Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-10-07

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, October G.
Charged with kidnapping a woman
and holding her prisoner for four
days. robbing her of jewelry worth
more than $4,000 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
| nouneed the arrest of two newspaper
men, a stenographer IN another news
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 Wal
lace. society editor of one of the
morning newspapers: J. knight Find
10y, of Wayne, near here. stenograph-
er in the business Office of another
morning paper. and Oscar s. Dunlap,
barber. employed in one of the most
prominent shops in the city. The vic
! tim is Mrs. Mabel Goodrich, the pro-
prietress of an establishment on North
Tenth street. The four men were ar
rested last night and will be given a
hearing Monday.
Last Monday Mrs. Goodrich went to
police headquarters and told a story
of kidnapping and robbery so daring
that the police at first doubted its
trnt 40 hat far ,oxa
| past young man who represented
| himself as a resident of Germantown.
had been a frequent visitor at her es-
tablishment. He was well dressed and
! spent money freely. Last Wednesday
week. she said, he proposed drive
| through Fairmont Park. He asked
her to dress in her best clothes and for
her to wear all her diamonds and other
| jewelry because on the return from
the drive he intended to take her to
the finest dining room in the city and
he wanted her 10 shine" with the
other women in the place. She ac-
cepted and the next day she went out
with him in carriage with fine pair
of richly caparisoned horses and with
a coachman on the box wearing styl
| ish livery. At lonely place in Fair
mount Park. the carriage was stopped
by man whom she said represented
| himself as d. Clarence Gibbony, the
| secretary and the 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.
| the next moment she was gagged and
| blindfolded. She was driven some
where, she did not know, but she no
| tlced from one corner of the handker-
| chief over her eyes that the men paid
| toll at two toll gates and that they
| took her into a building where a fire
engine and hook and ladder truck
were standing. She was kept pris-
| oner from Thursday night until FRI
day night without anything to eat or
| drink and was then taken on another
| long drive blindfolded to house
where she was kept from Friday until
| Monday. In the latter place the men
| who were masked stripped her of the
! jewelry and at the point of revolver
compelled her to sign bank checks for
| various sums of money she had depos-
tied in the Third National bank. They
made her sign for more than she pos
sessed but compelled her to promise
she would make W 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 clues
which led them to a fire house in
North 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. The
, nearest house was occupied by fam
lily named Findlay, and there the po-
lice learned that one of the sons, ].
knight Findlay, had been home but lit
tie during the past two weeks Get
ting a description of him, the police
returned to the city and found the
young man, who is only 81 years old,
in the Office where he is employed. He
was charged with the crime and broke
down and implicated three others.
Findlay said he had impersonated the
coachman, that Sloan, the unemployed
reporter. acted the part Of Attorney
Gibbony, that the barber played the
part Of the rich Germantown resident,
and that Wallace, the society editor,
had rented house in Germantown,