The Girl Who Would Not Say Who Took Her
Reported kidnapped from her Seattle home, Katie Hackworth reappeared at a Tacoma children's home, telling reporters a mysterious woman had taken her from school.
Katie Hackworth, Mrs. Arper's daughter, who was kidnapped from her home in March and for whose recovery her mother has made every effort, turned up in Tacoma yesterday afternoon. She disappeared from this city, and she is now at the children's home in Buckley's Addition in that city. A dispatch received from there last night says that Katie came over on the 4 o'clock Flyer.
In an interview with a Post-Intelligencer representative, Katie said that she lived with her mother until March, when a lady came to the school and told her she would take her to a certain family. The girl refuses to disclose the name. She had been there ever since. Katie says she left that house yesterday morning of her own accord, and is now at the children's home.
“Katie said that she lived with her mother until March, when a lady came to the school and told her she would take her to a certain family. The girl refuses to disclose the name.”
A child's disappearance and reappearance across Puget Sound was a parent's nightmare in 1895, when police communication depended on telegraph and ferries. The story's refusal to name the woman who took Katie leaves the case suspended—a reminder that family conflicts and custody battles often played out in public while the child's own account was the only record. Today, Amber Alerts and coordinated transit policing would make such a crossing far harder to conceal, but the human stakes are unchanged.
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