The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-09-12
THE TIL STORY OF CHARLEY Ross.
The rrassdy Of the Hearth and the Bro.
ken Hearts Around It. A Sensation OF
Ten Years Ago Revived for The New

Philadelphia letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer
1 stood for a long time before a picture yes
terday, the ~life-size portrait of a lovely laugh
ing child. Thu face was that Of q boy of 4
years, fair and dlmpled, with q little rosy
mouth just made for kissing, large, clear
brown eyes, through which a happy little soul
shone brightly, and soft, flaxen curls shad-
ng q broad, white brow, and falling about q
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 mourn
full tale has been but q newspaper myth | am
going to take up the freshest threads of q well
known story, as related to me by Mr.. Rossssin
view of the green lane where his littlesson WIS
stolen from him.
The house itself is situated at the end Of .
broad and beautiful place in Germantown
called East Washington lane. On both sides Of
it are handsome, substantial mansions Of gray
granite, such as Pennsylvanians love, and
built far back from the road in the midst OF
spreading lawns, sprinkled with beds of gay
flowers. More peaceful and beautiful sur-
r%oundings one could hardly find, and a
miniature farm Of q few acres. now dotted
with s~weet-smelling hay-cocks, next to Mr..
Ross place, even suggested the country
The house of Mr.. Ross is a spacious double
one, built of stone and surmountedb by a cnpola.
1t stands on the summit of a great slope, and,
with its broad piazza covered with climbing
honeysuckles and roses, its huge basket of
plants and ferns, and its friendly elms and
oaks, looks 8 secure aud pleasant retreat from
noise and turmoil, the dust and confusion of
the world.
Sitting on the front yeranda, REMARKED how
thoroughly the great hedge of fir trees at the
foot Of the lawn cut off the view of the street
Eyes, . said Mr.. Ross, ''Too thoroughly, fort
helped the wretches who stole my children to
escape with them. Ten years ago the lst OF
july he continued, ''my little Charley, just 4
yeavs old, and still in petticoats, was playing
in the road with his brother Walter, two years
older than himself. While they were frolick-
ing about two men came along in 3 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 a
little ride, promising them frecrackers and
candy. They, fearing nothing, complied, and
were seen, as We found later, by some of the
neighbors.
"sWhen 1 got home ate o'clock to tea, Mrs.
Ross and.my eldest daughter beng at Atlantic
City for their health, the children had not re-
turned. The neigborhood was secured in vain,
and at s o'clock, on my way to the central Office
to telegraph the police stations, we met Walter
returning home with Mr.. Peacock, q friend of
the family who had found him crying bitterly
on a street corner in the northern part of Phila-
delphia, just seven miles from home.
''The boy was nearly paralyzed with fright,
but managed to relate how these men promised
to take them to 'AuntSnsie's to buy, sweets and
frecrackers; that they had lifted him out Of
the wagon and sent him into o shop to get them
and when he came out hey had disappeared
with Charley. The police thought the men
on a drunken frolic, and when sobered would
be alarmed at what they had. done, aud turn
Charley adrift
"The theory proved false On the Sd of
July we advertised for HIM with a reward, and
the next day we received an anonymous letter
In disguised writing, the first of a series Of
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 o ran
som of 2 1000, from which sum the kidnappers
never abated q dot, with the alternative of put
ting the child to death"
1t is impossible in q 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 re-
turn Of the boy. While negotiations were
were distributed throughout the land, and tons
OF posters, handbills and Autographs sown
broadcast TIL citizens OF Philadelphia Of
fered a reward Of s2o,o0O for the kidnappers,
of which reward the police volunteeredto claim
nopart, and other large sums were offered from
public and private sources, while the pressure
put on Mr., Ross not to jeopardi2e tho safety of
every child in the land by paying the ransom
WAS tremendous.
TIL police force and detective bureaus of the
Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey every
river boat and saloon, every clubhouse, stable
and place Of ill-repute, every hotel and lodging
house, tramp quarters, burglars haunt, barn,
mill, ferry and deserted hut was searched, and
every building, private and public, in Phila-
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 received
thousands of letters from spiritualists, cialr-
voyants and mediums, and even from black
mailers of all sorts, including convicts in Jail
and murderers awaiting their doom, profess
ing knowledge of the abductors.
Then came a host of these vile creations
called anonymous letters, always tho work, as
Superintendent Walllng says, of creatures who
have all the willingness but not the courage Of
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
Mr.. Ross etc. One newspaper boldly printed
an article embedding these suggestions, was
sued for libel, severely 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, thoroughly alarmed the
k~ldnappers, and they deserted plan after
plan proposed to Mr.. Ross for the exchange,
SO afraid were they Of being %intrapped. In
the history of civilization there has never been
. crime like this, nor one that as thoroughly
baffled detectives.
One plan proposed by the abductors, and
which involved almost fatal consequences to
Mr. Ross, was that lie sil6uld put the money
into o valise, start from Philadelphia at night,
go on to New York anfthence to Albany, riding
the entire distance on the platform of the rear
car, and the instant he saw a torch held up by
q man waving q handkerchief he was to throw
the yalise on the track, with the warning that
if the train was stopped the child's throat
would be cut.
Mr.. Ross went through this frightful ordeal.
standing on his feet the entire distance. every
nerve on a n intense strain, with the fear Of
missing the signal, which was looked for in
vain. His wi description of this heart-rend-
ing journey is thrilling, but, coming after
months OF mental agony and over-fatigue, it
terminated in q severe illness, which decided
his wife and family to run the risk Of paying
the ransom in advance, in the faint hope that
the boy would be returned; but though all
theirdirections were followed, thechild-thieves
On whose track the police now were, failed to
appear, and alull ensued for several weeks.
Then the public were electrified ut hearing
that two burglars had been killed while rob.
bing a house in Bay Ridge; that one, Mosher,
died instantly, and that his comrade, Douglass,
lived only long enough to confess the stealing
of Charley Ross, and to solemnly swear that
NO one butthe dead man knew his whereabouts,
and 30 it is to-day that the fate of that little,
sunny-faced, golden-hairedb boy is still wrapped
in q dark mystery.
TIN safety Of millions Of children has been
purchased, it seems too sadly true, by the life
Of one, though, the parents of that one still
fondly cling to the hope that their son will some
day appear among them
''The hue and cry that rang this great Repub-
lie" said Mr.. Ross, '%tstrangled this species Of