POLICE CAN FIND NO
TRACE OF MISSING BOY.
MOTHER THINKS HE WAS
MURDERED AND ROBBED.
But Every Night She Sits at Her
Window Watching and Hop-
ing That He Will Come
Back to Her.
GEORGE WESLEY PICKLE.
Waiting night after night, hoping against hope that her son will return home, Mrs. Alexander J. Pickle, 1429 Summit street, spends the greater part of each night at her front window watching the walk leading to the house and praying that he will appear. every street car that passes the house brings new hope to Mrs. Pickle, and she watches it to see if her son gets off the car at the corner.
Whether George Wesley Pickle, 16 years old, a boy who never drank, smoked n or spent evenings away from his mother, is alive and well, or whether he is dead, is what police are endeavoring to unravel and the mother is anxious to learn. Young Pickle left his home, after bidding his mother goodby, Saturday morning, June 20, to look for work in the bottoms, and has never been heard of since that time. At the time of his disappearance Pickle had $160 in his vest pocket, the savings of seven months' work.
He was last seen at 10 o'clock that morning talking to two Missouri Pacific railroad checkers. Earl Hamilton accompanied Pickle on his quest for work, and he says he left him at the Union depot at 10 o'clock Saturday morning. From what Hamilton has told the police and the grief-stricken mother, George Pickle intended to steal rides on freight trains to the harvest fields of Kansas.
For two weeks George Pickle had talked about joining his brother-in-law at Genesee, Kas., and working in the harvest fields. The family had recently moved from 1624 Summit street to their present home. George had been assisting his mother around the house, putting up curtains, shades and tacking down carpets. He appeared to be restless and often spoke of leaving Kansas City to go to work.
MOTHER BELIEVES HE'S DEAD.
When seen yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Pickle said she believed the boy had been killed and robbed. She said if the boy were alive she knew he would write home, because he had always been such a good boy to her that he would not stay away from home without notifying her where he was. A letter from his sister, to whom he intended to go, written to the distracted mother, stated that George had not arrived there.
George Pickle was named after his uncle, George Wesley Pickle, who for thirteen years was attorney general of the state of Tennessee, and also editor of the Knoxville Tribune. Circulars giving a description of the missing boy and containing his photograph have been sent to the police of the towns in Kansas. A reward of $25 is offered for any information leading to the finding of the boy or his body George Pickle was 16 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, light complexion, blue eyes and had a scar over his right eye.
The police have made no charge against anyone in connection with the disappearance of young Pickle. They arrested a former associate of his and are holding him for investigation. No direct evidence has been unearthed against the man under arrest. Circumstantial evidence is that the arrested man has not worked for three months and he was behind on his board bill. The day young Pickle disappeared this chum paid $5 on his board bill and exhibited $100 in bills. Two days later he deposited $120 in a bank. The money was in $20 bills. The money possessed by Pickle was mostly in $20 bills.
The police evidently do not regard the circumstantial evidence as strong enough to warrant them in making a charge, yet they have held their prisoner longer than the twenty-four hours allowed by law in which a prisoner can be detained before a charge is made against him. Also it has yet to be proved that young Pickle is dead. The fact that he has dropped out of sight,taken in conjunction with the suddenly acquired wealth of former chum, does not prove anything. The young man may be alive and have his own reasons for concealing the fact. The chum may be able to show where he got the money, which the police seem to regard as a connecting link with Pickle's disappearance. Before a charge of murder can be made against anyone the body of the missing man must be produced.
