Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1884-08-28

ioh'I W pay ihS 'hAo
mendous.
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 clubhouse, 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 Phil
adeIphia gone through. The Post Of
fee and all the letter boxes were
watched; detectives watched every
train that left or entered the city.
Human ingenuity wore itself thread
bare 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 in Jail
and murderers awaiting their doom,
protesting knowledge of the abductors.
Then came host of these vile crea-
ations called anonymous letters, al
ways the work, as Superintendent
Walling saws, "of creatures who haYe
all the willingness but not the cour-
age 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. Ress's, &c. One news
paper boldly printed an article en-
bodying these suggestions, was sued
for libel, severely reprimanded by the
Court, and obliged to pay heavy dam
ages.
The uproar the country was in over
this case, and the way man, woman,
and child turned detective, thoroughly
alarmed the kidnappers, and they de-
serted plan after plan proposed to Mr..
Ross for the exchange, SO afraid were
they of being entrapped. In the his
tory of civilization there has never
been crime like this, nor one that as
thoroughly baffied detectives.
One plan proposed by the abductors
and which involved almost fatal con-
sequences to Mr.. Ross, was that he
should put the money in a valise, start
from Philadelphia at night, 60 on to
New York and thence to Albany, rid
ing the entire distancs on the platform
of the rear car, and the instant he saw
torch held by a man waving hand
ksrclIiof ha was to throw the valise on
the track, with the warning that If the
train was stopped the child's throat
would be cut.
Mr.. Ross went through this fright.
full ordeal standing on his feet the en-.
tire distance, every nerve on an in.
tense strain, with the fear of missing
the signal, which was looked for in
vain. His own description of this
heart-rending journey is thrilling, but
coming after months Of mental agony
and over-fatigue, it terminated in Sc
we're illness, which decided his wife
and family to run the risk of paying
the ransom in advance, on the faint
hope that the boy would be returned
but though all their directions were
followed, the child-thieves, on whose
track the police now were, failed to
appear, and lull ensued for several
weeks.
Then the public were electrified al
hearing that two burglars had been
killed while robbing house on Bay
Ridge; that one, Mosher, died instant
! ly, and that his comrade, Douglass
lived only long enough to confess the
stealing of Charley Ross, and to sol
emnly swear that no one but the deac
man knew his whereabouts, and SO il
is to-day that the fate of that little
sunny-faced, golden-haired boy is still
wrapped in dark mystery.
The safety of millions Of childre,
has been purchased, it seems too sadl,
true, by the life of one, though tn,
parents of that one still fondly clin,
to the hope that their son will SOM
day appear among them.
''The hue and cry that rang through
this great republic" said Mr.. Ross
"strangled this species of crime in it
birth. No one dreamed before what +,
hold child of four years had on tn,
heart of a natiou, and though at tn,
time my child was stolen there was n,
law by which his kidnappers could b
punished. This and a numbsr of 9th
er States have since then made tn
crime of child stealing, for the pur
pose of extortion, punishable by q
years of solitaey imprisonment, will
hard labor, and fine of $4,000.
81 have" continued Mr.. Ross, eek
amined personally into over seve
hundred cases of boys supposed to b.
my son since his disappearance; hav,
travelled thousands of miles in pursui
OF him, and spent over 100000 in try
ing to trace him in vain. In the frs
two years alone over three hundred
children, scattered from Maine to Sal
Francisco, and even in England, Scot
land, Cuba, Nova Scotia and Canads
were supposed to be my child from
the resemblance to his pictures or tn,
mystery surrounding them. I hav
often thought of the extraordinar,
number. if girls are included, of chill
dren about whose existence and sur
roundings there is something suspic
ious."
"Has this hunt for Charlie ever re
suited in the return of any lost Chi
dred to their parents %
! Eyes, of a number tor thoug
mine was the first case on which
ransom had been put, other childre
have been stolen by tramps to beg 70
them, and even in some cases takel
for personal revenge. The most pit
ful. case / know of was that of littl
Henry Lachmuller, of st. Louis, VIII
| was stolen from his fathers garden b