IL IL - Laurence Harding Jr., 10 weeks, taken from stroller, Chicago, 30 June 1944

[horselightning]

I saw this case on Unsolved Mysteries and was wondering if Geoffrey Harding found his brother. Apparently the baby was taken from his stroller outside the families Chicago appartment building buy a couple of teenage girls who followed the mother home. The neghbor was supposed to be watching the baby but she turned her back for a minuted when one teenager took the baby. The only contact the family had with the kidnappers was a phone call from the kindnappers saying she would return the baby but never did. When Geoffrey read the FBI file years alter he found the FBI had talked to some train porters. A young girl left a baby with old woman at the train station saying she was going to use the bathroom but never returned for the baby. So the lady got on the train with the baby and when she got in St.Louis she told a porter there that she going to Magnolia .AK and if the mother wanted the baby she could find her there. Geoffry went to Magnolia Ak, with a detective and never found anything on the woman. I noticed that the baby isn't listend on any missing child sites , other then a few unsolved mystery sites. I find the story intresting but sad. Anyone ever heard the story before?

 

[horselightning]

Wanted to apologize if I posted this in the wrong place. I'm new here. And this is the first place I could find were I was able to post. I saw all the work people do here on the other old missing kids cases and thought this one should be added. It would be neat if some one could come across some of the old news paper article's on the case and share them here. I find it unusal this case was on such a popular show then nothing was said about it after word.

 

[Backwoods]

Welcome, horselightning!

I'd think this would be the correct place to post about this case. And I agree with you, it is both a sad and an interesting one.

Can't find any MSM links at a quick look (such as might have appeared in recent years, looking back at the crime) and of course someone would have to research contemporary coverage in libraries or online newspaper archives -- some WSers are very good at the latter, I think, and maybe some of them will happen along.

In the meantime, for those who might like to have a look, here's a link to some info about the Unsolved Mysteries episode you watched (think it's OK to post it here -- if not, mods please remove).

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Laurence_Harding_Jr.

 

[horselightning]

I just noticed it was not on here yet. So I though it should be. No missing child should be forgotten.

I thought maybe those old articles in Chicago news might have a pic of the baby. Course being the baby was 10 months maybe a pic was not taken of him yet.

I would think the woman would give her name to the train porter , not just were she was going. Magnolia is a big city. Least had they gotten a name you could look her up in census reports and see if she lived there or if a baby was added to her family at that time. Course the private investigator may have thought of that at the time and with out the womans name could not do it. Would explain trip he and Geoffrey took to Magnolia. AK.

You would think a woman having a baby left with her on a train would be story passed down in a family?

 

[Archangel85]

Laurence Harding Jr is still missing. He would be 71 years old today.

 

[glf]

I will have to see if the episode of Unsolved Mysteries is complete on line. It doesn't ring a bell, which surprises me, I was always a big fan, and thought I had probably seen every episode made at least twice. That has to be one of the most awful things to have to endure. I probably would have died in my tracks. So, is the brother still searching?

 

[Betty P]

I will have to see if the episode of Unsolved Mysteries is complete on line. It doesn't ring a bell, which surprises me, I was always a big fan, and thought I had probably seen every episode made at least twice. That has to be one of the most awful things to have to endure. I probably would have died in my tracks. So, is the brother still searching?

Here's a link with a summary of the story and still photos from the UM episode.

http://unsolved.com/archives/laurence-harding-jr

Also has some quotes from the script for the show

“As my mother was coming home from the market, the two girls were following her, but she… just thought that the two girls were walking down the street as she was going home. And when she pulled into the yard with the baby carriage, she saw a neighbor who lived upstairs. The lady who was supposed to be watching my brother didn’t keep an eye on him long enough. She watched him for a little while and then she kind of turned away. By the time my mother, who was running as fast as she could, got to the alley… the girls were gone.”

 

[pleasestandby]

I just noticed it was not on here yet. So I though it should be. No missing child should be forgotten.

I thought maybe those old articles in Chicago news might have a pic of the baby. Course being the baby was 10 months maybe a pic was not taken of him yet.

I would think the woman would give her name to the train porter , not just were she was going. Magnolia is a big city. Least had they gotten a name you could look her up in census reports and see if she lived there or if a baby was added to her family at that time. Course the private investigator may have thought of that at the time and with out the woman's name could not do it. Would explain trip he and Geoffrey took to Magnolia. AK.

You would think a woman having a baby left with her on a train would be story passed down in a family?

The population of Magnolia in 1944 was between 4,000-6,000. I counted approximately 456 African American individuals in the 1940 Federal Census for Magnolia, AR. There would be almost no way to use the censuses, which come out every ten years, (1940, 1950, etc.), to determine whether a baby was added between 1940-1950 since the 1950 census, which comes out in 2025, couldn't be compared against the 1940 census since the kidnapping took place in 1944. And even then, that would be if the woman even listed the child on the 1950 census.

 

[Rhett]

The other posts say it was Alaska, not Arkansas.

 

[shebbear]

I think that was an error in the abbreviation for the state. The Unsolved Mysteries episode said it was Magnolia, Arkansas.

 

[Richard]

Laurence Harding Jr.
Missing 30 June 1944 from Chicago, IL
LINK:
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Laurence_Harding_Jr.

 

[Sneaker33]

Bumping

 

[Diane Redfern]

I just noticed it was not on here yet. So I though it should be. No missing child should be forgotten.

I thought maybe those old articles in Chicago news might have a pic of the baby. Course being the baby was 10 months maybe a pic was not taken of him yet.

I would think the woman would give her name to the train porter , not just were she was going. Magnolia is a big city. Least had they gotten a name you could look her up in census reports and see if she lived there or if a baby was added to her family at that time. Course the private investigator may have thought of that at the time and with out the womans name could not do it. Would explain trip he and Geoffrey took to Magnolia. AK.

You would think a woman having a baby left with her on a train would be story passed down in a family?

The identity of the older woman could be the key to solve the mystery. I think LE has certain suspicions about her possible identity, but they don't have enough to publicly name her:
"It is also suspected that one of them gave Laurence to an older woman from Magnolia, Arkansas. They have never been identified. The older woman has also never been identified; however, she is not believed to have been involved in the abduction. She is believed to have lived in Magnolia in 1944. At the time, she had nine children."
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Laurence_Harding_Jr.

If they had no idea of her possible identity, they couldn't know she was a mother of nine. I think she is not involved in the kidnapping and maybe she raised Laurence as her own child or placed him in an orphanage.

 

[CastlesBurning]

5 unsolved mysteries from around St. Louis and the Metro East

 

[BWBama85]

If they had no idea of her possible identity, they couldn't know she was a mother of nine. I think she is not involved in the kidnapping and maybe she raised Laurence as her own child or placed him in an orphanage.

Based on the Unsolved Episode, they likely got the information about her having 9 children based on them interviewing the porters who last saw her.