The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-12
PAT GROVE TELLS !. OF DAZZLING SCHEME How He Had Planned to kidnap
 Rockefeller WAIVED A HUGE RANSOM The Plot to Steal Standard oil King and Hold Him for $2,oo0,0o0
 Was Working Smoothly,
 But It Failed.
WANTED A HUGE RANSOM

Pat Grove to the New York World. Of course I was going to kidnap Rocke- feller Why shouldn't 1? It would be far easier to run away with him than it was
 to carry off child like Edward Cudahy. l Jr.
 In March of this year 1t was my inten- tion to go to Cleveland, kidnap Rocke- feller, the old king, and demand a ran son of s2OOo,OoO from his son under penalty that if the ransom were not paid imme-
 diately l would put the old man off
 watch"
 If my pal whose name l refuse to di- vulge, had not thrown me down l would not today be prisoner in the hands of l Omaha detectives.
 Only about $SOO0 in cash was necessary
 to carry out the plot to kidnap Rockefel- Ter. l visited Forest Hill, near Cleve- | land, viewed the surrounding and consid- cred 1t would be easy work to make the
 ti-millionaire a prisoner. l had plan
 ned to hire a handsomely equipped resi- | dence in the suburbs of Cleveland, and | in this residence would have held Rocke- | feller a prisoner until the ransom was
 forthcoming. I intended to stock the
 stables with thoroughbred horses and
  A fine automobile had been arranged for 1 on which was to have paid part of the | purchase price in cash Everything sur
 rounding the suburban villa was to have | been of the finest.
 Would Pose as Lord. | I intended to dress like d gentleman and cut a wide swath in Cleveland socie- | ty After becoming acquainted with the l best people of the city expected to make | calls at the Rockefeller home. Having | paved my way to sufficient degree or | intimacy l was to invite MT. Rockefeller 1 to take spin" in the automobile with me of course I had no idea of living
 as Pat Grove intended to assume the name of Lord Tell' and to pose as a young Englishman sojourning in Amerl- ca for recreation
 On the appointed day, had MT. Roeke- feller refused to accompany me In the au- tomobile l and my confederate Wouiu at the point of revolvers, have forced the Standard Oil King to accompany us. As soon as MT. Rockefeller was in the automobile I should have taken nm to the house I had engaged, and there helu him until the demanded ransom was palo. Ii would be my pleasure to put that
 fellow out of the way. I am not a so- cialist nor am I an anarchist, but am firm in the belief that the mighty Maker of all things never intended that one man should be possessor of such great wealth as that owned by Mir Rockefeller
 After we once had Mir. Rockefeller safe within the house 1t was my intention 10 write note to his son that unless sZ,"o'- GOO was delivered to me within three days the waves of Lake Erie would wash the old mans body upon the sands Of Euchd Beach.
 I should have commanded Rockefeller's
 son to cross Lake Erie in a small tug manned by no more than three men, and take with him s2Ooo,o0o In gold
 Gold In Scow. As the tug neared the Canadian shore red light posed on pole would be
 seen. Tethered to this pole would be scoW. In this seow the bags or soin
 were to be deposited.
 As the tug pulled up to the right light the instructions were that rocket should be fired from the vessel.
 This was to be the signal by which I
 should know that the money was on
 board and would be deposited at the point designated.
 So close to the shore was this scow to
 be anchored that in case more than the
 required number of persons should be on board the tug my pal and l with rapid fire gun at a conveninent point on the shore would have sunk the tug then and | there.
 "A
 accordance with my instructions and the | tug had been headed for the American | shore I should have landed the gold In | small boast on the Canadian side of the | lake and taken 1t to London. Ontario,
 where l should have secreted 1t tempo | rarly.
 | My pal would have boarded swift
 launch. set sail for Cleveland, carried MT. l Rockefeller In the automobile to the pub l lie square, made him alight and then dis
 appeared as rapidly as the machine would 1 have permitted. He would then have boarded train for Toronto, where he | would have joined me.
 My confederate was to have received
 s5oo,Go0 as his share of the proceeds of | the Kidnapping.
 Accomplice Backed Out. | The chief instgator in this scheme to
 secure fortune from the man of millions was attacked with an acute case of cold feet fearing that he himself would be implicated, and refused to put up the
 s3000 necessary to carry out the plot. This
 man was prominent in business circles
 and had been one of the leaders in the | social swim in Cleveland. as well as | prominent In many enterprises that tend
 ed to the upbuilding of the city. He was
 at one time connected with the oil trust , and he had had some difficulty with
 MT Rockefeller several years ago. He l told friend or mine he wanted to satisfy
 a personal grouch My friends accosted
 me soon after my return from South
 Africa, saying he knew of an opportunity l for me to make killing if I was still
 in the Kidnapping business. | I asked what kind of a deal he was
 trying to spring on me, and he then told
 me the whole business. He told me of | the i'll will certain man in Cleveland l entertained against the millionaire and 1 that this man wanted to '.get even." made arrangements to meet this impor-
 tant individual, who was to assist me to
 again "get on my feet'-for you see I
 was about "all in" In a financial way
 and he told me to figure out scheme. 1 After three days we had the whole af- | fair cut and dried. There was no hitch
 and everything seemed to be going along 1 nicely.
 | My friends said he had the cash in | the bank and that he would draw 5000
 and turn it over to me. With this was l to rent the palatial home of which I
 have spoken, and begin to make the people of Cleveland take notice of Lord | Tell"
 | From the time I held up that Indiana
 polls banker for $1S.O0o and counted ties