The children ranged in age from about six to 18 and shared a common grim existence. Homeless or neglected, they lived in New York City's streets and slums with little or no hope of a successful future. Their numbers were large - an estimated 30,000 children were homeless in New York City in the 1850s.

Charles Loring Brace, the founder of The Children's Aid Society, believed that there was a way to change the futures of these children. By removing youngsters from the poverty and debauchery of the city streets and placing them in morally upright farm families, he thought they would have a chance of escaping a lifetime of suffering.

He proposed that these children be sent by train to live and work on farms out west. They would be placed in homes for free but they would serve as an extra pair of hands to help with chores around the farm. They wouldn't be indentured. In fact, older children placed by The Children's Aid Society were to be paid for their labors.

The Orphan Train Movement lasted from 1853 to the early 1900s and more than 120,000 children were placed. This ambitious, unusual and controversial social experiment is now recognized as the beginning of the foster care concept in the United States.

Orphan Trains stopped at more than 45 states across the country as well as Canada and Mexico. During the early years, Indiana received the largest number of children. There were numerous agencies nationwide that placed children on trains to go to foster homes. In New York, besides Children's Aid, other agencies that placed children included Children's Village (then known as the New York Juvenile Asylum), what is now New York Foundling Hospital, and the former Orphan Asylum Society of the City of New York, which is now the Graham-Windham Home for Children.

Some of the children struggled in their newfound surroundings, while many others went on to lead simple, very normal lives, raising their families and working towards the American dream. Although records weren't always well kept, some of the children placed in the West went on to great successes. There were two governors, one congressman, one sheriff, two district attorneys, three county commissioners as well as numerous bankers, lawyers, physicians, journalists, ministers, teachers and businessmen.

The Orphan Train Movement and the success of other Children's Aid initiatives led to a host of child welfare reforms, including child labor laws, adoption and the establishment of foster care services, public education, the provision of health care and nutrition and vocational training.

Resources
The last generation of Orphan Train riders is still living in towns across the United States. They keep in touch with each other through the National Orphan Train Complex and through Children's Aid. Based in Concordia, Kansas, the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America helps members establish and maintain family contacts, retrace their roots and preserve the history of the Orphan Train Movement.

The Victor Remer Historical Archives of The Children's Aid Society
Important historical records can be accessed via The Guide to the Records of The Children's Aid Society (1853-1947). This guide contains materials pertaining to emigration programs such as the Orphan Train, foster care and adoption programs operating between 1853-1947, annual reports to 2006, a small collection of materials from 1948-1951, and The Children's Aid Society lodging houses, industrial schools, convalescent homes, health centers and farm schools.

Apr. 3,1901  New York Times

Conductor Recognizes Willie Mccormick's

Photograph.

Father Receives Message from " Kidnapper,"

and Police Watch Ransom

Deposited at Place Indicated.

Capt. Gannon of the High Bridge Police

Station admitted last night that he and his

Detectives had come to the conclusion that

Ten-year-old "William McCormick, Jr., who

Disappeared from his home In Ogden Avenue

March 27, had been kidnapped. At the

same time, however, Capt. Titus, at Police

Headquarters, announced that Detective

O'Connell of his staff, had been informed

by John Murray, a conductor on the Bay

Ridge trolley line, that a boy answering

the lad's description had boarded his car

on Thursday morning.

Murray readily identified the boy from a

photograph. He said that McCormick got

on the car at 11:15 o'clock, at Thirty-ninth

Street, Brooklyn, and rode to Fifth Avenue

and Eightieth Street. Other passengers

left the car and Murray said he had

a talk with the little fellow, who said that

his father was a gardener living at Eighth

Avenue and One Hundred and Thirty-third

Street. He said that he had spent the preceding

night close to Buffalo Bill's camp at

Ambrose Park, and had left because another

boy was shot in the eye by a stray

bullet. He said that he was going where

there were more horses, and Murray thinks

he meant to go to the Coney Island race

tracks.

A watchman at Ambrose Park confirmed

the story of the other boy being shot, but

-was unable to give further particulars, and

t h e police tried without avail to locate the

wounded lad, hoping to gain Information

from him.

Mr. McCormick, the boy's father, on Monday

received a letter and a postal card,

which have greatly increased his fears.

Both were clumsily written, and the letter

read as follows:

New York City, March HI, 1901.

Dear Mr. McCormick: 1 have kidnapped your

"William. Now, I want you to get 5200 in gold

and put the money in a red cloth and then tie it

•up and put the little packet in a square mail at

the northeast corner of Third Avenue and One

Hundred and Thirty-fifth .Street. Don't tell the

police. If you do, -we -will bum the boy's eye

out, and if you put the money there and don't

tell the police you will have your boy in thirtyeight

hours, and If you refuse our order we -will

burn the boy's eye out and burn him to death.

Yours truly, KIDNAPPER.

The postal card came by the same mail

and was in the same writing. It read:

April 1. 1801.

Dear Sir: I forgot in the letter to tell you

•when to come at Third Avenue and One Hundred

and Thirty-fifth Street. The square pail

Is in the large boiler in the northeast corner, and

do not come before 8 o'clock to-night.

Truly. " KID."

The communications, which had been

mailed through Postal Station R, at Third

Avenue and One Hundred and Fiftieth

Street, were turned over to the police, who

pronounced them to be the -work of some

heartless April, fool joker. Capt. Gannon

attached so much Importance to them, however,

that he caused Detectives Brownell

and Olnan to take $200 In gold to the spot

indicated, where they found the square pail.

They put the money in it and set a -watch

for many hours, but no one came near

Up to. 2 o'clock this morning no word of

the missing boy had been received at his

home. A neighbor: Oscar villgrerodt, has

offered $1,000 reward for any clue that will

lead to the boy's recovery.

