When a four-year-old boy vanished from his home in Lemmon, South Dakota, back in 1914, his widowed mother searched for him until nightfall.
What she did not know was that little Gilman Moe had embarked on an adventure far beyond the city limits. Sometime around noon, the child had climbed aboard a westbound freight train and was carried across the state line into North Dakota.
Railroad workers discovered the tiny runaway at Reeder and telegraphed the news back to Lemmon. By the following morning, Gilman was safely home and apparently none the worse for his unauthorized journey on the rails.
Four Year Old “Rode the Rods”
LEMMON, South Dakota. — Gilman Moe, the four-year-old son of a widow in this city, boarded a west bound freight train on the Milwaukee Road Sunday at noon. The mother missed the child soon after the train pulled out and hunted for him until dark.
At Reeder, North Dakota, the trainmen telegraphed back to Lemmon and the mother there found out where the child was.
He was brought back on the morning train being none the worse for his experience.
Source: Bismarck Daily Tribune. Bismarck, Dakota. September 16, 1914.
