100 years ago: Kidnapping theories abound in wake of child’s disappearance

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 17, 1913:

  • “The County Commissioners of Douglas County have offered a reward of $100 for the arrest of any person or persons who kidnapped little ‘Billie Bob’ Atkinson and for the recovery of the boy. The Commissioners this afternoon took this step to aid in the recovery of the lost child if he is still alive. The theory that the child has been kidnapped has gained considerable favor and there is still hope that the boy may be found alive. The river has been searched thoroughly and dynamite has been used without result. According to the rules of the river, the body should have risen yesterday.”
  • “Mrs. P. H. Pierce will return this evening after spending ten days in Waubansee where she attended the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. George Burt. Mr. Burt was one of the Kansas pioneers and was one of the men to receive the famous ‘Beecher Bibles.'”
  • “Fifty years ago the twenty-first of next August the village of Lawrence was entered by a gang of border ruffians from Missouri led by Quantrell, the buildings burned and pillaged and many of the citizens slain. That was fifty years ago. From that heap of smoldering embers the present city of Lawrence, a city of 14,000 inhabitants, has grown. A movement has been started for the observance of that eventful day and if the plans are carried out Lawrence will honor the memory of those pioneers who fell on that day…. The twenty-first of August is a date which Lawrence people can never forget. Heretofore the day has been remembered in Lawrence by the old settlers who recalled the events of that day, but there has never been a general observance. Lawrence people never felt that it was a gala occasion. It was the saddest date in the history of the city. But Lawrence has grown into a city now and this growth began immediately after the Quantrell Raid. It is urged that this is a befitting date on which to celebrate this growth.”
  • “Kansas City. — To the growing popularity of automobiles, officers of the Columbus Buggy Company ascribe the difficulty of the firm against which the Detroit bank field a petition in involuntary bankruptcy in the federal court today. The bank holds notes due valued at $51,000. ‘The buggy business has gone to pieces,’ said Henry C. Page, attorney for the company. ‘The automobile has swallowed the horse. We are as it were the “last leaf on the tree.”‘”