New-York tribune., 1901-10-07
DARING CRIME IN PHILADELPHIA
FOUR MEN ARRESTED FOR KIDNAPPING
WOMAN. RoBBING HER. AND COM
PEILING HER TO SIGN CHECKS
FOR LARGE SUNS.

Philadelphia Oct 6.-Charged with kidnapping
woman and holding her prisoner for four
days, robbing her of jewels worth than
5000, and compelling her to sign bank checks
for large sums Of money. is the story which the
police unfolded here to-day when they an
nounced the arrest of two newspaper men. a
stenographer in another newspaper office. and a
/ barber, all Of whom are charged with completely
In the crime.
The men now locked up at the Central Police
Station are Howard X. Sloan an unemployed
reporter: Henry Wallace, society editor OF one
of the morning newspapers: J. knight Finday.
of Wayne, near here, stenogra pher in the bust
ness office of another morning paper. and Oscar
;. Dunlap a barber, employed in of the
most prominent shops in the city. The victim
| is Mrs. Mabel Goodrich, the proprietress of an
establishment North Tenth-st. The four
men were arrested last night, and will have
hearing tomorrow.
Last Monday Mrs Goodrich went to Police
Headquarters and told story of kidnapping
and robbery daring that the police at first
doubted its truth. She said that for some time
past young man who represented himself as
a resident of Germantown had been a frequent
! visitor her establishment. He was we'll
! dressed and snent money freely. Last Wednes-
! day week she said he proposed drive through
! Paramount Park. He asked her TO dress in her
! best clothes and 70 wear all her diamonds and
other jewelry. because the return from the
drive he intended 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
caparsoned horses and with coachman on the
| box wearing stylish livery. At a lonely place in
Fairmount Park the carriage was stopped by a
| man who, she said. represented himself D.
| Clarence Gibbony. the secretary and attorney of
1 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 the charge of keep
! ing 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, where she did not know, but
! she noticed from one corner OF the handkerchief
over her eyes that the men paid toll at two toll
gates, and that they took her into a building
where fire engine and a hook and ladder truck
were standing. She kept prisoner from
Tuesday night until Friday night, without any
thing TO eat or drink and was then taken on
another long drive, blindfolded to a house
where she was kept from Friday until Monday
/ In the latter place the men, who masked
stripped her of the jewery. and at the point of
1 a revolver compelled her to sign bank checks
for various sums of money she had deposited In
the Third National 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 another long drive and put her out
Of the carriage at Tenth and Poplar sts.. about
mile from her house.
With other information the woman gave them
the detectives began to work what they be-
lieved to he fairy tale. They got several clews
which led them to firehouse in North Wayne
fifteen miles from this city. The fire company
is volunteer organization and the key to the
place is kept in the nearest dwelling. The
nearest house is occupied by a family named
FindIay, and there the police learned that one
of the sons. ]. Knight Findlay, had been home
only little for the last two weeks Getting a
description of him, the police returned to the city
and found the young man. who is only twenty
He charged with the crime and broke down
and implicated three others.
Findlay said that he had impersonated the
coechman, that Sloan the unemployed reporter
acted the part Of Gibbony; that the barber
played the part Of the rich Germantown resi-
dent and that Wallace, the society editor, had
rented a house in Germantown, where Mrs
Goodrich to have been held a captive. He
told substantially the same story that
rated by the woman. He said they kept her
confined in the firehouse, and then took her to
the house where Sloan was arrested yesterday
at No 2oJ6 North Twelfth-st. The plan to
keep her in the Wallace house, in Germantown
was abandoned in favor of the Sloan house
Sloan the police said, conceived the whole plot
and il he that got the barber into ii. He
had asked Dunlap to play the part OF the rich
man and get Mrs Goodrich outdoors so that he
could serve the warrant on her for keeping a
d!sordery house He did not reveal the real
purpose of the scheme to the barber.
All the jewelry was recovered, most of it hav-
ing been found in the possession of Findlay and
Only check. for S1J5. cashed and most
of this money was also recovered. Sloan was to
have begun work the newspaper on
which Findlay was employed tomorrow. Wal
lace has been society editor of the paper on
which he employed for only two weeks
-&---