New Britain Herald Newspaper, December 11, 1928, Page 19

G AR I T Used Dog fo Solve théMus’reru-Bo Enigma How ‘Walter’ Fooled the Psychologists, the Police, a Dog and Even His “Mother”-- - “Walter” Told of s Stranger Who Offered to Bay Him Clothes. By MARJORIE DRISCOLL. HAT has happened to Waker Collins, ten-yesr-od Les Angeles lad who wes kM- naped five months ago? Is he desd, the victim of some fiend's fury, t.rturea, perhaps, in revenge for actual or fancied 'ronr in the darksome shadows of Fol- som Penitentiary? Or is he alive, mock- ing the efforts of experts to establish his identity, and secure behind the impenetrable mask of a talented child actor? 3 This strange enigma, which confronts Los Angeles suthorities, constitutes one of the most involved and baffling juvenile cases on record. The drama is furnished by a child undeniably keen and gifted, and the “plot” is be- ing worked out against the eolorful background furnished by a “‘murder farm"” where at least four boys hu;{e met death, smoldering prison feuds, and the mysterious actions of a band of abductors. Walter Collins, happy lad of ten Summers, disappeared something over five months ago. So far as his mother, Mrs. Christine Collins knew, he was playing near their Los Angeles hom®. As darkness settled and he did not return she be- came apprehensive. Then, after a few hours of tense waiting, she reported his disappearance to police. A nationwide search was made, but there was 'Iw clue to Walter's whereabouts. Finally he was \given up “for lost, and his mother mourned her 'son as dead. Then, a few weeks ago, a lad ap- peared in Los Angeles and said he was Walter Collins. He was in charge of police officials and here is the story they told: “Walter” had been turned over to them hy the police of Illinois. When Mra. Collins’ son was ¢ nTofitd missing his picture was printed on cir- cul lars and these were widely distributed over the country. The Illinois officers said they recog- nized “Walter” from one of these pictures It was a strange case, the Illinois officers at first had denied his identit; vltient"?uestionin(, he had con- e was “Walter Collins” and had Collins’ joy at the restoration of her “son” was tempered with apprehension. “Yes,” she said, “he looks like Walter. And in some ways he acts like my son. But still I'm not cer- tain about it. You s Vi i behaved. He alw child calls me ‘ma,’ and at times he is hard to handle. I eertainly hope he is my son—but some- how I can't bring myself to believe it.” Then the experts raised their eyebrows in sur- prise. For it is & very unusual thing for a mother not t6 know her own child. 8o far as they were' concerned there was no doubt of “Walter's” identity. And they based their belief upon seem- (nw convincing evidence. hen “Walter” was brought to Los Angeles it was lpg-rent that his memory had been af- fected by his five months with the kidnapers. He did act a bit strange, the psychologists and police offieials agreed, so they planned and executed an elsborate series of tests to prove that the hn‘ really was Walter Collins. irst, the sked to take & man to the house where he ul to live. He “remembered” the man, and,to t! sfaction of the authorities, he led his com- panion straight te Mrs. Col- line’ front porch nor would he he thrown off the track by suggestions of other routos. Next “Walter” was taken into the homes of several griends and asked to identify pieces of furniture _ with which the kidnaped child had been familiar. He met this test readily, remarking that one “former playmate” had 8 new cabinet for his radio, and identifying some sketehes on the living room remember names o many of the boys with whom the Collins boy had played, and in some instances his “memory” failed hjm en- tirely. The experts were con- vinced however. “He ¢ your son,” they told Mrs. Collins. “Evidently his abductore told him that he was to forget all about his life ior to his kidnaping. and undoubtedly they reatened him with physiesl violence. Under 2uch circumstances it is thoroughly possible that the child would forget many obvious connec- tions of memory, but juet the same we are sure he is Walter Collins.” 8till Mrs. Collins was not convinced, and at last a new test was devised. Walter Collins’ closest companion and dearest friend was “Tiny,” a small black spaniel. Men’s jnt:rmem might err, the expcrts conceded, but the dogx would recog- rize his playmate of six months before. 8o they agreed that “Tiny” should decide. Walter Collins. The Boy Told of Leading a Hobo Exist- ence with His “Abductors.” Again the opinion of the ex- perts was vindicated, No sooner did “Tiny” see “Walter” than he rushed to him, licked his hands, and evidenced every sign of affec- tion. “That proves it,” said the experts—and this time Mrs. Col- lins was forced to agree. “Yes,” she said, “l suppose it does. I suppose he is Walter, after all-—but I can't seem to rid my- self of this lurking fear that the boy is not by son.” She was ad- vised by the psychologists to take objective measures to free herself from this haunting suspicion, and she joined with them in planning to send “Walter” to camp, where he might start life anew and for- get_his chaotic past. > & For a week or so everything was considered satsifactorily set- tled. The - psychologists spent many hours going over their notes on the strange case. “Walter” had been very reluctant to tell about his “abduc- tion”* He furnished only mq details. He was playing, he said, when a man told him that his mother wanted him to have new clothes. The man ould buy them, said “Walter,” so he went along with the stranger. Then he told frag- mentary stories of how he wandered about the country, living a hobo existence—how his cap- tors tried to make him steal and how he re- fused, and finally how they abandoned him. He got work on @ farm, he “Walter” Was “Identified” by Posters Which Were Printed by the Los Angeles Police and Broadcast Over the Country. g At First the Child said, and that was where the Illinois authorities found him. His story, however, was very hazy on all important points. The experts had little trouble in finding a mo- tive for the kidnaping. Walter’s father is in Fol- som Penitentiary, where he is serving a long term. He is a “straw boss,” placed over a group of