The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-10-07
And Only Released When She Had
Promised to Make Up the Def
cheney in Her Bank Account.
MARVELLOUS STORY OF A CRIME
PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPER MEN IN
THE ROLE OF BRIGANDs.
SCOOP" but Were
ScOOped by the Police, and ShOrn
of Their HI-GOtten Gains.

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 6.-Charged with
kidnapping a woman and holding her a
prisoner for four days. robbing her of jew
els worth more than s., 900, and compelling
her to sign bank checks for large sums of
money. is the story which the police
folded here to-day when they announced
the arrest of two newspaper men, a stenog-
rapher in another newspaper office and
barber, all of whom are charged with COM
plicity in the crime. The men now locked
up at the Central police station are:
HOWARD X. SLOAN, an unemployed re-
porter.
HENRY WALLACE. society editor on
of the morning papers.
J. KNIGHT FINDLAY, Of Wayne. near
here, stenographer in the business Office of
another morning paper.
OSCAR S. DUNLAP, a barber employed
in one of the most prominent shops in the
city.
The victim is Mrs. Mabel Goodrich. the
proprietress of an establishment on North
Tenth street. The four men were arrested
last night, and will be given a hearing to-
morrow.
Last Monday Mrs. Goodrich went to po-
lice headquarters and told n story of kid
naping and robbery so daring that the po-
lice at first doubted it's truth She said
that for some time past a young man.
who represented himself as a resident of
Germantown, had been a frequent visitor
at her establishment He was we'll dressed
and spent money freely. Last Wednesday
week. she said, he proposed a drive through
Fairmount Park. He asked her to dress
in her best clothes and for her to wear
all her diamonds and other jewelry, be-
cause on the return from the drive he in
tended to take her TO the finest dining
room in the city. and he wanted her to
shine with the other women in the place.
She accepted, and the next day she went
out with him in a carriage with a pair of
richly caparisoned horses and with a coach
man on the box wearing stylish livery.
GAGGED AND BLINDFOLDED.
At a lonely place in Fairmount Park the
carriage was stopped by man who, she
said, represented himself as d. Clarence
Gibbony, the secretary and attorney OF the
Law and Order Society of this city. This
man, she went on to say, told her that he
had a warrant for her arrest on the charge
of keeping a disorderly house but that the
matter could be fixed up. He was invited
into the carriage, and the next moment she
was gagged and blindfolded She was
driven somewhere she did not know, but
she noticed from one corner of the hand
kerchief over her eyes that the men paid
toll at two tollgates and that they took her
into a building where a fire engine and a
hook and ladder truck were standing.
She was kept a prisoner from Tuesday
night until Friday night without anything
to eat or drink. and was then taken on an
other long drive, blindfolded, to a house,
where she was kept from Friday until Mon
day. In the latter place the men, who were
masked, stripped her of the jewelry, and at
the muzzle of d revolver compelled her to
sign bank checks for various sums of
money she had deposited in the Third Ma
tionaI Bank. They made her sign for more
than she possessed, but compelled her to
promise she would make up the deficiency
when they released her. The men, she said,
then took her on another long drive, and
put her out of the carriage at Tenth and
Poplar streets, about a mile from her
house.
With other information the woman gave
them the detectives began to work on what
they believed to be fairy tale. They got
several clews which led them to a fire en-
gine house in Wayne, fifteen miles from
this city. The fire company is a volunteer
organization. and the key to the place was
kept in the nearest dwelling
\ CONFESSION
The nearest house was occupied by a
family named Findlay, and there the po-
lice learned that one Of the sons, j. Knight
Findlay. had been home but little during
the past two weeks. Getting a description
of him the police returned to the city and
found the young man, who is only twenty
one years old, in the office where he is en-
ployed He was charged with the crime,
and broke down and implicated three
others. Findlay said that he had imper-
sonated the coachman, that Sloan the un-
employed reporter, acted the part of At
torney Gibbon, that the barber played the
part OF the rich Germantown resident and
that Wallace. the society editor, had rented
a house in Germantown, where Mrs Good
rich was TO have been held a captive. He
told substantially the same story as that
narrated by the woman. He said they
kept her confined in the firehouse and then
took her to a house at No. 2556 North
Twelfth street, where Sloan was arrested
yesterday. The plan TO keep her in the
Wallace house in Germantown was aban-
doned in favor of the Sloan house.
Sloan. the police said, conceived the whole
plot, and it was he that got the barber
into it. He had asked Dunlap to play the
part of the rich man and get Mrs. Good
rich outdoors. so that he could serve the
warrant on her for keeping a disorderlv
house He did not reveal the real purpose
OF the scheme TO the barber. All the lew
eIry was recovered, most of IL having been
found in the possession of FfndIay and
Sloan, who were wearing several of the
rings Only one check for $3.50 was cashed
and most Of this money was also recovered.