Evening star., 1936-02-23

In august, ne teamed up WIFI SAILOR
who was going to ride freight trains
to San Pedro, Calf, to get job on a
ship. They went to Richmond and
took a freight to Columbus, Ohio,
where he became separated from his
companion. After several days he
proceeded by freight to Cincinnati
and on to st. Louis, where police told
him he could go by freight to any
place but Kansas City. He went to
Mitchell, Ind. back to Cincinnati and
Columbus, and then to Marion, Ohio,
where the chief of police made tram
sient relief officials give him and a
dozen others overnight lodging.
Freights carried him on to Akron,
Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit. He
hitchhiked from Detroit to a Michi-
gan town where fair was being held
and tried to get job. He failed.
Going on to Grand Rapids, he was
treated royalty by the transient re-
lief people, he said.
''They put me up in Y. M. G. A.
room. provided food and necessary
clothing and offered educational IA
cilities," he related "In addition, they
said they would give me 80 cents a
week for spending money. I only
stayed there three days. because they
wanted me to go to school-and I
wasn't anxious then to go back to
school,"
Then on to Chicago and thence to
Des Moines and Iowa City. At the
latter place he picked up some money
by moving lawns over period of two
days. Council Bluffs was the next
freight stop and across the river was
Omaha. From the latter city he went
to Sterling, Colo, and then to South
Dakota.
Arriving in Rapid City on August
% last Che remembered most of the
dates). he sought out transient relief
ofhcials, who sent him to Newell, S.
OAK. where there is what is known
as Mountain Transient Camp.
They call those camps the M. r.
c. out there" he pointed out. They
are run on $3.50 basis by the State
and the Federal Government. I was
assigned to pick beans and corn,
which were canned by the M. T. c.
for distribution to poor families.
"On October they closed the M.
T. c. at Newell and took all of us in
an open truck through a snowstorm
to Black Hills camp. near Rockford.
It's 1000 feet high there. After I
had cut some trees they put me in
the kitchen as a sort of K. P. That
was considered a choice job. re-
ceived Sc every two weeks-more than
the boys who were working on the
roads got. Frequently they took us
to Hill City to see the movies"
1t was while on an excursion to
Rapid City from this camp, a week
after Thanksgiving, that young Cohen
nled telegram to his mother, with
instructions that it be held for de-
livery on her birthday, Christmas eve.
The telegram was a standard-form
poetic greeting: "a token of love from
one far away, to show that still re-
member the day" 1t was signed
Robert"
This was the first word Mrs. Cohen
had received from her missing son
although Robert declares he mailed
two picture postcards during his trav-
els. He believes they were never de-
livered because he placed one e-cent In
stead Of one-and-a-half cent stamps
on them.
In the meantime, the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation had circularized
thousands of police agencies with
Roberts picture and description, on
the theory that he had been abducted
in violation of the Federal KIDNAPPING
law. An investigation by agents at the
Rapid City telegraph Office failed to
reveal the boys whereabouts.
Some weeks later the bureau pre-
pared another circular and distributed
1t to $50 postmasters in the Dakotas
and vicinity. The postmistress at
Rockford received one of them and
recognized the picture as that of "Al
Ward" who had been with the M. T.
G. there. She telephoned the Aberdeen
field office of the F. B. I. and two
agents were sent to investigate.
Before these developments, however,
the Rockford camp was closed and
the occupants, about score in num-
ber, were transported by truck to
Custer and placed in a Federal P. w.
A. camp. There Robert again was
put on K. p. duty. He was paid SIS
a month, although, he asserted, the
boys were supposed to get" $62.50 a
month.
The high altitude at Custer gave
him constant headaches, for which
he received hospital treatment. Physi-
clans advised him to seek a lower
altitude, and it was then he packed
up roll Of blankets and headed
toward Santa Fe.
The agents overlook him two DAYS