other convicts, and most of them are degener- ates. Several of them have been released since er's father entered the prison, and two in particular recently were freed. The authorities surmised that Walter was kidnaped in revenge for some actual or fancied wrongs in the prison, and they expressed the opinion that he would He Was Not Then He Admitted That He Was, and Now He Says He Isn't! Cven With “Walter” in Her Arms Mrs. Colline Was Not Sure That the Was Her . “Tiny,” the Deg Which E: Used in Their g Attempts to Solve the “Mystery-Boy” Enigms. return to normaley if given ap op- portunity to find new friendships and “establish confidence in some- one.” And then the other day, like a 90lt from the blue, came new revela- tio Police had uncovered traces urder farm” in another part alifornia. They were lookin, for a woman and her son, believe implicated in the murder of four boys, and they picked up a boy who wave the name of “Clark” and told of having been held st the farm, and then of escaping. Could Clark identify gny of the murder farm victims? He eeuld— and he told of two of the boys. One was “Walter Collins,” he said! “But,” police objeeted, “ Collins _has returned home. back with his mother, and has told all about his abduction. Surely Walter Collins couldn’t have been a ‘murder farm victim.' But young Clark was adamant, so a new cheek- up was starced, and it was then that the police, the psychologists and even “Tiny” got the shoek of their lives. The returned “Walter” was closely questioned—and finally he broke down. “No, I am not Walter Collins,” he said. “I was only playing that I was!” The authorities were astounded. They hardly could believe their ears, for they had been thoroughly convinced of ‘“Walter's” identity. “But,” objected the psychologists, “this boy must be Walter Collins. Didn’t he lead & man to Rewspapor Feature Bervice, 1988 Accepted the Boy gs Her Own. his home? Didn’t he recognize furniture in the homes of his friends? Didn’t he pass all ‘of our intricate tests—and, finally, didn't the dog rero’nize him?” % “That may be,” replied Mrs. Collins, “but I felt all along that this child was not my son, and I believe his confession. He is not my Walter.” The examination proceeded, and the deeper the experts deived into the strange case the more mystified they became. Finally they have been forced to give uf; in bewilderment. Who, and where, is Wal- ter Collins? No one seems able to answer. The boy from the Illinois farm said he was Walter Collins, and he “proved” it to the satis- faction of the suthorities. Now he says he is not iter Collins, and his new story is so plausable that the authorities”have been forced to agree that it sounds true. He does not even know own name, he says, and he simply posed as the Collins boy because he was tired of working on the farm. sanwhile the Clark bhoy sticks to his story that Walter Collins was a victim of brutal mur- der at the “murder farm,” and police are maki every effort to establish the identity of remains found at the farm. Two of the most remarkable things in connec- tion with the case are the certainty with which the authorities accepted the testimony of Tiny as final against the doubt of the mother, and the way psychologists, after trying every scientific test known to man, finally relied on the gge-old test of whether the dog would recognize the boy or not. There was seemingly good foundation for the dog test. The ability of dogs to recognize their masters has been an acknowledged fact for some thousands of years. In relating the story of Ulysses's return home from his wanderings in disguise as a beggar, the post Homer narrated how the dops were un- deeejved by the warrior’s tatters. They came and lieked his hands and jumped all over him in gladness at his return. There have been many instances in the courts of the United States where disputes have arisen over the ownership of dogs and have been de- eided by letting each of the claimants call the animals involved and declaring the owners to be the ones to which the dogs responded most en- thusiastically. So the people of Los Angeles were quite con- tented in their almost unanimous opinion that the real Walter had returned. t really happened to Walter Collins may bly never be known, but authorities agree that his stran; ase has contributed much in the annals of psychological knowledge. The specialists vindicate themselves in very plausible fashion. They admit that empirical reasoning must be applied in the realm of psychology; de- ductions must be based on past experiences. “For example,” they say, “at first the logical solution to the affair seemed to lie in the fact that the returned boy, whom we assumed to be the missing Walter, had ‘closed aisles of memory,’ as we say in the profession. This Son. Finally, However, After the Dog “Recognized” Him, y Did Not Hesitate, But Rushed e | Walter,” Licked His Hands, end Gave Every vidence of Recognition. scemed to be borne out when the murder farm story came to light. We believed that Walter had been on that farm and that the events there had been responsible. “His brain was ‘tangled,’ so we thought, that would easily explain the ‘closed aisles eof memory.’ The history of psychology is filled with similar examples. “When the lad returned to his ‘home,’ he found hie ‘mother’ acting strangely toward him. Of course this is explained now, and Mrs. Col lins’ conduct is entirely justified, but certsin| it appeared at first that his more or less ecol welcome had served only to increase the eloud- iness which enveloped his brain. We believed that his condition actually was intensified by the circumstances of his return, and we were rg-dy to accept many discrepancies in his story. We expected them as the natural result of his :Xl’n‘l:l,!nce and his cool reception upon his ‘re- urn.' " Thus the “mystery boy” hss furnished Les Angeles exrem with the most baffling enigma they have faced for years. He convinced that he was one person, and now he has_con. vinced them that he is someone else. What next? Certainly the police can’t answer that question. They only fear that “Walter” will again change his storv, and if he does they're afraid that he’ll be able to convince them that he is a third person! And that would be an awful mess, cverybody agrees.