The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-09-21
wESTERVELT AND HIN WIFE
Poverty one OF the InSepRrabIc
Conditions Of Crime.

The trial Of Westeryelt, charged with
being accessory to the abduction Of Char
ley Ross, has brought out In strong re.
lief the peculiar phases Of criminal life.
The characters who figure In this most
extraordinary tragedy are excellent
types Of the class 10 which they be.
long. Mosher and Douglass were pro.
lesSional burglars, and had all the Gun.
ming that distinguishes the successful
housebreaker. Neither were they def.
cient In brute courage. They moved
about stealthily like foxes, but when re.
sisted and broughtto bay they fought like
tigers. The correspondence that Mosher
kept up with Mr.. Ross shows him 10 have
been a person Of keen intelligence, but
exceedingly illiternte. Ills stratagems
for surrendering the captured boy and
receiving the ransom, without exposing
himself 10 the danger oi being arrested,
were singularly ingenious. The writer's
Of plays Of the "Jack Sheppard" order
could not improve on some Of the plots
devised by this Ignorant, brutal kidnap-
per.
Although these men were constantly
engaged In dangerous enterprises, and
sometimes carried of considerable booty
from the houses they plnndered, they
we're miserably poor. Their families
lived in wretched novels, and were some.
times on the verge Of starvation.
Mosher and Westefvelt have waged
perpetual war with society, but in spite
Of their crimes and their debased mode
of life, they seemed to have retained the
domestic affections. Their wives speak
Of them with tenderness. Even in
the homes Of thieves and burglars
and kidnappes there appears TO
be even such n thing as conjugal
COtlstanCy. Mosher married very young
girl without the consent Of her parents,
and in her frequent interviews with news
paper reporters his widow has never in
timated that she tepented Of her folly.
On the contrary, there IL SOME reason to
believe that her devotion 10 her late hus.
band has 10 some extent corrupted her
own nature, and II seems probable that
abe knows more about the fate Oi poor lit.
lie Charley Ross than She Ii willing to
tell.
Mrs. Westetvelt was married at the age
Of sixteen, and Is still a young woman.
Although she Ia under indictment for be.
Ing concerned in the Charley Ross affair,
and Is further disqualified from being a
witness by reason Of her marital relations
with the accused, she nevertheless Was al
lowed 10 testify In behalf Of her husband,
the counsel for the Commonwealth max.
ing no objection. No doubt The picture
which she gave Of her home.lie was en-
tirely true, although her testimony con.
cefning some more essential matters
was probably false. The family, which
consisted Of WestetVelt, his wife,
and two children, occupied a couple Of
rooms in tenementhouse, for which
they paid 81 per month. Like most OF
the great criminals Of New York, Wester.
velt was al one time on the police force,
and for some time before the abduction Of
Charley Ross had been ont Of employ
ment. The object Of calling his wife to
the Witness-stand was 10 show that he was
not in Philadelphia during the last week
Of June, 1874, and that he was at home on
the 9Th Of July, when Miss Peers says
she saw him and Charley Ross In
Brooklyn street car. The poor
woman pretended 10 identify the days
by an accident that often occurs in pot.
efty stricken homes. The time for pay.
Ing the rent was approaching, and they