Evening star., 1948-06-13
Boy, 8, Back Home After Week Outdoors;
Lived in Woods and Ate Cookies and 3 Eggs

Mature Boy" Wilson came back
to civilization yesterday carrying
the slightly amazing evidence that
an 8-year-old boy can live outdoors
week subsisting on few cookies
and three eggs.
Since leaving his home at 1922
r street Sc. a week ago yesterday,
the lad. whose name Is Richard, did
everything the book warns against.
He lived in the woods two days
and two nights, he sloshed around
in the rain. he baked in the sun,
he disregarded all the fundamentals
of vitamins and proteins, and he
slept under porches and in boxes.
All of which was more amazing
because he was having his daily
game of cops and robbers with the
rest of the kids while his parents
and police looked high and wide
for him.
The story came out when neigh
bor's curiosity at Mount Rainier,
Md, finally resulted in his return
home.
1t started last Saturday when
Richard was standing in the yard OF
his home, gazing dreamily about and
waiting for the grocer. Inside, his
mother, Mrs. Dana Wilson, u, was
baking cookies and making fudge
for Richard and his brother, Billy, D.
Before the grocer came, Richard
was gone. His father, L. A. Wilson.
33, a cab driver, knew about Rich
ards penchant for wide open spaces.
He notified police and began search
ing a 10-acre woods five blocks from
the Wilson home.
Richard loves nature" said Mr..
Wilson. He loves horses and COWS
and dogs and flowers. thought ne
would go to the woods. He did, TOO
was there two days and two nights
while we looked for him. He stayed
there until he lost his gun and mol
ster and couldn't play cops and roo-
bers any more"
How was Richard eating all tnls
time? He wasn't.
But Richard didn't go home. He
caught a bus labeled Mount Rainier
and rode until he came to movie
theater. the Cameo. in Mount
Rainier. He stopped because ne
saw signs with Rim Tin TN on
them. He took a bit OF the dollar
he had left home with and went IN.
That night Mrs. Elizabeth Ander-
son. 38. who lives across from the
theater at 1921 Thirty-fourth street,
saw Richard sitting in her front
porch swing.
He said he was waiting for
bov to come out of the movies, sc
I let him stay there" Mrs. Ander-
son said.
But when Richard kept showing
I'D day after day in the neighbor-
hood, playing games with the chill
dren, they demanded an explana-
ton. He said he was visiting his
grandmother on Otis street.
He slept under porches until
Friday night" Mrs. Wilson said.
That night he crawled into an
abandoned pin ball machine in an
alley. Sometimes the children
would bring him doughnuts.
That's all he ate until Friday
He made friends with big fat hen
and then the lady who owned it
and it netted him three eggs. He
got an old can, filled it with water
and boiled the eggs over a trash
fire" $50, ee&4.
s. Yesterday Mrs. Anderson saw
Richards picture in the paper and
remembered the blue-eyed, brown
haired stranger who had been hav-
ing such fine time in the neigh
porhood. She asked her son,
Richard, 16 to bring him to the
house.
The young fugitive admitted his
identity readily and politely re-
fused milk and a sandwich offered
him. He permitted Mrs. Anderson
to wash his face and ears, which
were a Saturday bath or so behind
times. and waited patiently while
she telephoned his slightly hysteri-
cal mother.
He looked fine" his father said.
"I don't believe he lost any weight
at all"
At the ball game with his mother
Yesterday, he ate a hotdog and
drank a coke. His appetite had been
improved by bath and a nap. Be-
fore a movie last night he sat down
to his first meal in eight days.
Mr.. Wilson said Richard was not
happy at Ketcham School, where ne
is a better than average thlrd-graoe
student. This month he will enter
military school at Bristol. Va.
That will suit him fine" said Mr..
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