The June 9, 1956 issue of the Saturday Evening Post carried an article called “Have You Seen This Baby?,” about a child who disappeared from his mother’s grocery cart while she was shopping in the next aisle.
This story has haunted me since I read it when it first appeared (I was 8 at the time), and I’ve often wondered if the mystery was ever solved.
I’ve tried a few Google searches with no luck; I know I’d have a better chance if I could find a copy of the magazine to get the names of the people involved, and the city, etc.
Was it common back then to leave your kids outside while you shopped? Surely children were allowed in stores right? I’m not judging anyone of course, just wondering.
According to my grandmother, at least, this was very common. You’d see lines of strollers outside stores, with babies inside. She says the aisles were too narrow to gracefully accomodate the pre-umbrella stroller type stroller, and no one imagined someone would make off with your baby while you were shopping.
I’ve even seen black and white photos of this, but I’m not finding them on Google.
Thanks WhyNot. It seems like people’s toddlers would try to wander away all the time. I guess maybe there were more people outside who would stop them. Interesting how times change.*
*This is about the practice itself, not about runaway tots. Most people wouldn’t let that happen today either.
No. First I did a Google search for the Saturday Evening Post site and found only discussion boards for old people’s diseases. (The magazine is for geriatrics only nowadays).
Then I searched for “Saturday Evening Post” “Have You Seen This Child” and found several magazine dealers with the issue in question. (A picture of the boy is in the corner of the cover).
Thanks to the rest of you for completing the detective work for me!
Actually it is still common in other parts of the world. I recall reading a newpaper article a couple of years ago about a mother from Denmark who was arrested in New York for leaving her child in a stroller while she went into a restaurant. It seems that where she came from this was still a common practice. Or at least that is what the article said.
I can vouch that kids were left in strollers outside back then, as I recall seeing them.
It is still widely practiced in Europe. In fact, a European couple visiting Colorado learned the hard way that we don’t do that here. They left their stroller outside a store and went inside. By the time they came back the police were there in force and the parents were arrested for child abuse. (the kid was fine). They had a terrible time getting home. The courts didn’t want to let them leave in spite of extensive (negative) publicity about the ignorant Americans in their home country. (Austria I believe, but am not sure). IIRC, they promised to take good care of their children and thankfully got back home safe.
Going off what I heard (and I wasn’t really paying attention) he started getting suspicious many years ago, and then something is mother said just before she died made him very suspicious.
