Monday, Apr. 25, 1938
Groton Break
Pink-cheeked, spectacled Dirck Roosevelt, 13, son of Kermit Roosevelt and grandson of the late U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt, parked against a fence in Groton, Mass., one warm afternoon last week and brooded. He gazed in distaste at his books, at Groton School. The reflection that his father was adventuring in the South Seas added nothing to his contentment. The bright sunshine increased his gloom. He fished out his wallet, thoughtfully counted $8. He turned to his spectacled, 13-year-old companion, Henry Wyse Distler, son of a Baltimore engineer. "Come on," he said abruptly. Without more ado they set off rapidly down the road, books and all.
That night Groton's worried headmaster, Dr. Endicott Peabody, telephoned Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt in New York that her son was missing. "Well, call the police." said she. By morning the police had picked up the first ominous clue, in Springfield. Two boys had registered in a hotel as Dick and Henry Godernick, spent the evening, hurried out at midnight. In their room was found a letter: "Dear Mother: Soon will be home from school. It is all very boring. How is the baroness? Ha." There were also some school notes.
The police found nothing in the "history lesson," ignored the "Latin lesson," but discovered in the "English lesson" a disquieting thought: "If a man feels it necessary to take his own life, should he be condemned?"
The police hastily sent out an eight-State alarm, searched trains, railroad stations, hotels. And as Henry's agitated father, John Cyrus Distler, sped by train to New York, the two boys marched calmly into Henry's house in Baltimore.
Thereupon Henry's 20-year-old sister telephoned Mrs. Roosevelt and packed the boys off to New York under the watchful eye of the Distler chauffeur, James Parker. By the time they had reached Pennsylvania Station, crowds of news photographers were waiting for them. So was the Roosevelt chauffeur, James Kehoe. He rushed up and threw his arms around the boys to shield them from the photographers. Chauffeur Parker, misunderstanding the stranger's purpose, took a swing at Chauffeur Kehoe. While the two guardians traded punches and police leaped into the fray, Dirck Roosevelt became hysterical and Henry Distler fainted.
When, bruised and disheveled, the chauffeurs discovered each other's identity, they hustled the boys out of the crowd onto a train to Stamford, brought them back to New York by the next train. In her East 69th Street house Mrs. Roosevelt grimly sent the boys supperless to bed --on separate floors. To newsmen Mrs. Roosevelt and Mr. Distler explained that the escapade was merely "an ill-advised prank." that their chief worry was whether the boys would be readmitted to Groton. Said the parents: "They really love the school."
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