Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1877 — A Child Rescued from Cruel Taskmasters. [ARTICLE]

A Child Rescued from Cruel Taskmasters.

The officers of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children recently rb- 1 ceived information that the schooner John Colby might be expected in New York about April 4, and that on board of her 4 would be found a young boy sadly fa need ol their care. It was further learned that the child inquestion, knodm as “ Charlie, 1 ’ 1 had been with Murray’s circus, which disbanded lately at Key West after a tour through the West Indies. The little lad, only four years old, had been used in gymnastic performances by a well-khoWn acrobat named “ Dick” Rivers, and had been widely advertised as a youthful i prodigy. When the clreus disbanded the boy was placed on the schooner John Colby , which was to bring to New York a cargo of circus machinery and horses, while the remainder of the party came by steamer. No reason seemed to be assigned for this course. Although the Captahrand crew were ordinarily humane, yet the boy, it is affirmed, must have felt the lack of care.' ’ Ths officers learned on Wednesday that the schooner had arrived and was lying at the dock at (Seventy-ninth street. They immediately went there and were told that the boy had been taken in charge of a man named Leach to the Bull’s Head, a hotel at, Twenty-fourth street and Third avenue, and a great resort for showmen. It was also stated that the boy would start last night for Western Illinois to join another traveling circus. Anped with a writ of habeas corpus, the officers hastened to the Bull’s Head and there found the. little boy fa the hall, and at once took him fa charge. The landlord made no objections when he learned the authority of the officers; but not so with the man Leach. He swore right royally and was only qujeted by the presence of two policemen in citizens’ clothes. The boy was taken to the Supreme Court, but the Judge having, left, the officers intrusted him .to Mrs. Webb at the Central Station. His condition was pitiable. His little body was covered with sores and bruises, the result of beatings and neglected bites from mosquitoes and vermin. Portions of his Clothing clung to his body and were re-, moved with difficulty. The child is very bright, with fine eyes and golden hair; He says Mr. Leach is his father, but that person appears to make no such claim Upon him. The officers have been told that the boy was trained for bis performances at ( the training school of one Eaton Stone 1 , Of Franklin, Essex County, N. J., and that there the treatment was brutal. The boy’s mouth ivas bandaged or filled with saw dust, lest the cries wrung from him bv whippings and blows should be heard. It is also alleged that Rivers was. cruel in his treatment of the lad while traveling in Cuba. The officers say that if there were no other evidence the condition of the child’s body would be enough toconvjct Rivers and Leach of criminal neglect.r-jY. X. Tribune.