The Lake County star., 1874-12-31

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house Of JudgeVan Brunt, at Bay Ridge,
Long Island. The house at Bay Ridge
where the burglary was committed Is
the summer residence OF Judge Van
Brunt. His brother Holmes Van Brunt,
livesin amore comfortable modern build
ing, separated from the Judges residence
by a small piece of boundary lawn.
When the Judge was closing up his
house at the end of the season, he very
prudently furnished il with burglary
alarm telegraph, which conveys informa-
ton of the slightest interference with
any ofits doors or windows into the bed
room of Mr.. Holmes Van Brunt, in the
adjoining house.
One morning, last week, at two O. clock,
this alarm-bell rang the changes violently.
Mr.. Van Brunt and his wife and daughter
were awake and heard it, the old gentle
man being on bed of sickness and gen.
eral wakefulness, from which he has suf-
fered for two or three weeks, and the
ladies being in attendance on a sick child.
Up stairs and asleep was Mr.. Albert Van
Brunt, grown-up son of the old gentle
man, whom Miss Van Brunt, called i'm
mediately. When he came down stairs
the father said: ALBERT, go over and
see what has sounded that alarm guess
the wind has blown open one of those
blinds again"---an occurrence which had
more than once before caused the bell to
ring. Albert complained little about
having to step down and out all alone,
but, remembering the old gentleman's
illness, he went, nevertheless, first taking
the precaution to put pistol in his
pocket. Approaching his uncle's house,
he noticed lickering light through the
blinds of one of the windows. He re-
turned, told his father about the. light,
who summoned sufficient strength under
the emergency, to accompany his son,
with some recruits picked up on the way,
the gardener and the hired man. Ap-
preaching the back door, Mr.. Van Brunt
ordered the hired man to open it quickly.
He proceeded to obey, but in trying to
get the key into the keyhole he made
noise which the burglars heard. Their
light went out Immediately, and their
footsteps were heard descending the Gel
lar stairs.
Mr.. Van Brunt and his man moved
toward the trap-door of the cellar. This
was soon opened and the body of man
protruded, followed by the head Of an
other. Van Brunt cried out, Stand!"
and called to his son and companions to
stand still and "look out" In response
to his command two pistol-shots from the
cellar-door flashed almost in his face, but
nothing hit him. He then leveled his
revolver at the foremost man and pulled,
and a cry Of agony followed. The other
man fired at him second time and then
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dashed almost into the arms of young
Van Brunt, at whom he fired two more
shots, luckily missing him, also. The
fellow having got between Albert and
the white wall, the latter could see the
arm raised for another shot, but before
it could be fired the arm was struck
down and broken near the elbow, by a
blow from Mr.. Van Brunts shotgun,
which was also smashed. Changing the
pistol to his left hand, and calling his
ad, ersary vile name, the burglar at
tempted to fire again, but before he could
do so young Van Brunt had whipped out
his revolver and sent bullet into his
would-be murderers breast. The bur-
glar staggered, received another bullet
in his head, and fell. Meantime, the
villain from whom the elder Van Brunt's
bullet had brought the howl of pain con-
tinued to fire away in the dark, and the
hired man replied with discharge from
his shotgun. In short as far as any of
the survivors can remember, the firing
became general, the only thing really
known after the second or third shot
being the gratifying fact that, while none
of the defenders of the Judges property
were hurt, the two burglars were liter
ally riddled with bullets. One was
stone dead, with his empty seven-shooter
under his head the other lived until
five o'clOck-about two hours.
A number of neighbors came rushing
to the place, and got there by the time
the shooting was over. Among them was
a sailor named Herkey, who entered into
conversation with the younger of the
two thieves who was still alive. To this
sailor the still surviving burglar made a
confession. asked him who he was"
said the sailor, and he said his name
was Joseph Douglass, and that he was a
single man, having no relations except a
brother and sister, whom he had not seen
for fifteen years. Mosher (his companion
in felony), he said, was a married man,
and had five children. Then he said,
It's no use lying now; helped to steal
Charley Ross When / heard this /
sent right away to get all the people l
could, so that the evidence that he
might give would be fully established.
He said that he helped Mosher to steal
Charley Ross; that he was in the buggy
with Mosher when they stole him.
Mosher knows all about it. said he.
told him that Mosher was dead, and
asked him to tell me the particulars.
Inspector Walling knows said he. 'and
the boy will get home all right
questioned him further, but could not
| get anything more out of him, as he
was suffering so terribly that he could
not talk"
1t appears that the appearance of the
burglars answer the description of
Charley Ross abductors.
On receipt of the news of Douglass
confession regarding the abduction IF
Charlie Ross, Superintendent W9lling
dispatched detective Silleck to Bay
Ridge. "That," said the detective, the
moment he looked at the bodies, is Bill
Mosher, and that is Joe Douglass. Take
the glove off that left hand and you'll
find withercd finger" The glove was
removed, and truly the withered finger
was there. In Philadelphia, the news of
the discovery of the abductors of Charlie
Ross caused the most intense excitement,
and every report was seized upon by the
public with avidity. Intelligence was
first received here from Superintendent
Walling, of New York; and the facts in
the affair were subsequently obtained
~A In, 10 ost ,hfS hou
been cognizant OF the movements made.
panied in their search by officer Wood,
and his statement in reference to the
identity of the dead burglars is valuable.
1t is declared that in the latter part Of
July, Walling sent an officer here to COM
municate with our police authorities and
then it became known that Mosher and
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