April 23,1901 New York Times

Laborer Foiled Murderous Plot of

a Man and Woman.

HIS RESCUE OF THE INFANT

McAvoy Saw the Couple Hurry Into

Lonely Woods and Pursued Them

—Two Arrests Made.

Patrick McAvoy, a laborer of the town

of Hastings, yesterday discovered a man

and a woman attempting to bury alive a

two-weeks-old infant in some dense woods

half a mile north Of Yonkers. Just in time

to save the child's life, McAvoy succeeded

In disinterring It, the would-be murderers

having fled from the new grave when

they say their victim's rescuer pursuing

them.

The child was on the point of death when

taken out of the grave and McAvoy grasped

It In his arms, darted to a suburban surface

line not far off, jumped 'aboard a car,

cried to the motorman to speed as fast as

he could, reached a drug store In Hastings,

and at last saw his helpless charge revived

by artificial means.

After the laborer had told Chief of Police

Murray of his rescue of the Infant,

describing the two persons who had perpetrated

the crime, a search was instituted,

and the Chief telephoned to every town in

the neighborhood and to this city. Later

In the day two arrests were made. The

prisoners gave their names as Francesca

Spinella, an unmarried woman, of this

city, and Givio Buttacavalo, a married

man, with a wife and three children, of

First Street, between First and Second

Avenues, in the latter's possession was

found a letter, directed to " Butta Cavalo,

1U0 Orchard Street, New York, top floor,

Door No. 0." This was signed " Antonia

E. Dordi," and the police of Hastings think

this Is the name of their prisoner.

The prisoners were locked up in the

county jail at White Plains, after they

had had a hearing before Justice Tompkins

in Hastings, and had been committed to

await the action of the Grand Jury on the

charge of attempted Infanticide.

McAvoy yesterday was at work for the

Hastings Street Improvement Department,

half a mile north of the Yonkers City line.

Just at that point there is a stretch of

thick woods, and it is rare for a trolley car

to stop in passing. But as McAvoy stood

at the edge of the broad road between the

two towns, resting after his midday luncheon,

he heard the bell of a car ring for a

stop. Then he looked up. A man and woman

stepped from the car. The latter carried

a bundle under one arm. Both looked

straight ahead, seemed not to see that

they were watched, and darted Into the

woods toward the ravine of Rawley's

Brook, along which runs the New York

Central Railroad.

In telling of his experience afterward,

McAvoy said that a sort of superstitious

premonition crept over him as the man and

woman vanished amid the gloomy glades.

He thought, also, that he heard the smothered

wail of a child.

McAvoy hesitated. Then he dropped his

pick and started after the couple. After a

few steps he quickene'd his pace, for excited

words were wafted' to him and something

that sounded like a woman's sob. The laborer,

excited to the highest pitch by this

time,; "began, to.)'.run-., and within another

minute or two he c|me full upon the man

and woman, who were standing close together,

stamping on a little patch of earth

that had-been' dug up and then recovered.

They saw their pursuer and fled, but not

before he noted that the woman's hair was

of a bright-red color, set off conspicuously

by her costume of solid black. Her companion,

dark complexioned and small in size,

was also clad in sombre garments.

Hurrying to the spot • where they had

stood. McAvoy seized a fallen tree limb

and burrowed with It in the soft earth.

Two feet under the surface he came upon

a bundle, apparently of cloth, which he

pulled out of the little grave. In it was the

baby, around the head of which a cape was

wrapped in such a way that no dirt had

come into direct contact with the face. A

faint twitching and barely perceptible motion

of the heart told the rescuer that there

was still life in the little body, and he

started back toward the trolley line, running

as if his own life depended upon his

speed.

" The grave they had dug for the babe,"

the man said, in telling the Chief of Police

Of Hastings his tale, " was so small that

the body could not be laid lengthwise in it,

but was all curled up, so that the feet

nearly touched the head."

After he had described as well as he

could the man and woman, the search began.

Meanwhile the car from which the

fugitives had alighted had returned to

Yonkers and then gone back to Hastings

again. Here Motorman 'William Welch

heard the story. Once more he started

for Yonkers, and before he had traversed

half the distance he was signaled to stop

by two persons whom he was sure he recognized

as the ones who had gotten off

his ear several hours previously with the

bundle. They boarded the car. The conductor

and motorman consulted, and it

was decided not to stop for anything until

a policeman should appear In sight. Officer

Archer was soon overtaken, and he, together

with two others of his squad, arrested

the two passengers. The latter

made no protest as they were being taken

to Yonkers Police Headquarters. The girl

answered the description given by McAvoy

and the motorman. Her companion wore

good clothes and a light fedora hat.

Both of the prisoners said at first that

they could not speak English, and an interpreter

was called. Later, as the girl was

about to go into the matron's room, she

drew back suddenly and said in excellent

English:

" I'm afraid; it's dark in there."

From street car transfers found on the

man it was inferred that the couple had

come by way of Mount Vernon, having

transferred to the cars thither at One

Hundred and Twenty-ninth Street and

Third Avenue. They were speedily transferred

to Hastings and examined before

Justice Tompkins. The Infant, meanwhile,

was intrusted to Postmaster Mills, and later

to the janltress of the kindergarten school.

The police of this city made some inquiries

regarding the prisoners last night, and It

was found that at 160 Orchard Street Francesca

Spinalla lived - with her mother, a

brother, twenty-eight years, old, who Is a

barber, and a younger brother. Last night

the girl's mother was In a semi-hysterical

condition. Her older brother at first denied

all relationship to the girl, but finally

admitted she was his sister. He said that

so far as the family knew, the girl was not

married, but that the man under arrest

was married and lived with his wife and

three children in First Street. The girl's

father has been in a hospital for two years

suffering from an incurable disease.