Baby No. 415-

On the maternity floor of St. Anthony's Hospital in Michigan City, Ind., it was a busy Saturday afternoon. Near the end of visiting hours, a knot of a dozen people stood around the window of the nursery; inside, Nurse's Aid Marlene Lubs, 16, was wheeling over one bassinet after another and showing off the babies as their numbers were called by proud fathers or other relatives. Somebody asked for "415-1," which meant James Lawrence Lyons, because his mother was in room 415, bed No. 1. Marlene Lubs did not notice whether it was a man or a woman.

Two hours later, another nurse's aid noticed that Baby Lyons' crib was empty. There was a frantic search of the hospital and grounds, police and dogs were called in, 2,000 townspeople searched alleys, trash cans, cisterns, dumps, swamps and dunes. One theory: Baby Lyons might have been kidnaped by an unbalanced, childless woman with a yearning for children.* The Michigan City hope: that such a person will give herself away by proudly showing off "my new baby."

*This was the reason for the kidnaping of a 2 lb. it oz. premature baby from New York's Lincoln Hospital by a maid who miraculously kept the child alive for 26 days in a closet (TIME, May 8, 1950).

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