The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-02-06
America, Europe, South Africa, and
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uC lu1uCoioISAJ aPS'
receiving the commission, get all their
wonderful machinery, silent and in.
visible to work. And they learned
who the kidnappers were in comara-
lively short space of time. There were
two of them-an elderly wretch nam
ed Mosher and a youthful pal named
Douglas.
This pair was not unknown TO the
police. But their offenses against
the law had always been \of petty
character, They were given to driv-
ing through the country in a ram
shackle wagon, peddllng, ostensibly,
stove polish. But their real business
was sneak thieving when nobody was
looking, and the burglarizing of unoc-
cupied houses.
They had passed through German
town, and seeing Charlie, stole him
upon an inspiration. 1t was a crime
that, ordinarily, was far beyond them.
And these detectives also turned up
many friends and relatives Of Mosher
and some acquaintance Of Douglas.
And they also traced the kidnappers
themselves from the moment they
first spoke to the child while playing
on his fathers lawn untilI'they reached
New York City.
But these friends and relatives knew
nothing that was Of value.
They were, those people of the low
east side class, as anxious to deliver
the criminals into the hands of the
law as were the pinkertons themselves
the rewards offered them to do 80
were not to be resisted. And in the
hope of gaining them they told many
stories Of the men-nOne of which
guesses happened to be right.
The Pinkertons, in the meantime,
bad 6D0, 900 copies of a circular, describ-
ing the boy, giving his picture and
Offering che tremendous rewards,
strck off and distributed. These were
printed on very thin paper in order
that they might be more easily mailed
to foreign countries. -,
The belief, however, all along prev.
allied that Mosher and Douglas were
in the vicinity of new York with
Charley Ross. They had been fol-
lowed there, and then the great metro.
polls had been microscopically watched
and their escape therefrom was a
matter of impossibiiity. At the same
time the most -marvellously perfect
search of the city and all its envlrons
failed to reveal trace Of them or any
body who had seen them. .
When Mosher and Doughlas, saw
what Iurore they had thrown the
world into by their crime, they were
paralyzed with fear, and straightway
went into hiding, taking their victim
with'them through sheer fear of leav-
ing a clue. -.
And they hid we'll. They crowded
into cabin-yawl or cat boat, and lived
aboard in out-of-the way corners OF
New York harbor. In 1t, hid am 6ng
little craft. in obscure corners of the
harbor, the kidnappers had found q
safe place-the only possible one.
Day after day those two men
lay in its tiny cabin, no human
beings seeing their faces. Had
they been In the grave itself their nur-
ial would not have been more complete.
Neither ever showed his head above
deck save when one of the other vent
ured forth at midnight to steal food.
THE search for Mosher and Dough-
las was the closest ever made,' says
the ex-Pinkerton. "Clues were plck-
ed up in the most incredible piace-a
word overhead on a street car, an
expression by some corner loafer,
laughing allusion in some bar--and
followed back by our sleuths with the
most incredible ingenuity: Ana tney
always brought up in what might be
called the vicinity for the men-at some
of their friends or relatives. But they
never went futher. And they didn,t
for the simple reason that not even
those friends and relatives knew the
hiding places of the kidDappers.
"There was an old woman who lived
over in Green Point, back to whom q
word, dropped by chance, was traced:
And in her we uuearthed a most
remarkable old character.
"She told us all about Mosher and
Douglas, from the time they return
ed to New York up to the moment OF
our conversation with her. We
proceeded to investigate the story
forthwith. And we couldn't verify a
single point in it.
when we told her this, she insisted
that what she said was true. And
she again went over the narrative
with the most perfect circumstant ial
detail. And again we set out to verify
it. And again we didn't verify IT.
"This thing happened many times
And finally we cut loose from her as a
vain hope.
ave had many experiences Of this
despite our best efforts to get futher
than the point at which the kidnap-
pers and the boy vanished.
The police finally got hold ofa, man
named Gill Mosher-brother Of the
kidnapper.
Gill agreed to deliver the two men
into, police hands, provided his brother
was allowed to turn states evidence,
and Douglas made the scapegoat.
This, Walling, then superintendent
of the metropolitan force, agreed to.
And Gill went off and arranged with
the criminals for them to be at the
even now very tough corner at Grand
and Allen atreets, New York, at one
o'clock that night.
Walling told off two detectives to
seize them. And these twowOnderful
sleuths took their station and was ted
half and hour. Then they left. And
fifteen minutes later the kidnappers
made their appearance and went into
bar on the corner.
The proprietor of the saloon did not
know Mosher and Douglas, but he
was we'll enough acquainted with the
criminal cla-s to surmise that they
were lawbreakers of one sort or anoth-
er. And so, by way of doing his
friends good turn, he said:
"There were two fly cops on the
corner watching for somebody awhile
agO.n