McGregor runaway boys, 1875

LAMPSON, CLARK, CLARKE, HOPER

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 5/18/2021 at 21:26:33

Dubuque Daily Times, Saturday, June 19, 1875, Dubuque, Iowa, Page: 4

The Runaway Boys

A few days ago we reported the fact that three boys of McGregor had left respectable homes in that city and ran away on some dime novel sort of an expedition down the river. They fitted out a boat, had a full supply of provisions, guns, etc., and were prepared to live a wild sort of life, after the fashion of some of the heroes of their dime novels. They were seen by a Dubuque gentlemen encamped on an island in the river near Specht’s Ferry. The names of the lads are Charley Lampson, Henry Clark and Frank Hoper, one of them the son of the mayor of McGregor. They left home on Friday night of last week. The NEWS said their armament,- which had mainly been procured through a means which, for the sake of courtesy we will call borrowing, - consisted of three shot guns, two rifles, three revolvers, a rusty old musket, and an old bell-mouthed blunderbuss, a jug of whiskey and a wash tub full of cigars. This precious trio had $120 in money, with which they proposed to go to Florida and buy 60 acres of land covered as thick as they could stand with orange trees, each tree bearing a million bushels of fruit. When they got as far as Specht’s Ferry, however, they found the nights colder than they expected, and wrote home a broad hint that if a special train of palace cars should be sent after them, they might possibly be induced to forgive the old folks once more, and defer their voyage until the nights grew warmer. These boys subscribe in common for a nasty little paper known as the Boys’ and Girls’ Weekly, out of which they filled their heads with an unutterable mess of nonsense, and this silly freak is the result. Mr. Clarke is now absence making terms with the younger buccaneers, and they will probably be home in a few days.