The Kidnapped Child.
The Times, 1824-09-06T00:00:00

At:er ti*e Osost tiilicent search, con:LinttU t' fr Iix Kweeks vtihout in. I ternfissjon, with alternate gleams of hopc, succeeded LS' feehngs a;p. proaching almost to despair, William Rogers, the untfortunatc tatiler of the child stol)n f'romn {llunslet, rc:arned to his tnfMilV with thei melancholy tidings that all his efforts had been in vain. The follow- ing narrative is communicated. substantially, by N'illiam Rogers hitnself, and relates to his last journey :_ Having learint tat Charlotte Shawv. al;as Peck, the wonian who stole his child on t?ie 23i of June, bhad tsaietl front Liverpool u) Gtas. gow, he left Leeds 1by the mail on the 20; i of July, and arrived in that city on the 22t1. After a truitless s:arch for so:n: days, ill which he wat assisted by the oficers oft police there, and at Itiverary, he learnt at lait. through the generous exertions of the ecditor of the G/lagnte Free Press, that Sha.v had etiburked tfrom Port Dsndas, on tile 'IOLI of Jul-, for E&tinburgh. On receiving tUis inforpnation, Rozers proceeded to that cite, wimere itc arrived on the 28th of the sane montli, and tltere founa. to his mor- tifica,ion, that the woman and chilf h:d embarked at L'ith thr Lonwion, in the Czar smack, Caprain Annin. on the loth, as,d landed in London on the 18thi. A? soon as these facts wvr- clearly ascertair.eti, he lef't &Iminburgih in the mail the samr.e even- ing; and on Sunda; *hmc 1st of' Aueust arrived in Lo)ndon: mere ite learttt, fromn onle ot' the passengers in the sma.k, that Shavw ap- peared in rreat distress, and Ilae a smbscription, amoutming to li. 1i,. had been mtade for her andl the child o0t the voyage. 'Phe story she told on b tard the vessel was. that her sister had diel irt child-birth, leavinz this boy. a-d that his father being also dead, she was takine hint to Sceven Oak,, in kent, the place | of 'mis smttlemnent. Thinking it probable that she was still in L, Im don, Rogers letecrmined to institute a diligsnt scarch there, an I S;r| Richard llirnic andl the Lor .lMayor of Londot directed their otfi- cers to affi.rd hitin every p sosible assis:ancc. Thoua4h etnrtittttcd for six daa., the search provedl ttnsucccsscful. and on the 8th of August he rei)t iro to 6even Oaks; but not tindine aty traces of the womnan I or his chiild. ie returned to London on the 10th. The palice offi I cers a,ssisted him to examine all the smacks and othier passate yes- I selk in the river. Afiter tltrec days spentin this wavy'I reiturned," says line, " to my lodgings itt de pair, and determined to go home." (n tie IUjtit it occairreed to Imim to visit Carshoaltot. wviere Shaw had representcel to tIhe Police at Ilrverary that she bad received the. Child, ti inquire of Sir hlenry Bridges if attv circumstance had I comnc to his ltnowledgc that couid it; any wram' lead to the discovery of the object of all this noxiety. On hiis wa:y thither, he calleid at M itclant, wvitere he learnt that Charlotte Snaw, as she was called, w:ws known thiere, but that her real name was Peck, and that two yearsbefore site had srolett a cild from this very village, witich its parents recovered f'ter it hta-i been absent t'aur day I. but time consequence proved fatal to t!;e child's mother, w!io sunk utander the aeony' of her teelings. a -d died heart-broketm. By a rsstiaced clenmsenem. cite v. rtcetlc kidina:pper was sufered to go un- , otished, nnd to lverwheltn another tnamily by her atrocious mis- leeds. At Carslalton, thestrictest searcltvasnma;le,and the liev.Wil- liani Rose, the magistrate, unttch to Itis hotmour. used hiis best ets- dIeavoars to serve the bereatved parent. lie also wrote a letter to lr. Nevinx, at 1,ecds, recomtttending, that in otrder to stinmulate the *i<i- lance of thc officers of police, a large sum should be offered to regaira tliecitild. Here the fatlter learnt that a uotnan with achild answeririg in somedecreethetlescrintiotm, hati been seen itthenei4hbouritood,armd titatshesaidr,hevwas