Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-05-15
CHARLIE Ross.
story OF tho widow ofthe Burglar who
Believed 60 have stolen the Boy.

II Is generally supposed, says a New
York paper, that since the fall of 1877,
when Mosher and Douglass, the supposed
abductors Of Charlie Ross, were killed Mt
Bay Ridge, Long Island. NIL search for
the abductors ceased. and that the efforts
Of Mr.. Christian X. Ross were then
directed to the finding of his child alive,
to the discovery of his remains. or TO
satisfying himself that his boy was dead
Few persons know that beyond circum-
stantial evidence and the dying declara-
| ton of Douglass there was little proof
that he and Mosher stole the child, while
! IL was evident that there were mt least
! four pcrsons engaged in the abduction
and concealmen of the boy. Since De-
cember, Is 4, every effort has been made
to confirm the suspicion against Mosher
and Douglass, discover their confeder-
ates. find out the place where Charlie
! was concealed and who were his custo-
dians. and To ascertain whether he Is now
dead or alive. All this detective work
! has been done secretly, and il Is believed,
without result. Mr.. Christian X. Ross,
| himself. has been equal to "A host of de
! tcctives. He has been aided by Chief
Jones and Captain Helms of Philadelphia.
! Superintendent Walling and many New
York detectives, by a retired Massachu-
! sets merchant, who has devoted time
and money To his aid and by Philadcl-
| phia tradcsman. who has been equally
| generous. To these may be added the
! thousands of amateur detectives that
| newspaper reading produces. DR.. Mary
! Walker credits herself with having aided
! in the search. and her theory that Charlie
was never stolen is well known.
! In the search for the boy the widow of
/ VIM. MoSher, who with confederate.
| VIM. Douglass. was shot and killed in
! December, 1874, while attempting bur
| glnry in the house of Judge Van Brunt mt
/ Bay Ridge, has been constantly sought
after, and her time and patience were so
taxed by visits from persons who wished
| TO crafty their curiosity that she has
| constantly changed her residence. She
now lives in the Twentieth ward with
! her little girl, her two boys being away
] at school.
Mrs. Mosher. who is a tall. good-look
! ing mqtron, Is now wrctchcdly poor. OF
| one of the amateur detectives She spoke
! impaticntly. Under the pretense of Civ
ing her little amusement, he once took
her to the Fifth Avenue Theatcr to see
"Piquc," expecting that she would be-
tray guilty knowledge, but she was
not moved by the play. the plot of which
hinges on the abduction of n child from
| estrangcd parents. and their rcconcilia-
tion through the search for him. She
told him she was offended at the ruse
He asked her To confess her husbands
| guilt on the promise that it would help
her brother out of Moyamensing prison.
where he was sent for alleged completely
in the abduction. He had brought her n
parnfiine imprint Of her dead husbands
! hand, purporting to have been nodded
by the spirits. and said If she had courage
enough he would bring her east of his
face; but she told him that If her dead
husband walked into the room i'm which
they were, dragging his coffin after him.
IL would have no meaning TO her. She
| had nothing to confess and thought that
after all the trouble that her husband
had brought on her she should be allow
ed To live in peace, and bring up her
children, whom she loved as dearly as
Mr. Ross loved his boy.
! OF Mr.. Ross Mrs. Moshcr spoke very
kindly. For him she said she had deep
respect. They met whenever Mr.. Ross
chose to call on her for information. and
she told him frankly whatever was in her
power to tell, and had concealed nothing
from him.
In regard To the missing hoy. Mrs.
Moshcr said: why shouldn't he be
alivc2 / said that If the boy was alive and
wcll-as | have every reason tn believe
he was-six weeks after the abduction.
with all the hue and cry after him, the
person who had him then could Just rs
well keep him out Of sight for six years -
About herself the wife of the dead
burglar said: II was quite n young girl
when I met Mosher. / was only fifteen
and wore short dresses. | am young
woman yet. My father was gInsmith
He lives and is respected. / did not
know of my husbands real occupation
for long time. hut this | will say. that
IL had Ia select n husband over again.
! would do rs | did. for he was good
husband tn me. rs good one a. | could
wish for. lie was always what il called
in trouble and in 1919 broke Jail at
Freehold, Monmouth county. y. J and
kept out Of the way Of the authorities
We moved TO Philadelphia. and hired a
house in Monroe street. William can
vassed for a picture dealer. and was so
well liked by him that he could have
gone in business with him. knew moth
ing of the abduction. but this do know
that op the ith of July, 1874. the day
that the boy was stolen. and William
sat at the window Of our house in Mon
roe street and saw our children letting
Oft firecrackcrs. | was with William
constantly nj this time. and well re-
member that while I stood at his side he
read with apparently rs much interest
"a did placard on fence in Philadel-
phia relating to the abduction. We
moved 10 New York in August. and al
though knew that William was wanted
by the police, did not know that IL was
on suspicion that he was concerned in the
abduction. ! was with him all the time
he was in hiding. but ] did not think
that his crime was SO serious. for we
had often walked in the streets. and he
did not appear to be afraid. oh, what
useless fellows those detectives arel
stood by one all night while he said that
he would give thousand dollars to
know where my husband was and in
Philadelphia they searched the house
without avail in which my husband was
hiding. | was with him up to the night
| before he was killed We stonued af an