All three reported on the circumstances of his predicament and his rescue, but only The Patriot of December 11 took the reporting farther, delving into the boy's home life, suggesting that he was part of a family that we probably would describe as disfunctional in this day and age.
Here's The Patriot's Page 1 report:
+++
After being lost for more than ten hours, little Ralph Helmer, eight years old, was found some four miles southwest of Chariton Saturday morning about half past one o'clock. He was found by his stepfather, Frank Kesler, lying asleep by a shock of fodder in a field just west of the south branch railroad track in the extreme south part of Whitebreast township. He had been lost since three o'clock Friday afternoon.
The Kesler family lives in Brookdale. The boy, in company with an older brother and another boy, went down to the creek Friday. They had a dog with them and were hunting rabbits. The dog caught a rabbit and Ralph took it and started home, followed by the dog, about three o'clock in the afternoon.
The other boys went home later. About 5 o'clock the dog, soaking wet, arrived at home but Ralph and his rabbit were missing. The family became alarmed, thinking that the boy had fallen into the creek and downed, but it was not until 11 o'clock that they gave the alarm.
They then went to the home of W.S. Long and told him their fears. Max Long immediately went down town, found Constable Waynick, and they went to the city hall and sounded the bell. A crowd soon gathered and a searching party headed by City Marshal Householder started for the creek. Kesler and his oldest stepson had already gone on the hunt.
The party went down the south branch railroad track as far as the creek, then separated to search over the creek bottom. Many tracks of the boy and his dog were found. Kesler went further down the track and found tracks leading into a field. Along the boy's trail were blood stains in the snow made by the blood dripping from the dead rabbit the boy carried. The spots of blood became lost and Kesler nearly lost the trail but he persevered in the hunt and was rewarded in his search by finding the boy lying on the ground in the snow asleep by a shock of fodder. The little fellow through scantily dressed had taken off his coat and placed it over his body.
He was not at all frozen but was exhausted and chilled and had to be carried. The other searchers were notified of the fortunate ending of the search and the party proceeded to the home of E.E. Borer on the Mormon Trace road. The boy was found to be all right and in no danger of suffering ill results from his sleep in the snow. Mr. E.E. Borer kept him at his house that night. The boy explained the losing to sight of the blood spots, saying that a strange dog took the rabbit from him.
It is remarkable that the boy was none the worse for his experience. He was meanly dressed having on no underclothes and nothing but a thin child's suit with knee pants, a cotton shirt and shoes and stockings. In his tramp through the snow his stockings had rolled down over his shoes and the snow turned to ice was caked around his little bare legs and had to be broken to get his stockings off.
The Kessler family are shockingly poor. Kesler is a worthless sort of man who does not provide for his family, who live little better than pigs. The children can be seen almost any day, begging about the streets illy and filthily clad. Kesler at one time ran the billiard hall in the old Willoughby building on Main street, north of the square, and it was a resort of the lowest element of our town's society.
+++
Immediately after its report of little Ralph's rescue, The Patriot published this item about his stepfather, Frank Kesler, under the headline, "Child Beater Arrested."
Frank Kesler was arraigned before Justice Long Wednesday charged with cruelty toward his stepson, Charlie Helmer. Kesler was found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in jail. The boy had earned money carrying in coal for someone and bought mittens with the money. His stepfather undertook to take the mittens from him and he resisted, thereupon Kessler struck him, knocking him down and blacking his eye. At the trial Kesler's family all testified that they were afraid of him.
+++
There are all sorts of complications involved in figuring out what was going on with this family, among them the fact that "Helmer" is a misspelling of "Helmel," the maiden name of the mother, Elizabeth.
And none of her children in later years used the Helmel (or Helmer) surname, instead identifying as Welch after John Welch who Elizabeth said was the father of a majority of her children.
Actually, Elizabeth appears to have had at least seven children by three fathers and by 1898 when she seems to arrived in Chariton from the Bauer neighborhood of Marion County the younger ones at least were known as Helmel.
Elizabeth and her children were in dire straits that year, supported by Lucas County with a pauper's allowance. Because she had been a resident of Marion County, however, the Lucas County supervisors expected to be reimbursed. Marion County supervisors agreed that they were obligated to support Elizabeth and her family, but demanded that Lucas County deliver mother and children to the Marion County poor farm.
Her marriage during 1900 to Frank Kesler, a coal miner quite a few years her junior, seems to have resolved that issue. They were living together with her four youngest sons, including Ralph, when the 1900 census was taken.
No comments:
Post a Comment