The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-18
LIGHT ON A FAMOUS MYSTERY.
Story OF the Abduction and Death of Charley Ross.

SdtSu upon Ponce Superintendent Wal
ling in New York City, and supplied
evidence which proved that the person,
who had abducted Charley Ross wer,
MS brother. William Mosher and Jos.
eon Douglas. Before these men were
captured, however, they were killed in
an attempted burglary at Bay Ridge
leaving the fate of the missing boy still
unsolved.
The last chapter in this strangest Oh
modern romanees is nov made public
for the first time through the state
ment of Ellsworth Mosher. son of Gil
bert Mosher to the New York Journal.
IN which, now that Christian K.sRoss
IS dead. he makes public the ,facts
which his father had never divulged
10 the police, and settles once and for
all the fate of Charley Ross.
The mystery of the kidnapping of
Charley Ross is a mystery no longer.
Ellsworth Mosher, nephew of William
Mosher, the chief of the desperate gang
that kidnapped the boy % years ago.
and son of Gilbert Mosher. the thugs
brother, who put the police on the kid
that the stolen child died or was muir
dered in the house at No. 55 Grand
street. or the adjoining house, on the
corner of South Fifth avenue, New
York City. In the basement of this
house the wife of the criminal thief
had restaurant, and 16 years ago
workmen, in tearing out the old base
ment walls, found the skeleton of a
boy.
Thai slrarator cilbs,,t Afosba,- 4old l,fs
son, was all. that was left of Charley
Ross, and Ellsworth Mosher now for
the first time discloses the statement.
William Mosher and his accomplice,
Joseph Douglas, were killed during a
burglary.
Gilbert Mosher is dead.
Christian K. Ross. father of the
stolen child. who spent his fortune in
the search for his boy, also is dead.
REMOVING THE VEIL.
Ellsworth Mosher is an industrious
laborer, an honest man. according 10
his employers and neighbors, who feels
keenly the association of his family
with the black crime, and who would
rather talk OF anything in the world
than the stealing OF Charley Ross and
his death.
To understand the authority with
which this man tears the veil from a
mystery nearly a quarter of a century
Old it is necessary to recount some Of
the awful circumstances of the crime
that was meant to be the first crime in
a system of 5rigandage throughout the
country.
The plans of the fiends who. stole and
held the child for ransom We're never |
fulfilled.
They neither gained the price they put !
upon his life, nor the example to which |
they thought 10 IerroriZe other par |
ents into paying unquestionabiy for /
kidnapped children. The nation was |
spared the infiction OF the horrid in |
dustry, and .he child stealers were !
killed in COMMITTING another crime. |
But the sacrifice for the nations inn
ard the criminals punishment |
were the life Of the haZel-eyed. curly /
headed child, the dissipation of a for
tune, and the glooming TO ruin OF
once happy home.
The hideous end of the story might
have been known years ago if 1t could
not have been averted, had the police
needed the advice OF the undertake
whom the widow of the arch criminal
sought out and begged to take charge
IF the burial of her guilty husband ana
mis- fellow burglar and accomplice, jos
.ph Douglas, when the two were shot 10
1eath by those they sought to rob- This
was John Henry Mum,
whose establishment is al No 100 Ave
lue D. He had years before worked IN
he ship yard on the East river with
he Moshers.
When the woman came to him Mum
with Police Superinten-
lent WaIling, and begged him 10 trace
he woman, feeling sure she must lead
hem TO where the stolen boy was aid
len, but the police official paid no more
ttention TO her brother, William West
rvelt He was enraged at WesterVeit
Who had worked in with his relatives
nd the others Of the gang while in the
olice pay 10 aid in their apprehension,
nd the woman skipped away. They
ouvicted Weseerveit of completely II
he kidnapping of Charley Ross and
enr him to prison for seven years This
as in 1875. WesGervelt never admitted
is guilt or betrayed the secrets OF MS
lates. He might have bought liberty
18th the child could be have produced
. He did nod, and the inference is
hat the child was dead, and he must
ave confessed murder. and not merely
had he told the story.
Only on this hypothesis is il possible
} adequately explain the silence OF
VesrerveN during his Imprisonment :
THE ABDUCTION. 5
charley Ross was stolen July l, 1871 1
lie and his elder brother, Walter, were l
laying in the roadway near TO his 1
ONE on Washington Lone, IN German
,wn, a quiet suburb of Philadelphia. |
wo men, seated in buggy, drawn =
Y a single horse drove leisurely along D
le lane. Ostensibly they were peddlers.
hey had become acquainted with the =
in their Journeyings along +
lie road. and had on several occasions
ven tnem candy. In response TO a L
Quest for a drive and some more W
.ndy, the men in the carriage took the b
,ys with them and drove rapidly O
way. "
Walter Ross was given a quarter of b
dollar and sent down to buy fire v
orks. When he had made his Dur- v
ase he looked for the buggy, it was L
me.
Charley Ross wss never seen again n
any member of the family, of which re
was the idolized baby.
The buggy was an ordinary, old W
top affair, painted dark II
lor, with red stripes on each of its NJ
ur wheels, and was lined with blue M
9TH; the horse was a medium sized, al
rk bay or brown in color, with a ON
lite mark on the forehead. The har- A
SIS was old, ami its silver mountings bt
IRE well worn. No trace Of this We lii
cle nor of the horse or the harness he
s ever been obtained from that day Sc
til this. Skilled detectives searched
erywhere for Il. Horse trcders, stable le
epers and wagon makers waited and Pl
ltched for the outfit 20 appear some ga
lere, but it never did. K
cor three days the purpose of the 70
inappers remained unknown. The
lice were notified and the routine
of police search was put in
eration. Three days after the child ad