The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-10-22
New YORK wOrll,s PhIlalelphia I.eller.

1116 AAOBAeI nCA pAGB8 ana o0EEOH-SIElC1Loal
and the Father Crazed by His Loss and
the Cruel ISLANDERS of the Gosstps,
New York worlds PhIladelphia Letter.
1t seems as though the Ross abduc-
1 ton case, terrible as it was in itself,
and much as it has shocked and pain
ed the people of the whole country,
must continue to add to its horror one
calamity after another. When the
I lost child was stolen the mother, al.
ready in delicate health, was cast upon
a bed of sickness, from which it was
feared she would never arise. And
then came The scandals, flying thick
and fast, gathering force and ugliness
as they passed from mouth to mouth.
Al first the tongue of calumny was
satisfied to devote itself to the father,
charging upon him more moral slips
and foibles than any one man could
well be guilty of in an average life
/ time. s.-e
Not only was Mr.. Ross assailed as
| business man, but his social standing
was attacked I'M the most cruel man
ner. Soon rumor had spent its ma
! licious coinage upon the father, and
turned with renewed yigor on the
helpless, sorrow-stricken mother. No
body proclaimed these things from
the house-teps nor the public forum !;
but the shocking charges passed from
one gossiper to another (always under
adInonition OF secrecy until the circle
was complete. There was hardly a
mau, woman, or child in this city who
had not heard at least half dozen OF
these stories.f Respectable newspa-
pers turned a deaf ear to them, but at
last sensation-mongers caught, told,
aud spread them before the world. At
that time the family shrank from
conflict with these ud-throWers, and
the calumniators were allowed to go
without molestation. aiA
At last, resolved to improve upon
the lies of more pretentiOus newspa-
pers in larger cities, the Reading Eagle
delivered itself of a choice morsel. |
This article was mahufaes ured with |
such particularly of detail. and was
SO calculated to impress stranger to
the family with its plausibility that |
Mr.. Ross, III justice to himself and |
family, took steps to prove the writer /
of that article or his informant an in
famous calummiator. The public is
familiar with the preliminary proceed
Sings of this case, now pending before
the Courts Itswill be remembered
that Mr.. ami Mrs. Ross, as we'll as Mr..
Lewis, the brother of the latter. deni-
ed under oath all the imputations
against the family. and cleared them
selves fu liy in the eyes of the public.
But the 'calumniator had done his
work fearfully and Enthusiastically. For
several weeks it was plain to be seen
that Mr. Ross was in rapid decline.
Your correspondent saw him frequent
ly, and saw with regret that anguish
was weighing him down. He became
melancholy, morbid. Soon
he was confined 10 his bed, where he
now lies. That is not all he lies
there bereft of reason. crazed with
grief. He knows nothing, remembers
nothing but the loss of his boy and all
The trouble that has followed iii it's
train. At first it was thought that he
had typhoid fever, but there is no
fever there, nothing hut shattered
frame and mental imbecility. He
does not know his wife, and in the
worst paroxysms of his grief drives
her from him. Shortly before reason |
entirely left him he said 81 can bear
he loss of my property and the loss
0f Charley-eVen that God helps me
10 bear-but this SANDER and calumny
against my vile and myself that. !
hat is what breaks me down."