New-York tribune., 1874-08-03
TIE ROSS ABDUCTION CASE.

Il
A RECORD OF DETECTIVES sTUPIDrY-A MONTH
GONE BY AND NOTHING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
RUMORs SET AFLOAT.
IFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 1, 184.-The amount
OF buuglng and downright stupidity on the part OF INC
police, and of humbug and sensatonasm on the part
of certain newspapers developed by the Ross abduction
case passes comprehension. After nearly months
steady work the so-ealled detectives have detected
nothing unless the Allentown cew, which was thrust
under their by the reporters shall turn out to be
a real They began working tho case as II It had
been affair OF stealing overcOat out OF hail. OF
plundering clothes line. All the doubtful and disrep
utable houses IN tho city were pulled" ana lew
dozen suspicious characters OF class incapable OF pa
ming such a novel and daring crime, overhaued
Then stables searched to find the buggy In when
the kdnsppers carried OFF their prize II was not re-
markabe buggy. and there probably hundreds like
ii III Philadelphia, but the public were demanding
that the detectives should do something, ana
they did not know what else TO do.
Failing find any suspicious vehicle they waited for
something 10 turn up for somebody TO suggest the
org or q faint resemblance of clew to the mystery
so obging they that they willing to work on
anybody's theory aud were constantly jumping from
one to another and losing precious time following up
supposed traces which were too dubious for serious at
tenon. The stupid idea that the boy was concealed In
the city which the detectives held pertnaciousy for
fortnight the long delay of the Mayor in offering re-
ward, aud the clumsy efforts to keep the city papers
from publishing the facts. gave the kidnappers ample
time 10 traverse the country to place OF safety II
the police of all the towns within radius of 800 miles
from Philadelphia had been put the alert as
soon as the child was stolen the robbers could not have
escaped As 1t was, OF Philadelphia they had
nearly a week to reach destination they may have
selected and perfect their plans FOR concealment And
81 do fffs~ga hf.rra
absolutely nothing to show for their months work.
They have not traced the buggy with the kidnappers
nge square beyond the whore the elder
Ross boy put down To feed and fan the sensation,
many of newspapers have spread before the public
daily OF corner loafers' gossip, old women's
Stories and reporters specuation which have served
admirably to obscure the New York illustrated
paper Published portrait OF Walter Ross, the brother,
that of Charley, the stolen boy. Several papers have
printed rough wood-cuts of Charley, made from a pho
tog1aph taken when he was two years old. The cut
does not look like the Photograph, and the photo
graph bears only slight resemblance to the boy he
looks now at four years and half These pictures nat
uray led people astray aud made 1t all tue easier for
the robbers to escape instead OF aiding in their deec
ton. Between the bunglng police ana the sensational
papers. and public uniformed OF the crime at hrst
aud wrongly informed afterwards, it is wonder that
the affair still remains much OF enigma
Meanwhile the class OF people who doubt that there has
Uecn ana DcllcVe lnat tue cnd Is
In the hands Of friends who have taken him away for
purposes of their own, increases constantly, and would
be much larger If 1t not for natural feeling the
part OF the conscientious people that IL better to cling
to false theory Of the case than TO run tho risk Of
wrongng the parents by entertaining suspicious which
time might prove to be cruelty unjust Nevertheless tho
detectives ought TO have looked at the from the
first in all its possible aspects and worked carefully
the two three dferentheores conceivable to
Tort of cfpaHo NJ vino
exclusively the which looked probable-tha of
Kidnapping for a ransom.
The full faith now placed In the supposed Allentown
clew by the police is evidence that they have no
of the party after they put the elder boy Of the
buggy. According to the story worked up by the
potter in Allentown, brought child into that
city the train from Harrisburg about week after
the abduction took place. purchased suit Of clothes
for the boy furnishing store, and had his hair cut in
a barber shop. AT this late day the people who saw
transactions got into their heads that the
child looked like Charley Ross. and that the acted
suspciously, and the enterprsng reporters have an
alyzed the notion and made the most of the
70 the leading questions they addressed tho willing wit
nesses. The mprobabty of one of the kidnappers
running about the country with the child under his arm
travelling the railroads aud visiting large towns
where the police might be supposed To be on the alert
for him. does not appear have struck anybody In all
probability the Western drover, as he pre-
tended TO be, ana had come Eist Win cattle Ihs
would account Tor the dirty and unkemp appearance Of
the child.
At last likeness OF the missing boy has been Issued
that is supposed to bear resemblance to him.
painter has taken tho woyear-od photograph and by
the aid of the descriptions given by the family has fin
ished portrait which Is pronounced to be remarkably
good The Age published good wood-cut made from
this picture in its illustrated sheet OF yesterday and i'm
pressons thick paper hawked about the streets
by newsboys and sold by the thousand at five cents
each,