St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-08-06
CHARLEY ROSS.
The Tragedy of the Hearth and the
Mournful Hearts Around 1t.
The Story of q Memorable Case-Still Waiting
for the Absent One -Seven Humid
red Waits.

yesterday, the life-size portrait OF lovely
laughing child, writes Philadelphia cores
pendent of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The
face was that of boy of years, fair and
dimpled, with little rosy mouth just made
for kissing, large, clear brown eyes, through
which happy little soul shone brightly, and
soft flaxen clrs shading broad, white brow
and falling about a round, white neck.
THAT is Charley, my little Charley" said
the master of the house sadly, and, looking
from his careworn, nervous face to the
cherub vision on the wall, for the first time
an understanding of the tragedy of Charley
Ross dawned upon me, and for the benefit
of the new generation, and those to whom
the tiny hero of a mournful tale has been but
newspaper myth, am going to take up the
freshest threads of well-worn story, as re-
lated to me by Mr. Ross in view of the green
lane where his little son was stolen from
him.
The house itself is situated at the end of
broad and beautiful thorougfare in German
town, called East Washington lane. On both
sides of it are handsome, substantial man
sions of gray granite, such as Pennsylvani
ans love, and built far back from the road
in the midst of spreading lawns, shaded by
fine trees, and sprlnkle with beds OF gay
| flowers. More peaceful and beautiful sur
roundings one could hardly find. and min
iature farm of a few acres now dotted with
sweet-smelling haycocks next to Mr.. Rosss
place even suggested the country.
Tho g s., do, 10
one, built of stone, and surmounted by a
cupola. 1t stands on the summit of 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 secure and
! pleasant retreat from the noise and turmoil,
the dust and confusion OF the world.
Sitting on the front verandah, remarked
how thoroughly the great hedge of fir trees at
the foot of the lawn cut off the view of the
street.
"Yes," said Mr.. Ross, "too thoroughly,
for it helped the wretches who stole my
children to escape with them. Ten years
ago the 1st of july" he continued, 'my
little Charley, Just years old, and still in
petticoats was playing in the road with his
| brother Walter, two years older than him
self. While they were frolicking about two
men came along in 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 flrecrackers and candy.
They, fearing nothing, complied, and were
seen, as we found later, by some of the
neighbors.
''When got home at o'clock to tea, Mrs.
| Ross and my eldest daughter being at Allan
| tic City Tor their health, the children had not
returned. The neighborhood was secured in
vain, and at O'Clock on my way to the
central Office to telegraph the police stations,
we met Walter returning home with Mr.. Pea
cock, friend of the family, who had found
him crying bitterly on street corner in the
northern part of Philadelphia, just seven
| miles from home
1.-THE boy was nearly paralyzed with fright,
| but managed to relate how these men prom
| Used to take them to Aunt Susie's' to buy
sweets and irecrackers; that they lifted him
out of the wagon and sent him into shop
to get them, and when he came out they had
sappeared with CT arley. III p lice thought
| that the men were on a drunken frolic, and
when sobered would be alarmed at what they
had done and turn Charley adrift.
''The theory proved false. On the Sd of
July we advertised for him with reward
and the next day we received an anonymous
letter in disguised writing, the first of a
series of twenty-three, which said the child
was safe, but that no living power could dis
/ nd hic fothar how m
big cent to get him back. The next let
ter demanded ransom of $4,000, from
which sum the kidnapper never abated 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 be paid in advance of
the return of the boy. While negotiations
were pending seventy thousand photographs
of little Charley were distributed throughout
the land, and tons of posters, handbills and
| Autographs sown broadcast. The citizens of
| Philadelphia offered reward of $50, 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 jeapordize the safety of every child in
the land by paying the ransom was tremen-
dous.
The police force and detective bureaus of
! the whole country engaged in the search,
and in Pennsylvania, New York and New
Jersy every river boat and sloop, every out
! house, stable and place of ill-repute, every
hotel and lodging house, tramp quarter,
| burglars haunt, barn, mill, ferry and de-
| serted hut was searched, and every building,
private and public, in Philadelphia gone
| through. The postofIice and all the letter
| boxes were watched detectives watched
| every train that left or entered the city.
Human ingenuity wore itself threadbare in
attempts to recover the stolen boy.
Fraud, too, found a festival in this new
form of domestic calamity, and Mr.. Ross re-
ceived thousands of letters from spirituallsts,
clairvoyants, and mediums, and even from
hlackmailers of all sorts including convicts
| in Jail and murderers awaiting their doom,
protesting knowledge of the abductors.
| Then came host of these vile creations
called anonymous letters, always the work,
! as Supt 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 be discovered; that the
child was not Mrs. Ross, etc. One news
paper boldly printed an article embodying
these suggestions, was sued for libel, severe
| " reprimanded by the court, and obliged to
pay heavy damages.
1 The uproar the country was in over this
case, and the way man, woman and child
turned detective, thoroughly 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 a crime ike this, nor one that as thor
oughly baffied detectives.
/ one plan proposed BY the abduetors. and