The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-11
THE POLICE BLUNDERED

THE POLICE BLUNDERED.
When the woman came to him, Mum
communicated with Police Superintendent
Walling, and begged him to trace the
woman feeling sure she must lead them to
where the stolen boy was hidden, but the
police official paid no more attention to her
brother, William Westervelt He was en-
ragged at Westervelt, who had worked in
with his relatives and the others of the
gang while in the police pay to aid in their
apprehension, and the woman slipped away.
They convicted Westervelt of completely in
the kidnapping of Charley Ross and sent him
to prison for seven years This was in 1876
Westervelt never admitted his guilt or he
trayed the secrets of his mates. He might
have bought liberty with the child could
he have produced it. He did not and the
he must have confessed murder and not
merely kidnapping, had he told the story
Only on this hypothesis is it possible to
Welt during his Imprisonment.
Charley Ross was stolen July l, 1874. He
and his elder brother Walter, were play
ing IN III roadway near to his home on
Washington lane, in Germantown a quiet
suburb of Philadelphia. Two men, seated
leisurely along the lane. Ostensibly they
were peddlers. They had become ac-
quainted with the youngsters i'm their
journeyings along the road and had on
response to a request for a drive and some
more candy, the men IN the carriage took
the boys in with them and drove rapidly
away. Walter Ross was given a quarter
of dollar and sent down to buy fireworks.
When he made his purchase he looked for
the buggy 1t was gone. Charley Ross was
never seen again by any member of the
family, of which he was the idolized baby
The buggy was an ordinary, oldfashioned
top affair, painted a dark color, with red
stripes on each of it's four wheels and was
lined with blue cloth. The horse was a
mediumSiZed, dark bay or brown in color
with a white mark on the forehead The
harness was old and its silver mountings
were well worn. No trace of this vehicle
nor of the horse or the harness has ever
been obtained from that day until this
Skilled detectives searched everywhere for
it. Horse traders. stable keepers and wag-
onmakerS waited and watched for the outfit
to appear somewhere, but it never did.
Fer three ga, Gays the purpose 2sie Of the kid
notified and the routine machinery of police
search was put in operation. Three days
after the child-stealing the lost boy s
father received the first of a series of six
teen letters. asking ransom for the boy.
Twenty thousand dollars was the price
set, and he was told plainly that failure
to pay the price would result in the boy s
murder.
DEALING WITH KIDNAPERS.
They suggested various plans by which
the money might be paid, without endan-
gering themselves. One of these was that
Mr.. Ross should ride on the rear platform
of a train from Philadelphia to New York
and thence to Albany AT some point on
the road man by the track would ring a
bell and wave a flag, and at the signal Mr..
Ross was to throw a satchel containing
500 600 in bills, CT not larger denomination
than 80 If the train did not stop and the
agent with the bell and flag was not in
terfered with the writers of the letters
promised to return Charley Ross TO his
home within ten hours. That time they
needed, they said, to make sure the bills
were not marked. The letters suggested
that the stealing of the boy was only the
first of projected series of kidnapings for
ransom. 1t was necessary for the success
of the hideous project that the initial ven
ture be successful or that the child should
be killed if the money was not paid or
that there should be an example to terror
ize other parents.
Mr. Ross turned the letters over to the
police, and kept in communication with the
abductors by means of personals in the
newspapers Letter after letter came in
answer to his personals they were mailed
at widely separated points, and the police
could not trace them
1t was in the summer of 1874 that Gilbert
Mosher told Police Superintendent Mailing
of New York that the abductors of Charlie
Ross were his brother. William Mosher and
Joseph Douglas, both comparatively we'll
known criminals
Walling obtained other evidence of the
truth of Mosher's information, and salts