Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-09-13
A Sensational Kidnapping Case That Was
Suppressed-How the Plot Was Car
ried Out Two Evsy Women.

tional outcome recall the fact that the
rascals who perpetrate this class of
crime are very seldom detected. The
Charley Ross case showed forcibly how
q few astute scoundrels can keep out OF
the clutches of the law while negotiat-
ing for the ransom of the abducted
child. There is little doubt that if Mr..
Ross had followed his own counsel in
stead Of that of the police his boy would
have been restored to him IN short
time, but the outlaws had no trouble IN
testing his sincerity and were there
after on their guard against traps. The.
dying confessions Of couple OF the
men implicated in that affair showed
that at no time was there the slightest
chance that the laws officers would re-
cover the boy. They were after the
money, and the officers were after
glory. The abductors would probably
have been glad to get rid of Charley
after his spiriting away had set the
whole country to wondering, but there
was no way in which it could be safely
done, and they simply decided to hang
on and take chances. Every body knows
the result.
The Boy and the Pony.
There was a case in this city couple
of years ago which if it had ever got
into the newspapers would have created
even more of sensation than the Ross
abduction. A wealthy merchant was
the father eff one child, a boy Of about 6,
who was, very naturally, idolized. His
every wish was granted almost before
it was expressed, and the little fellow
was as nearly a spoiled child as could
well be imagined. One day while in
Central park he saw G youngster of
about his own size mounted on a pony
little larger than ST. Bernard dog.
When he got horne, he began to tease
for a pony, and his father the next
morning announced that be would in
quire into the matter that day and see
what could be done" Atabout o'clock
that same afternoon man walked up
to the front door leading very small
pony. The lady was sitting at win
dow with her boy beside her. The little
fellow was frantic with excitement
when the man announced that the gen
tleman Of the house had sent him to
take the child for trial ride on the
was hastily fixed up, and the pair start
ed away. When the father arrived in
the evening, he was startled to hear of
the visit Of the man with the pony and
announced that he had forgotten all
about the matter and had not even
mentioned the subject to a soul. 1t was
clear that the child had been abducted
$4,000 Demanded.
All doubt on that point was removed
when, the next morning, note was re-
ceived demanding ransom of $50, 900.
$4,000 cash They replied, Offering to
take $4,000, which they declared was
the smallest sum they would consider.
They also said that they would not tell
when or how the child would be re-
turned, but that he would be back with
his parents within week after the re-
ceipt of the money. The funds were
sent. Day after day passed without any
sign of the missing child, and the dis
tracted parents had about come to the
conclusion that they had erred in not
notifying the police promptly, when one
morning as the father was on his way
down stairs to breakfast he heard his
name called, and, going into the dark
ened sitting room, he found his little
boy on a sofa, where he said he had
been almost the entire night
a Strange Plot.
The facts which subsequently devel-
oped read like a page out of one of Ga
boriau' s novels. Tt appeared that the
child had been in a building on the
street directly below his parents resi-
dence, and that from the back window
he had often seen them through the
glass. Of course one of the women in
the house was an accomplice, and the
man who put up the job was the butler,
who was secretly married to this wom-
an. The fellow had overheard the con-
versation at the breakfast table, and as
he had long been contemplating the alb
duction he quickly grasped the excep-
tional opportunity offered. The man
who brought the horse to the door was
the brother of the maid, who was in the
plot, and, as he was the caretaker of the
rich mans house in the street at the
back of the residence of the employer of
his sister, everything worked perfectly.
If the officers had been consulted, re-
port would have been made to this fell
low at once by means of the back win
dow signals agreed upon between the
conspirators, and which were actually
used when the father lfinally came tc
terms This case did not get into the
newspapers, although there was an eff
fort made to get at. the facts by re-
porter.
Friend-"Got cold, see."
Nervous One-ttYeS q very little