THE KIDNAPPED CHILD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14927, 27 February 1912, Page 8

THE KIDNAPPED CHILD.

RESTORED TO HER MOTHER.

FOUND IN BOY'S ATTIRE.

THE FATHER ARRESTED.

to child, Gladys Kipp, who was seized by two men while on her way to Grafton school on Thursday morning, and taken away in a trap, in spite- of her cries, has j been restored to her mother by tho police, • after a .search lasting nearly fivo days. The story of the search and the subsequent recovery of the child is an interesting one, and indicates the exhaustive nature of the police investigation. To every staI tion in tho Dominion a telegraphed do- ' scription of the child and her father was. I sent, and tho various trains and steamers leaving Auckland were watched. When these avenues of escape were thus cut off tho police began to work inland. Detectives Hollis and Keene were entrusted with the active work of making a search for the kidnapped child. On tho day tho napj ping took place a man alleged to be tho driver of tho 'irap in which tho child was taken away, was arrested. Ho said the child was taken to Penrose. Investigations showed that this information was wrong. Detectives on the Track. The detectives then pursued their investigations elsewhere, and ascertained that the trap with the two men and the child were seen near Pakuranga bridge. Hero for a I time the clue seemed to be lost. Rut the story of the kidnapping having been fully published, some interest attached to rumours of a strange man having taken a furnished house at Howkk. Constable Fry, who is in charge of the district, informed the detectives of theso rumours, and a preconcerted plan of action was adopted. Yesterday afternoon Detectives Hollis and Iveene motored to Howick. Thero they were met by Constable Fry, and together they went to tho house, They surrounded the building, and then demanded an entraco. After a little delay a man came to the door, and with some show of hesitation admitted tho police. Tho man proved to be the father of the child, but ho was hardly recognisable, having shaved off his beard and moustache since the kidnapping escapade. The Child Discovered.

On going into another room, the police found what, appeared to bo a little boy sitting quietly on a chair. The little one seemed quite bewildered at seeing tho strangers. On being asked who' he- was, the child gave a false name, and had evidently been tutored to do so. Detective Hollis spoke kindly to the child, asked about playmates at Grafton school, and called the name " Gladys/' Instantly the littlo face lighted up, and tho child spoke more freely. The detective then knew for certain that the child was the little girl they had been searching for. She told him that the man had taken her away, and she wanted so much to sec her mother.

The child was wearing a black velvet boy's suit, and her hair had been shorn, and she really appeared a handsome littlo boy. Apparently she had been treated kindly by her captor, for chocolates and lollies were on the table, and she appeared to have been well looked after. The detectives brought her to the city police station in the motor car, and the father was placed under arrest. An Affecting Meeting. The meeting between the mother and the little girl, at the police station last evening, was a most affecting one. The little girl clung to her mother, who shed tears of joy. at the recovery of her child. The mother was deeply grateful to the police for their efforts. She informed a reporter that the suspense had been terriblo, a?-.d she did not think she could have borne it for many more days. The child appeared unable to understand all the events that had happened, and in speaking to her mother she expressed a dread of being kidnapped again, and pleaded pitifully not to be sent to school, in case the man might again take her. No assurances seemed sufficient* to dissipate the idea that she might bo captured again. In the bedroom where the child slept at Howick, was discovered a basket. In it were the clothes she" 1 was wearing when going to school on Thursday. Her schoolbag was also there, and the lunch which the mother had carefully wrapped before her daughter- went to school was still in if. On the basket being further searched, a paper bag was found containing the hair recently cut from the child's head, also an overcoat and other articles of boy's attire, evidently recently purchased. The rather Reticent. The father, when arrested, was very reticent,' and would vouchsafe no information to the police. He is a Norwegian by birth, and the child can also speak the Scandinavian language, which she learnt from her grandmother. It has been ascertained that ho had been living in a house not far from the child's place for about three weeks before the child was taken away. A quantity of luggage belonging to him was stored at the railway station and it is thought that he intended to get away from New Zealand at an early date. The father of the child, whose name is Siren Alarms Nicklesen, will be brought before the Police Court to-day on a charge that on February 22, with the intent to deprive Annie Kipp of the legal custody of her child, he did take the child away.