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Show MALAD MAN IS HERE TO IDENTIFY DEAD BANDIT BOY AS HIS NEPHEW i Heartbroken mothers, searching vain-lv vain-lv for wandering boys, are hearing of Charles McCullen, the youthful amateur ama-teur bandit who was shot and killed by Street-car Conductor Charles A. Wood October 30, whpn McCullen and another young man were trying to bold up and rob him. J. R. Thomas, the oldest resident and a prominent citizen of Malad, Oneida county, Idaho, arrived this afternoon to view the body of the bov, fearing the young outlaw might be' identified as Dan Thomas, 18 years old, a wandering son of his nephew, John O. Thomas, a prominent ranch-man ranch-man near Malad. Picture Circulates. "We saw the picture of the dead boy in The Standard of Nov. 7," said Mr. Thomas. "Many persons said at once that it closely resembled Dan Thomas, my nephew's son. The lad's mother, who is griefstricken over the absence of her darling, did not believe it was a picture of him, but to make sure they commissioned me to come here and obtain all details." Deputy Sheriff Curtis Allison showed Mr. Thomas an original photographed photo-graphed of the youthful bandit. He gazed at it long and earnestly. "Did this boy have a little finger crooked inward?" he asked, illustrating with his own finger. Mr. Allison did not know. Scars on Dead Boy. Mr. Thomas inquired closely concerning con-cerning all marks upon the body. The dead boy had a scar on each hand, apparently mode several months ago, and a scar upon one of his legs above the knee. As far as he knew, said Mr. Thomas, the Malad youth did not have any scars except one on the back of his head. He said the Thomas boy had hair resembling that of the dead boy, except ex-cept it was, he thought, a shade light-er, light-er, but he wasn't sure. Both Had Gray Eyes. A Standard reporter took Mr. Thomas to interview Elijah Larkln, the undertaker, who prepared the youth's body for burial. One of the first questions he asked was, "What was the color of the dead boy's eyes?" Mr, Larkln said they were bluelsh-gray. bluelsh-gray. "Our boy's eyes weer gray," said Mr. Thomas. Mr. Larkin did not remember the boy had a crooked little finger, but his Impression was that all of his fingers were straight He described de-scribed the body and clothing In detail. de-tail. "Our boy wore a dark blue suit when he left home last July," said Mr. Thomas. The dead boy "wore a dark pepper and salt suit. He said the Thomas boy had a cowlick above his forehead and could not comb his hair except pompadour. The dead boy combed his hair this way, as shown in his photograph. Takes Lock of Hair. The visitor requested a lock of the dead boy's t hair, which Mr. Larkin gave him. He said he wanted to give it to Mrs. Thomas, to reassure her. He did not believe the dead youth was Dan Thomas. There were, however, how-ever, points of close resemblance. He said that the wandering Dan was a model boy, the pride of his mother's heart, a great help to his father on the ranch, and 'well thought of by everybody, but the boy refused to attended at-tended high school and when his father cut off his allowance four months ago, he left home with another boy. The latter returned alone to Malad about a month ago and again left soon afterward. Dan a Sunday School Boy. "Dan was a Sunday school boy," said Mr. Thomas, "a good boy, but headstrong. He did not use tobacco in any form and had no bad habits that we knew of." Mr. Larkin has remarked several times upon the fact that he did not find any traces of tobacco in the dead boy's pockets and no stain of cigarettes cigar-ettes upon his fingers. The condition of the boy's vital organs proved that he was a stranger to strong drink and that he was a boy of good habits physically. phy-sically. These facts were regarded from the start as pointing to the probability prob-ability that the dead youth was a farmer's far-mer's boy, unused to city ways and evil associates. Mr. Thomas said he had read The Standard's account of the funeral of the dead outlaw. He warmly complimented compli-mented Mr. Larkin for his humane and generous action in providing the decedent with a decent burial. Likes Mr. Larkin's Motto. Mr. Thomas greatly liked a motto card which, he observed hanging over Mr. Larkin's desk. It reads: "There's so much bad in the best of us, And so much good in tho worst of us, It hardly behooves any of us To speak ill of the rest of us." Mr. Larkin said it was his favorite motto and held its place of honor by virtue of the positive good which it teaches. Other Anxious Mothers. Mr. Larkin has received a letter of anxious inquiry from Mrs. Ruby C. Ray of Provo, who had read the description de-scription of the dead bandit and feared he might prove to be her wandering son. In this case there also were points of close resemblance, but Mr. Larkln was convinced he was not the Ray boy and so reassured the mother. From a town in Kansas this morning morn-ing came definite assurances that the bandit was not a son of a well-to-do family there? as was believed probable a day or two ago. This was the case referred to by The Standard in reporting report-ing that there was nothing for publication, publi-cation, but that the boy might be identified iden-tified In the next few days. These and other inquiries are regarded re-garded by the authorities as proof positive that the photograph and description de-scription published by The Standard and the large number of photographs sent out bj Sheriff DeVine are circulating cir-culating widely and a general effort is being made, far and near, to identify iden-tify the amateur bandit. In all inquiries the fact is not forgotten for-gotten that the suit worn by the youth bore a Chicago clothior's mark. |
