The Grange advance., 1874-12-29
The DROWNED BOY.
Was it the Missing Charley Ross!

| lOunQ III newark pay some live weeks
ago was that of Charley Ross does not
seem to meet with much favor from the
| New York police, though that Superin-
tendent Walling gives it some measure
| of attention is shown by the fact that
| detective was occupied all SATURDAY.
in endeavoring to unrayel the N ystery.
| The circumstances attending the finding
| of the body have been related more
than once and, almost always with the
| object of showing that the remains were
| not those of Charley Ross; but, singu-
larly enough, no attention whatever has
been paid to the most suggestive and
suspicious incident in the connection
the body of the boy was dressed in
girl clothes. and every article was en-
t!rely new. This, taken in conjunction
with the unmistak ,ble likeness between
the portrait cf Charley Ross and the
| boy taken from the bay at Bergen
Point, would undoubtedly afford rea-
sonable ground for the supposition that
the boy stolen from Philadelphia met
his death at the hands of his abductors
in the waters of Newark Bay; and this
is the opinion of nearly every one who
saw the body of the drowned boy.
The body was found on the 18th of
last November. The tide had cast it
! upon the rocks at Bergen Point, where
it was first discovered by an old oyster
man, who told Officer Connolly what he
had seen. The remains were taken to
the Morgue, where difference of opin:
ion arose as to the probable age of the
! boy. Chief of Police Whitney thought
he could not have been more than
three or three and half years old,
but he admits that he may have been
| mistaken, and The majority of those
who saw the body fix the age at four
years at the lowest. The hair was
light and silky and cut short; the eyes
were blue, and the forehead hig gh.
Though the remains had been some
weeks in the water, the cheeks were full
and dimpled, though other portions Of
the body had been eaten by fishes. The
clothes, as already mentioned, ,were those
of girl. The stockings, which were
striped red and white, bore the appear.
ance Of never having been washed since
they were purchased. A red and black
wooden hood, which had fallen of the
head, probably by the action of the
water. hung from the neck by a blue
ribbon, the ends of which were fastened
to holes in the hood made with knife.
The dress was also red and black, and
OF the same material as the hood. The
| underclothes were of white flannel, and
the feet were enclosed in clumsy shoes,
! much too large, and such as might
have been purchased at random. 1t
was at first supposed that the remains
| were those of a girl, and when it was
announced by the doctor that this was
not the case, some one suggested thAt
it might be the Ross boy, but at first
very few shared this belief. It is
| worthy of note that at the time the
body was found, Mosher and Douglas
were lying a short distance off the
I shore in their sloop.
NO ONE TO CLAIM THE BOY.
Chief Whitney supposed the child
had fallen into the water from a canal
| boat, and in this belief he inserted ad-
vertisements in several papers, and sent
postal cards bearing description of
the body to all places where such boats
load or discharge. No claimant appeared
for the remains, however, and after the
! inquest, which resulted in verdict of
| accidental death, they were buried by
the county at Snake Hill.
Very soon, however, some one who
had sent a portrait of Charley Ross re-.
| marked the similarity of the features
to those of the boy drowned in the bay.
Residents of Bayonne and Bergen
Point interested themselves in
the matter, and even Chief
Whitney admitted, on seeing the
likeness, that the features were the
| same, and added that if he could believe
that the boy whose body had been cast
ashore was four years old, he would
! certainly incline to the opinion that he
was Charley Ross. On Saturday, the
portrait was shown to several of the
residents of Bergen Point, and every
one Of them was struck by the likeness
to the boy buried at Snake Hill. A
great many entertained no doubt what
ever that the latter was, indeed, Char
ley Ross; Chief Whitney told the
! writer that among the persons who had
seen the body be-, in his opinion, that
it was not that of the missing boy,
stood in . minority of about one to
fifty. Had the hair been off, he said,
| and the expression less animated. the
portrait shown him as that of Charley
Ross would have been an excellent like.
! ness of the boy whose body was cast
ashore.
"A. w. Hedges, postmaster at Ian.
caster, KY, was shot and killed in his