OPINION | OLD NEWS: Does anyone know what happened to this smiling little girl?

On Page 1 of the July 31, 1921, Arkansas Gazette, J.L. Atkinson urges his missing wife, Margie, to return home because little Marguerite misses her mother. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
On Page 1 of the July 31, 1921, Arkansas Gazette, J.L. Atkinson urges his missing wife, Margie, to return home because little Marguerite misses her mother. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Today we have a tragic mystery ... I think ... presented piecemeal by old newspaper clippings. I hope that Helpful Reader can fill in the gaps and tell us what became of an adorable little girl.

One hundred years and three days ago ... no, wait. Leap years have more days. One hundred years and ... uhhhhh ...

36,527 days ago, the front page of the July 31, 1921, Arkansas Gazette reported a plea from a desperate father under the headline:

Little Margaret Atkinson Wants Mother to Return

A muddy photo with the story shows a smiling moppet in a fluffy white romper, her ankles neatly crossed in striped socks and her feet tidy in white shoes, her posture upright in an elaborately tooled child-size chair. In the headline, her name is Margaret, but in the story, she's Marguerite.

In the story, the Gazette relays a request from her father, J.L. Atkinson, to his missing wife, Mrs. Atkinson, to come home. Of the little girl, the Gazette says:

"For nearly two weeks she has watched at the window for mother's return, but mother hasn't come back."

Atkinson said his wife had left their home in a hotel at 4110 W. Markham St. in Little Rock on July 19 — without apparent cause — and he had not seen her since. He believed she was still in the city.

He was a fireman on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and his duties took him out of town often. Two-year-old Marguerite was well cared for by residents of the house, the report said, but she asked "incessantly" for her mother.

"And just as keenly Atkinson wants his wife to come back. He is bearing a double burden — his child's loss and his own."

Marguerite plays happily by day, but at night there are no "mother hands to bear her up to bed, no mother arms to cuddle her, no mother voice to croon her to sleep." The kind strangers who did all those services lacked "the magic touch of motherhood."

Atkinson says worry and grief attend him through his working hours, and at night he goes home to "the little lonely figure that stirs at his footsteps, opens tear-dimmed sleepy eyes, and murmurs, 'Mama?'" The report concludes:

"So this is written at Mr. Atkinson's request in the hope that it will reach his wife, and the message is just as he gave it:

"Little Marguerite Atkinson wants her mother back."

Holy manipulation, Batman. What kind of spouse wants to shame his beloved partner on the front page of the state's largest newspaper? ... Sadly, every type of spouse, once in a while. But who acts on that impulse? We can wander into conjecture and have a good time imagining a busy or enterprising or inexperienced or sensation-seeking or simply compassionate reporter seizing upon a distraught man's incautious request and blowing it up. But what made Atkinson worthy of the attention?

[Gallery not visible? Click here » arkansasonline.com/82girl/.]

Puzzled, I searched for these people in the archives of the Gazette, the Arkansas Democrat and, for good measure, the Little Rock Daily News, which relished a human interest story about working folks.

J.L. Atkinson appeared in several reports from 1919 to 1922, but we should not be confident I've found everything published. Different people named Atkinson were contemporaries at Little Rock, including a J.S., the brother of our hero. Other Atkinsons in news unrelated to the story of little Marguerite were Dr. Shelby, Paul P. and A.L., a Boy Scout leader.

Also, it would be naive to trust that any story suggested by fragments isn't wishful fiction. This front page nightmare actually happened — to a real child — and she deserves better than to be wished into fiction. She might have family here. They might know a better story.

So for the rest of this space, let's just paraphrase the old clippings:

March 27, 1919, Democrat: J.L. Atkinson and his wife were arrested at their home, 800 1/2 W. Markham, on a Wednesday night. The report said her name was Mamie, but Margie is her name in most stories. She paid her $5 bond and left. He showed up in municipal court in the morning; she didn't.

Atkinson told Judge W.E. Woodruff that he came home late, and then she tied into him. She was subject to "spells," he said. She fought and scratched while he tried to prevent her from demolishing the interior of the house.

Woodruff asked J.L. whether he thought he could dwell in peace with her. He vowed that if he couldn't, he would pack his personal belongings and get out. The judge let him go without a fine.

May 14, 1921, Gazette: J.S. Atkinson, the brother, pleaded guilty to receiving property stolen from an interstate shipment and was fined $100 and court costs.

July 29, Gazette: J.L. Atkinson sued Margie Atkinson for divorce, citing "ill-treatment." The same paper includes a legal notice warning Margie she had 30 days in which to appear before Pulaski Chancery Court. J.L. was represented by Isgrig & Isgrig; Fred A. Snodgress was attorney ad litem.

Aug. 4, Gazette: The suit J.L. Atkinson vs. Margie Atkinson was dismissed.

Aug. 25, Democrat: U.S. Commissioner J.E. Coates set bail for four alleged freight thieves, including J.L. Atkinson. His bond was $2,500. One suspect made bail (only $500), but Atkinson and the two others were taken to Pulaski County Jail, where his 3-year-old daughter, "Margaret," was allowed to visit.

The Gazette did not cover this arrest in August. When it cropped up later in the year in court reports, the Gazette got the date wrong, saying the crime happened in October. The Little Rock Daily News said the crime occurred Aug. 20.

But we can gather that the men were arrested by Missouri Pacific agents who were investigating an earlier crime: $800 pilfered from the mail in a mail car. Somebody informed them there was a pile of stolen cigarette boxes hidden near Higginson, and the agents set up watch at the stash. They moved in when the men arrived and began loading cigarettes into their car.

J.L. was badly wounded while trying to escape. He was struck by No. 4 shot in the face and body but could walk. He was taken to a farmhouse where a doctor treated him until he could be conveyed to Little Rock.

Oct. 23, Gazette: Brother J.S. Atkinson and one Tom Cummings pleaded not guilty in federal court to a charge of possessing whiskey.

Nov. 3, Gazette: A District Court jury found J.L. Atkinson and John W. Porter, former employees of Missouri Pacific, guilty on two counts of stealing an interstate shipment of 14 cases of cigarettes near Higginson in White County. Atkinson and his brother, J.S., were also under indictment in federal court at Helena in connection with the mail train robbery at Parkin in July.

Nov. 3, Daily News: J.L. Atkinson and Porter were sentenced to five years for each of two counts — breaking the shipper's seal on the car and stealing the cigarettes — to be served concurrently at Atlanta. The charge against the Atkinson brothers for the mail theft at Parkin was pending.

J.L. was 38 years old and scarred from his wounds. The News also saw Atkinson's wife and "little zeven-year-old daughter" (zeven??) in court. But can we assume that was Margie and Marguerite? In January 1922, when his brother J.S. was brought to court on his liquor charge, the Daily News reported that his wife and small child were in court for him. J.S. was not tried that day; he was to be transferred to Helena to await trail in the railroad crime. We know he was convicted because ...

Nov. 1, 1923, Gazette: Rose Atkinson filed for divorce from J.S. on the grounds that he had been convicted of a felony.

That's the final item mentioning a J.L. or J.S. Atkinson that I feel sure relates to Marguerite.

And here I stop, my heart full of dismay. Reader, do you know the rest of the story?

Email:

cstorey@adgnewsroom.com

Upcoming Events