SAYS AN OUTLAW
CARRIED OFF WIFE
AFTER HE HAD BURNED MECUM'S
HOUSE AND BARN.
Now Mecum Is Trailing Them, Very
Leisurely, in a Covered Wagon.
Esta Mecum and John Mellinger, each aged 12 years, were yesterday ordered detained by Judge H. L. McCune, sitting in the juvenile court, until homes can be found for them with relatives or others able to provide for them. This will enable Esta's father to continue the hunt for the boy's mother "and that there outlaw Tom Hopkins," as old man Mecum designated a former friend.
"He is an outlaw, is he?" inquired Judge McCune of the witness, Mecum, who was before the bar to explain why he was making the boy sell silver polish while he himself was buying beer.
"I think he is," said the rustic Sherlock Holmes. "I had 20 acres up in Michigan and he and my woman sat fire to the house and barn and said that the Indians had done it. Then he ran away with this boy's mother, and I set out to trial them."
"Indians up there?" Judge McCune inquired.
"There's a reservation; yes sir."
Sherlock's account of his trail was touching. He had been overhauled with a man named John Mellinger, father of a boy named likewise, the boy being then before the court.
"They tell me you and Mellinger were making these boys sell the silver polish while you and he drank up the proceeds. What is Mellinger to you?"
"Nothin' much, I kinder suspect him."
"More of your detective work?" the court asked.
"I reckon you'd call it that. He knows where my wife and Tom Hopkins are."
Humane officer McCrary said that if the ametuer detective would take a peep in the holdover, he would see his friend there, safe and sound, awaiting investigation.
The court took charge of the two boys until permanent homes can be found for them. Mecum said that he was a stone mason by trade but admitted he did not want a job -- "Not just now, anyway." He added, "I want to follow my wife and that outlaw, Tom Hopkins. They's gone north again."
He is following in a covered wagon. He explained that when Mrs. Mecum decamped she shipped the boy before the court to "Busy Bee Arizona." He meant Bisby.
