Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1875-09-22
CONVICTION OF ONE OF THE Az
DUCrOr,s OF CHARLEY ROSS.

DUCrOEs OF CHARLEY ROSS.
For more than q week William H.
Westeryelt, charged with completely
in the conspiracy to abduct little
Charley Ross, has been on trial in
Philadelphia. The case was terminal
Ell yesterday and the jury returned a
verdict of guilty on three counts of the
indictment. When the verdict was
brought in, as u telegraphic advices
state, Westervelt completely broke
down and a very touching scene was
enacted between the prisoner and his
wife and child, who were in court con-
stantly during the progress of the
trial. One Henry A. Hartman, a la
borer employed by the New York and
New Bedford Steamship Company, but
formerly of the New York police force,
was the principal witness against him.
Following Is a summary of Hartman's
testimony:
Know W~estervelt; have visited his
house, and saw him every day in the
Summer of 1874; at this time / tended
bar for Mr.. Stromberg, at M. "A Mott
street, the place freqiented by Wester-
welt; saw Mosher there Once and Doug
lass twice, in company with WeStervelt;
first saw them i'm July; thought they
were helping to fix up the bar, and
they were introduced 10 me as Smith
and Henderson,; Douglass was in
Stromberg's place oncea after that; with
this exception witness never saw either
Douglass or Mosher again; I first
heard Of the kidnapping of Charley
Ross about this time; the day 1t
was in the paper Westervelt read it
and told me he would bet two shillines
that he could tell Tome of the parties
who were into it. Witness then told of
y trip which Westervelt made up the
Hudson in August, 1874, and said: He
was absent two days; l saw him upon
his return; he said that he was with
Mosher and Douglass; he told me
they were up the river; he did not say
whereabouts up the river; W~estervelt
told ME one morning, or evening.
rather, to let him know whenever /
saw u chalk mark over the cellar door
at No. "a Mott street; that that WIS a
signal that these parties were in town;
that he knew where to find them then;
this conversation was in the latter part
of September or October, 1874; / re-
member the affair of the killing of
Mosher and Douglass at Bay Ridge; /
saw Westervelt next morning after the
killing, / mean Monday morning; /
went to Brooklyn with him; he re-
100000 n.o 20 r.. he cns1 Il, m /, hn
should be detained by the District At
torney at Brooklyn, for me to go and
tell superintendent Walling that he
was locked up; l had conversation
with him on that trip about Charley
Ross; he told me that those two were
the parties; also, that if he were arrest
ed the child would not live three days;
I asked him, then, IL he knew where it
was, whether it was in a hut or cave or
somewhere; he said he'd never tell;
he said that Mosher had the child up
the river somewhere. where he did not
know; he told me at Brooklyn.
In addition to the above, twenty-four
letters from the kidnappers to Mr..
Ross offering to return his 20 on the
receipt of go. 900, were offered in evi
dence. We see nothing in these com
municstions tending to connect West
ervelt with the abduction, though it
may have been proven that they were
in his handwriting. The letters are
poorly put together, and many of them
exhibit the most narrowing brutality.
They all inform the distracted father
that his son is alive and well, but threat
en- his death, sure and swift, unless the
ransom is forthcoming. The hiding
place of the boy, they assert, can never
be known, and all efforts of detectives
and police officers are Gefied. The
correspondence covers several months,
Mr.. Ross replying through "person-
ais" in the columns OF the Ledger and
Star. 1t may be that the man Wester-
welt, just convicted, was concerned in
the affair, but 1t really appears that he,
too, may have been the victim of a
conspiracy put on foot to secure the
large rewards offered by Mr.. Ross and
his friends for the arrest and convic-
ton Of those concerned in the abduc'
ton Of little Charley.