The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-10-15
Kidnapping A. T. Stewart.

\ very complicated scheme has been devised by
Mr.. Charles Baxter, of the Dealers Protective
Agency of Brooklyn, and some accomplices, to in
veigle Mr.. A. L. Stewart into trouble. \ Mr..
Benjamin, of Brooklyn, was the first to discover
the scheme, whose purpose was to kidnap Mr..
Stewart. Mr.. Benjamin has disclosed that when
he went into the Office of the agency, in Court
street, some days ago, Mr.. Baxter informed him
that he and a few friends had a good thing in
hand, from which they would derive a little profit.
The conspirators were to hire rooms in some lone
some quarter outside the city, where they were
by some means or other to allure, or bring in a
kidnapped condition, the propia perSOnae of A. L.
Stewart. On that gentleman arriving at the
above quarters, one of the party was to point II
pistol at the old ge%ntleman's head, politely de-
manding his signature to certain checks. These
were to be cashed Immediately by one of the ac-
completes, Mr.. Stewart remaining as a hostage
until the money was forthcoming, when he would
be quietly dismissed, after making an oath not to
divulge the circumstances of his capture. Ben
jamin met Baxter again, who assured him that he
and his men were going to make a - pile of
stamps . out of thess A. L. Stewart arrangement -
as he quantity dubbed it. Mr.. Benjamin hardly
regarded what he referred to, as he had regarded
his statements some days before as ocular and
unmeaning.
When Mr.. Benjamin insisted on calling the
matter a hoax, Baxter showed him a letter which
he had written to Mr.. Stewart, in which he stated
Ildt, III dccleIIDS d eIIdl ueG6cIIVe, Ie OveruedrQ
some fellows remark that they had better hurry
up with their plan to kidnap Stewart, as their
funds were not up to the mark. This letter bore
Baxter's signature, as Superintendent of the
Dealers Mutual Protective Agency. He sent
that letter on a Saturday, and ON the following
Monday he received an answer from Mr.. Stewards
counsel, stating that Mr.. Stewart was not accus-
toned to attach any importance to such commu-
nications, but as Baxters note seemed to have
come from a reliable source, it was duly acknowl-
edged. The letter written by Baxter also re-
quested an interview with Mr.. Stewart, and in
the answer written by his counsel, Judge Hilton,
appointed a time and place for Baxter to commu-
nicate personally with him. A short time after
the above occurrences Benjamin again encountered
the mysterious Baxter, who once more began to
dilate on his prospects of mulcting the rich mer-
chant. BENJAMIN then asked Baxter how he was
prepared to act in case MIR. Stewart demanded
whom he had heard speaking of him as the object
of their proposed robbery, whereupon Baxter
named two very respectable young men, who have
since been arrested. Three months after this in
terview, Benjamin again accosted his friend, and
inquired, with a jocose leer, of the result of his
negotiations with A. L. Stewart. Persevering,
Baxter was still confident that IS something would
turn up,'' upon which Benjamin grew seriously
suspicious, and thenceforth abandoned Baxter's
company.
The Protective Agency, of which institution
Baxter called himself Superintendent, proves to
have brought to grief four or five wealthy indi-
yiduals and several firms. A further iBvestiga-
ton of this romantic story will develop circum-
stances of grave interest.-N. Y. Standard.