gointg to tbie Sozuth Dowsis troasstst in the harvest. This iitformation touk him into thte nciehbourhmoxd of Rvegate and ftrightomt. Here W. Burge.Ns, E sq., a nd Sir D.vidl Stcott, fbloowing the exantple of all the otlier magistruics to whtom applicatitn had been matle. anti following also the impulse ot tit m - own benevolent incli- tations, gave to poor Rogers every possible as,t,tanec the offizer, ot polite were ctmploved, placards werc prnmed and di'triou!ed. anid every measure was takenm that was thnug !t likelY to lead to thie disco. very of the woman, and the restoration of the chiild, but with ste better success that betfore. At Bririmton. thefparaFrapli in the f.emds Mlercury, stating that Shaw htad sailet with the chil d frum Dover to Calais, first toiet Rocrs's rye: but frotn some discre. pattcy in dates, Ite conceived that the thing was impossible. Subse- quent itmforniation, liowever, proved the accuracy of the intelligence, except tihat they had sailed oti the 20ih. not on the ]8th of July, and he took the resolution to proceeL to Dover, one of the banks at Brighton having liberally advanced Itini 10! on the production of a letter frorn Mr. Nevnms. In the evening of the 21st of August, he i arrived in Dover, wherelie tound tlmuat Mr. Smitbett had embarked tor Calais, in search of the fttgitives, but that he had written to sia'. that time)' had returned to England, the womarn having been sent t,ut of France for her harsh treatment o0 the c)ild, and that the' re-embarked for Dener on the 7th of August. The cit'e was now once more completely lost. hlope was, however. again inspired by hcarintg that a wom:n Lnd a child an. stwering the description hadl bcen seen in the mtcizimbourhood of Lid, in Kent; anti at It o"tlock at night, on tite 24:-h ult., Rogers left Dover for that place. Oit his arrival at Lid, he found the wGman anl the chiltd, but to his inexprcssibie mortification. tie clil]d was not his, and the wioman was a sailor's wife. He notw re- turned once more to Dover, from thence to Ratnsgate and Margate, where his scarch was kindly . ided by Sir Thomas Gray, of .Margate, who had placards distributed, as they liad been in other places, with great freedom. Subsequentlv he proceeled to Ml!aidstone and, :n Ilis wav titiher, had the assistance of Sir E. Ktnatcibu.i, !12P. one of the Kent Magistrates. On his arrival in London, on the 1st of Septentber, he heard titat Charlotte Shaw had slept on the 10h of Auigust at a house in Glass-house-street, Vaux- hall-road, on the very nighit that he lial slept near Westminster- britige, so that for many htours the tatiter and time clmild were witlihi a mile of each otimer, but neither of them unfbrtunately knowing vwiere the othier was to be foLnnd. Hlere Shaw wished to leave time child witile she went into tite citv. but time prudent Itousei- wife. not liking eitimer her appearance or her manners, and not wisi- log to have an undue increase to her iamtily, insisteLI upon her taiking the-child with her; tisis shie did about six o'clock in the evening of the 1 It of August. saying that shie should go into Staffordshire to work at the potteries ; ana from titat titme to the p'esems she has never been lieard oft On the 1st of Septentber, Rogersleft Lon- (Ion for Yorksltire; and on the 2e lie arrived at home, to admini- nister that consolation to his distressedl teife of which he hinself stood greatly in need. The titne sectnetl notv to have arrived when cite effectofthieexpedientrecommended by theRev.Mr. Rose mustbe tried, and at a meeting of someof the innagistrates, antI a few of the friends of this distressed familY,called by the benevoleint 11r. Pim Nevins,whose cottduct in this aftair is beytraed all praise, it was determined to advertise, and off.ra reward of 301. for the recover' of the child, and-a further reward of 201. should the prston discovering the child also ap- prehend the woman, when prosecuted toconslction.-Leeds Merctcury TIIE KIDVAPE'D t'fILD. WILLIAM RO .' NRR- 1V ,.