CHILDREN KIDNAPPED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 24 October 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHILDREN KIDNAPPED.

BOY T D GIRL CARRIED OFF BY GIPSIES AT MANCHESTER,

An extraordinary story of kidnapping by gipsies comes from Manchester, the victims being two children of Dr. Macneilege, a ff ell-known medical practitioner in Queen's Park, a northern suburb of the city. The children in question are Devina, 11, and Norman, 7. Both, it may be said, are bricht and intelligent, though the girl is of a somewhat nervous temperament. Before nine o'clock in the morning they left for school as usual, but apparently made up their minds to play truant. They seemed to have walked on to the neighbourhood of Middleton, making a detour of some miles on the way. Late in the afternoon, being then in an exhausted condition, they were picked up by some gipsies, placed in a caravan, and conveyed over the horde* into Yorkshire. The'children fell asleep, but in the early morning hours the boy awoke, and, becoming frightened at the unusual surroundings, he aroused his sister. Making up their minds to escape they left the vehicle as quickly as possible, and succeeded in getting clear'away. They wandered on through the day in the hope of reaching home, but in the evening were discovered, crying and utterly worn out, by two young ladies, Miss Jackson and Miss Ingham, at Brearley, near Mytholmroyd, about 25 miles from Manchester* In reply to questions, the children said they were going home to their father in Rochdale Road, Manchester. Seeing the pitiful plight in which the little ones were, and knowing that they were going in the opposite direction to that which they intended, the young ladies took them to Hebden Bridge, and informed the police of the circumstances in which they had discovered them. The children were afterwards taken to the house of a Mr. Greaves, where every attention was shown them, and they were put to bed. Meanwhile Dr. Macneilege had taken every step in his power to ascertain what had become of the children, and both he and his wife ■ were immensely relieved to receive a tele- ! phone message informing them that two I children answering the description given to j the authorities had been fouud, and were' in safe custody at Hebden Bridge. A mesI senger was despatched, who identified die children, and they were brought home to Manchester. They were not, as far as can be made out, in any way ill-treated, though a, necklet was missing from the person of Devina. Their feet were much swollen and cut with their long tramp, for they had taken off their boots in order to make walking easier. Devina Macneilege is reported to have said: '* We were walking along one of the streets of Manchester when two gipsy men picked us up and put us into one of their vans, and fastened us up in a small compartment with only a little window in the room. The men picked us up so quickly that we had not time to cry out. We were kept in a small room all day, with only a dry crust of bread to eat. At night we slept with eight women in one of the vans. In the morning we were again placed in the small apartment, an/i had little to eat all day. Wc talked over how we were to escape, and we agreed to wait until night, and then, if possible, when the people were asleep, creep out o the van. We were again put to bed with eight women, and we lay awake until we heard the women snoring. Then we crept out of the van as quietly as possible. Th*e dogs under the van barked a little, but not sufficient to wake the other people. It was still dark, and we walked a short distance and lay down in a field corner. When it was light we walked off, as we thought, in the direction of our home. We had sixpence in our pockets, with which we bought a currant cake and some milk from a farmer's wife. We kept on walking, hoping to get home. On the second day we were in the van one of the men said they must colour us, aud produced a bottle labelled ' Cocoanut juice,' but ho put it- away again without making use of it.» They took off my underclothing and placed it in dirty water, and threw it at me. They also took part of my necklace." Mrs. Macneilege points out, however, that the children were away only one night instead of two. Both the little ones are now restored to comparative health, and will no doubt be completely so after a few days.