Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-01-28

conducted from New York and
Brooklyn, and the detectives had
nothing but their own devices to fall
back upon.
MISHAPs OF THE DETECTIVES.
Ali sorts of trials were "run out
by the detectives. The sharp. un-
sparing, criticisms of the press in re-
gard to the conduct of the case
spurred them on to redeem their rep
utation and the fail fame of the de-
tective force in Philadelphia. The
men who happened to be driving
buggies about Germantown during
the week preceding the abduction
had a hard time of it. One mysteri-
Gus party, consisting of five men and
4 woman, were tracked around the
district They put up at country
taverns, and no Ole seemed to know
their business. On the very day Of
the kidnapping it was found, curious
ly enough, that two of the met left in
a great hurry, driving off in a buggy,
while the woman left in u railway
train at the same time. The other
men had mysteriou ly disappeared
some time before. Now the detec-
tives thought the scent was found
After an immense amount of work,
the fact was suddenly brought to
light that these mysterious people,
instead of being thieves, were en-
gagged IN very innocent business
Nearly every one whom they meet
had been asked strange questions, as
to who lived in certain houses, wheth
er they were owners or tenants, etc.
But this was all explained when it
was shown that they were merely
sellers Of trees and shrubs for a New
Jersey nursery. Another mysterious
man with buggy turned out to be
thief, VINO had been engaged in a
series of petty robberies near Ger
mantown, but did not further the III.
vestlgation into the Charley Ross at-
fair The letters were made to serve,
if possible, as a clue, after an entirely
unsuccessful attempt to find where
the horse and buggy in question were
kept. There was also an interesting
search into the chirography of vari
Gus hotel registers in Philadelphia
1t was discovered that about the time
Of the abduction, two men entered
Their names at certain hotel in the
peculiar chirography which character
lied the missives from the kidnap-
perrS. The movements of the men
were suspected, their characters were
bad, and, more than all, they had
visited Germantown in buggy
The detectives traced these men, after
a search very skilltiully conducted,
only to find that they had once more
been Oh the wrong scent. The men
proved to be "stud pigeons" for gam
bling houses, which explained their
mysterious conduct; but nothing
could be brought forward which in
the least implicated them with the
Ross affair. The authorities inspect
ed every house in Philadelphia and
its neighborhood in search of the
child and its cal tors, but without dis
covering the slightest clue to their
whereabouts.
THE DETECTIVES ARMY
or WAITS SUPPOSED TO RE CHARLEY.
As may be imagined, these repeat
cd failures of the detectives were the
subject of much newspaper discus
sion. The most pointed charges were
brought, not only against the police,
who were said to be i'll the pay of the
thieves, but against Mr.. Ross himself,
his whole family, and his creditors.
1t would be profitless to recount the
baseless charges which were trumped
up. They had fictitious importance
in the eyes of the public, from the
ill-succcss Of the public investigation.
When the case was gwen to private
detectives, an unfortunate disagree
ment occurred between them and the
regular authorities which sadly de-
layed the prosecution of the inquiry
and gave crcdence to Il thousand wild
and absurd rumors. In the mean
time, Charley Ross was being regu-
larly discovered all over the country.
In some cases absurd and stupid
blundcrs were made, and hundreds
of innocent people caused unncces-
sary trouble. Once or twice, how
ever, the child seemed actually to
have been discovered. At Benning-
ton, VT, a little child was found, who
was travelling with a woman through
the country. He not onl y resembled
the child described in the police no
tice, but said his name used to be
Charley Ross, that his "new mamma"
had changed it, and tn; he had lived
at Germantown. An uncle Of Char
ley II ,ss went post-haste to Vermont,
but the boy was not the missing child.
lie was an adopted child, whose
Christian name had been Charley,
and the surname "Iuss," which, child
like, he easily converted into Ross
Charley Ross was found as far west
as Denver and as far north rs Quebec.
But the lost boy was safely hidden
away, and not all the efforts of the
detectives, public and private, could
bring hlm home again.
ON THE RIGHT TRAIL AT LAST-CLIN-
TON MosIER's STORY.
But, in the latter part of August,
1874, a great +; seal and great COW
ard as well, named Clinton Mosier,
put the police on the right trail. His
implication of his brother, as made
to Supcrint .ndcnt Walling, was so
vague that but little confidence was
placed in it. When, however, the
man was put on the witness stand,
and answers were extorted from him
which showed that he had spoken
truly in charging his brother, William
Moslcr, with the crime. Clinton said
that previous to the abduction, Will
IAN was a waterman by profess ion,
had proposed to him to take Wander
bilt's child to some untrequcntcd
island in the Long Island Sound, as
he and friend named Joseph C.al k
proposed TO capture the child, and
make the Comodore pay well for his
return. Going to New York it was