OSHKOSH COURIER
December 27, 1854
Indian Boy Recovered.
Many of our readers no doubt remember the exciting trial which took place at Oshkosh, in 1852, between two rival claimants to a boy about 5 years old. A family by the name of Partridge had lost a boy some three years previous, and after vainly searching for him for some weeks, it was concluded that he had been stolen by the Indians. Between one and two years thereafter, a boy, answering very nearly in point of age, size, and features to the description of the lost boy Partridge, was found among the Menomonee Indians. The neighbors persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Partridge, apparently against their own judgment, that this was their lost child. They laid claim to him accordingly. On the other hand, an Indian woman of the Menomonees, insisted that he was her son, and all the tribe sustained her assertion. A trial for the possession of the contested child was accordingly held before Commissioner E.L. Butterick, now of this city, who after a patient hearing of the case, decided in favor of the Indian mother. But before the Sheriff succeeded in enforcing this decision, some of the Partridge family made off with the child, and carried him out of this State.
The Sentinel commented sharply upon their conduct at the time and sustained the decision of Commissioner
BUTTERICK. The Indians complained and with reason that after submitting to the White Man’s law and obtaining a decision in their favor, the Indian mother should be thus unjustly deprived of her only child. Nevertheless public opinion in Winnebago County and vicinity, so far as could be gathered from the tone of the press, was rather adverse to the Indian mother’s claim. Not long afterwards, however, the bones of a small child were found in a swamp near where the lost boy of the Partridge’s had last been seen. The belief then became general that the boy abducted by the Partridge’s belonged to the Indian woman who had claimed him. Representations on the subject were accordingly made to Dr. HEUBSCHMANN, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, who took up the matter warmly, proceeded to trace the missing boy, and finally found him among some connections of the Partridge family in McHenry, Illinois. Dr. Heubschmann promptly reclaimed him and returned with him to this State on Tuesday. He is described as a bright, intelligent boy, now nearly ten years old, with all the characteristic features of the Indian race. He will no doubt be restored without delay to his mother and tribe. – Mil. Sent.