Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1874 — How the Sergeant Was Fooled. [ARTICLE]

How the Sergeant Was Fooled.

One Saturday afternoon a short time since a little, sad-eyed boy, with dirt on his chin and a tear on his nose, called at one of the police stations in New York city and asked if he could be sent to the Reform School, he being a homeless waif. As he had committed no offense he was told that he had better go to the work-house, but he replied that his brother was at the Reform School and he’d rather go there. He didn’t want to go out and steal anything, or smash some one’s plate glass window, and his anxiety to go touched the heart of a gentleman who had called on business; He consulted with the Sergeant and then said to the lad: “ I guess we can fix it. I’m going to leave my wallet- oiF the desk, and the Sergeant and I will go up-stairs. If you take the wallet it will be stealing, and you will be sent to the-Reform School.” The wallet was left, the men upstairs for a moment, and when they came down the boy was nowhere in sight; neither was the wallet, containing six dollars, and the lad and the money are still missing.