The excellent 1923 adventure of little Jimmie Fisher

Dec. 1—A century ago, little Jimmie Fisher went on an adventure. His Huckleberry Finn-ish-type story is one worth retelling.

Jimmie was a wanderer, adventurous and inventive. Some staffers here at the Times recently stumbled across the news he made when he was 11, in November and December of 1923.

On Nov. 30, 1923, the Watertown Daily Times reported that Jimmie had disappeared. He was last seen leaving Academy Street School. "For five days the little red-headed lad has been missing," the Times reported. "Despite every effort of Chief of Police Edward J. Singleton's department and the forces of Sheriff Ernest S. Gillette, no clue has been uncovered that would indicate even what direction Jimmie went."

Boy Scouts, about 500 of them and all from Watertown, were called in to help with the search. Jimmie, not old enough to be a Scout, had plans of joining the troop at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Scout Executive Ernest M. Blanchard had circulars printed carrying a description and a photo of Jimmie. They were sent to Scout troops in Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester and Utica. Scouts in those cities were to "make a house-to-house canvass and search the boy haunts of their cities for the missing Watertown lad."

The Times noted that Jimmie's mother had died several years before and for a time, the boy lived at the Jefferson County Orphanage. But he had returned home to live with his father, James M. Fisher, and his four siblings. Jimmie was the youngest. They resided in the Solar Building.

On Monday, Dec. 3, 1923, Jimmie was located in Syracuse and was back home two days later.

"Jimmie could give no very definite reason for running away, when he told a disconnected story of his adventures this afternoon," the Times reported. "Apparently, his only reason was that he was dissatisfied with school life because of a slight chastisement he received the morning he went away."

By "fast and friendly" motorists, Jimmie made his way to Adams, where he boarded a bus to Syracuse. While loitering on the streets there, he met "two men who took him to the home of Mrs. King on East Water Street." There, Jimmie gave his name as "Manford Solar" and told the boarders that an aunt had sent him "out in the world" to make his fortune.

Jimmie told the Times that Mrs. King was kind to him and gave him plenty to eat. But other boarders drank heavily and fought frequently, he said. A Syracuse school official visited the boarding house, noticed Jimmie, and ordered him to school.

But going to that Syracuse school began to unravel Jimmie's adventure. His gig was up at recess on the first morning when a Boy Scout walked up to him and told him, "Your name isn't Manford Solar. I know you. You are Jimmie Fisher and your home is at the Solar Building in Watertown."

Jimmie sought more evidence from the Scout about his hunch. "The Scout told him that Scouts all over were looking for him," the Times reported.

Jimmie then decided that the Syracuse school also wasn't for him. He skipped the afternoon session and skedaddled before meeting a resident of Grape Street, Syracuse, and shared a hard-luck story. That person was anxious to adopt him, but sought police counsel before doing so. That proved the undoing of Jimmie's adventure when police notified his father.

"I was thinking of going home anyway," he told the Times. "Syracuse is a rotten city and isn't clean like Watertown."

On the morning of Dec. 5, 1923, Jimmie appeared in Watertown before Judge Harold F. Porter. "He was sent to the Jefferson County Farm School to remain until his habits about remaining at home had improved."

Jimmie didn't agree with that and said he would run away from the Farm School. "Judge Porter, however, told him that he must not make any such attempts. He urged the lad to write and telephone to him often and to communicate with his father likewise." He would then be allowed to return home, the judge told him.

Jimmie, then called James in news reports, made the pages of the Watertown Daily Times again in April of 1937 when he was sentenced to four months in the Onondaga Penitentiary after he pleaded guilty to a charge of public intoxication. Later that year, he was arrested on a similar charge. From then on, Times files on him come up empty.

Watertown Daily Times news clerk Sarah Nichols contributed to this report.