bonS of pink: bib. handworked
! with the tedious care that only a
/ happy, eNpectant mother can bestow
/ upon such tiny bit of baby ward
robe.
! Look for Woman.
j The wiser criminologists from the
first have held to the theory that the
+; baby was taken by some hungry
! hearted woman, denied the joys and
I privileges of motherhood. There have
been such cases before, and this was
another of those impulSive crimes
which had no premeditation. no cold
blooded calculation of profit back
of it.
In the hope that it was woman
misguided though she be. who stole
, the little baby. just three months old
the mother has had its feeding for
mula published, for she knows that if
little Lillian Mckenzie does not get
exactly the right sort of food she
VIII not live long. She has been un-
derweight since birth and it has taken
the tendereSt sort of care to rear her
thus far in her little life. All of the
big metropolitan New York papers
have published the formula on their
front pages. hoping it will reach the
eye of the kidnaper. This is how it
reads:
The child should be fed seven
times a day, getting a each feeding
four ounces of the following mix
ture: Take ten ounces of cows milk
and STIR together with a teaspoonful
or deXtri-m -maltoSe and two teaspoon
fuls of specially prepared barley, dis
solved in water. The mixture should
be slightly heated"
Store Was Crowded.
Little Lillian is the daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. Peter Mckenzie. Peter
is just a foreman of trucks, whose
daily wage is barely enough to care
for his meager family. Mrs. Nc
Kenzie was shopping on Saturday
. afternoon. She took her six-year-old
son inside the store with her. leaving
Lillian in the perambulatcF outside.
1t was a careless thing to do. Other
babies have been kidnapped through
just such negligence here in the big
city. But the store was crowded with
the late Saturday shoppers, and Mrs.
Mckenzie thought if she left the boy
outside with baby he might stray in
to the street and be crushed by the
heavy trucks that were rumbling by
Since the discovery of the little
empty carriage all of the detectives
and all of the blue-coated policemen of
the greater city have been on the look
out for the baby. No murderer could
have been so closely pursued. And
this is significant, too. for murder
napers of Baby Lillian should die from
neglect or from improper nourishment
during the period of her captivity.
knowing now quickly babies wilt and
die in summer weather when the wrong
/; food is administered, Mrs. Mckenzie
feared that today's dawn had found her
little one dead.
City Joins in Chase.
Not only have the police of New
York been engaged almost wholly in
the search, but they have been aided
by the reporters of all of the New
York newspapers and by countless thou
sands of amateur detectives, men and
women. The well intentioned activi-
ties of the latter have somewhat ham,
pered the chase, for they have sent the
regular detectives on many a false and
fruitless scent
Every woman with a babe i'm her
arms has been the object of suspicion
Many of them have been followed
the amateurs believing that they did
not act as If they were experienced
III handling babies. Few mothers
with first born just three months
ola can be said to be vastly expert
enced in such matters, but this has
! made no difference.
One of the most pitiful phases of
the kidnapping has been the despair
ing hope of the mother and father
that if the baby carriage were placed
in front of the 18th street store again
the kidnaper would return the in
fant. The experiment was tried in
vain Shoppers. detectives and police
ment were implored to keep as far
away from the carriage as possible,
so as to give the kidnaper chance.
At the end of the day the cart was as
! empty as ever.
! Baby Lillian has captured the heart
ork and the city will not breathe
easily until she has been found or
until knowledge of her fate has been
| made certain. Meantime the mother
half collapsed, half craZed, eludes her
watchers at times and starts all alone
| out into the streets, searching fran
! tically for the missing mite of babyhood
stolen almost from under her eyes.
Fifth avenue millions could not
! have brought more energy into a
| search than that which has been VOL
! unteered to the poor McKenzies in