St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-08-21
The story Of Charley Ross.
THE MOST MYSTERIOUS ABDUCTION CASE
EVER KNOWN.


| am going to take up the freshes
threads of well-wOrn story, as related
to me by Mr.. Ross in view of the green
lane where his little son was stOlel
from him.
The house itself is situated at the
end of Il broad and beautiful thorough
fare in Germantown, called East Wash
ingtOn lane.
The house of Mr.. Ross is spacions
double one, built of stone, and sur
mounted by cupola. 1t stands on the
summit of Il great slope, and, with its
broad piaZZas covered with climbing
honeysuckles and roses, its huge
baskets of plants and ferns, and its
friendly elms and oaks, looks a secure
and pleasant retreat from the noise and
turmoil, the dust and confusion of the
world.
Sitting on the front veranda, re-
marked how thoroughly the great
hedge of fir trees ut the foot of the
lawn cut off the view of the street.
"Yes," said Mr.. Ross, "too thorough
! ly, for it helped the wretches who stole
my children to escape with them. Ten
years ago the first of July" he con-
tinued, "my little Charley, just four
years old, and still in petticoats, was
| PLAYING in the road with his brother
Walter, two years older than himself.
| While they were frolicking about, two
men came along in Il wagon drawn by
one horse. 1t seems they had seen the
children before and given them candy.
That day they invited the boys to
get in for little ride, promising them
fire crackers and candy. They, fear
ing nothing, complied, and were seen,
as we found later, 10y some of the
neighbOrs."
"Whcn got home at q o'clock to
tea, Mrs. Ross and my eldest daughter
being ut Atlantic City for their health,
the children had not returned. The
neighborhoOd was secured in vain, and
at eight o'clock, on my way to the
Central office to telegraph the police
sta. ions, we met Walter returning
home with Mr.. Peacock, IL friend of the
family, who had found him crying bit
terly on IL street corner in the northern
part of Philadelphia, just seven miles
from home.
''The boy was nearly paralyzed with
fright, but managed to relate how
these men promised to take them to
'ALnt Susie's' to buy sweets and fire
crackers; that they had lifted HIM out
of the wagon and sent him into a shop
to get them, and when he came out
they had disappeared with Charley.
The police thought that the men were
on drunken frolic, and when sobered
would be alarmed at what they had
done, and turn Charley adrift.'
''The theory proved false. On the
,f T.1N- Il fn,s la ri
IA reward, and the next day we received
an anonymous letter in disguised writ
ing, the first of a series of % which
said the child was safe, but that no
living power could discover him, and
his father would have to pay "a big
cent to get him back. The next letter
demanded IA ransom of S20,000, from
which sum the kidnappers never
abatcd n jot, with the alternative of
putting the child to death"
1t is impossible in a letter to describe
the methods used for the recovery of
| the child and the capture of his .jailers,
who demanded that the money should
he paid in advance of the return of the
boy. While negotiations We're pending
10000 photographs of little Charley
were distributed throughout the land,
and tons of posters, handbills, and
| Autographs sOwn broadcast. The citi-
zens of Philadelphia offered a reward
of 900 for the kidnappers, of which
reward the police volunteered to claim
no part, and other large sums were
offered from public and private sources,
while the pressure put on Mr.. Ross not
| to jeOpardizc the safety of every child
in the land by paying the ransom was
tremendous.
The police force and detective bu-
reaus of the whole country engaged in
the search, and in Pennsylvania, New
York, and New Jersey every river boat
and sloop, every outhOuse, stable, and
place of ill-repute, every hotel and
lodging house, tramp quarter, burglars
haunt, barn, mill, ferry, and deserted
hut, was searched, and every building,
private and public, in Philadelphia
gone through. The pOst-Of1ice and all
| the letter boxes were watched; de
tcctives watched every train that left
or entered the city. Human ingenuity
wore itself threadbarc in attempts to
recover the stolen boy.
Fraud, too, found festival in this
new form of domestic calamity, and
| Mr.. Ross received thousands of letters
from spiritualists, clairvOyants, and
mediums, and even from black mailers
of all sorts, including convicts i'll Jail
and murderers awaiting their doom,
protesting knowledge of the abductOrs.
| Then came Il host of these vile crea-
tions called anonymous letters, always
| the work, as Superintendent Walling
says, "of creatures who have all the
| willingness, but not the courage to
commit murder These letters were
to the police, suggesting that Mr.. Ross
stole his own child that if his fine
garden were dug up its bones would he
discovered that the child was not Mr..
Ross, &c. One newspaper boldly
printed an article embOdying these
suggestions, was sued for libel, severe
ly reprimanded by the court, and
obliged to pay heavy damages.
The uproar the country was in over
this case, and the way man, woman.
and child turned detective, thorough
ly alarmed the kidnappers, and they
! deserted plan after plan proposed to
Mr.. Ross for the exchange, so afraid
were they of being entrapped. In the
history of civilization there has never
been IA crime like this. nor one that as
thoroughly baffled detectives.
One plan proposed by the abductors,
and which involved almost fatal con-
sequence to Mr.. Ross, was that he
should put tie money in a valise, start
from Philadelphia at night. 90 on to
New York and thence to Albany, rid
ing the entire distance on the platform
of the rear car, and the instant he saw
Il torch held by man waving-a hand
kerchief he was to throw the valise on
the track, with the warming that if the
train was stopped the child's throat
would be cut.