Clay County AlArchives News.....Argo, Child lost in the Woods for 24 Hours July 28, 1938
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Linda Ayres http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00031.html#0007674 March 10, 2023, 3:53 pm

Ashland Progress July 28, 1938
Intense excitement prevailed in Ashland early Tuesday afternoon when reports 
reached this city that Christine, the 2-year-old child of Mr. and Mrs. Richard 
Argo, of Birmingham, had wandered away from the home of relatives near 
Millerville, and was feared lost in the woods and mountains. The child, with an 
elder sister had been visiting in the home of Mr. and Mrs. 0. M. Humphries on 
the Good-water highway, about eleven miles south of Ashland, for the past two 
weeks, and it was while at the wash place Tuesday morning that Christine wanted 
water and was told to go to the home of her grandmother, Mrs. Bud Humphreys, a 
short distance away. The little girl did not return and a search by the family 
failed to reveal its whereabouts. It was then that the alarm was sent out and a 
searching party of about 400 men, women and children from Millerville, Ashland 
and Lineville, including the CCC boys from Ashland, was mobilized. The parents 
of the lost baby were notified at their home in Birmingham, and arrived on the 
scene at 1:00 a.m., Wednesday. During the night the searchers were joined by the 
negro CCC boys from a Talladega County camp, and at 4:00 a.m. the Ashland fire 
siren was sounded, and many local citizens came to town to investigate. When 
told of the situation, many of these went to the scene and joined in the hunt 
for the lost little one. During the night, Sheriff W. M. Mayo, who directed the 
search secured bloodhounds from Montgomery and endeavored to track the child, 
but so many people had gone over the ground the dogs were unable to pick up the 
trail. As daylight came Wednesday, and the child had not been found, a call went 
out for more searchers to join those already in the woods. Mr. R. P. Moore, 
director of the PWA forces in the county, instructed his crew of workmen to join 
in the hunt. Truck after truck of these men was dispatched to the vicinity where 
the child had wandered away. The men were divided into groups and spread out in 
fanshape over the woods and mountains. At about 8:30, Horace Alexander, a member 
of the State Highway Department Maintenance crew, and whose home is in 
Lineville, found her walking along the side of a mountain road, about three 
miles from where she had left the day before. The little girl was picking 
flowers and had on no clothes except a pair of briar-torn bloomers, she was 
wearing when she left her aunt's home. Her body was badly scratched from having 
wandered through the briars and bushes. With this exception, and besides being 
tired, hungry and sleepy, she was the worse for having spent nearly 24 hours in 
the woods ana mountains, which are said to be heavily infested with 
rattlesnakes, wildcats, and other wild animals. It is considered almost a 
miracle that she was found alive, as that section is heavily wooded, and the 
streams were badly swollen on account of the recent heavy rains. It is also a 
wonder that she did not fall from some of the steep precipices on the mountain 
sides. Those who were present when the child was restored to the frantic 
mother's arms, state that it was one of the most touching scenes they had ever 
witnessed, and grown men wept as they witnessed the happy return of the baby to 
its family. The spirit with which the people of the entire county joined in the 
search is to be commended.

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