The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-07-11
NUTH BOY FOUND,
KIDNAPER ARRESTED.
Child Taken Unframed From De.
serted House in Philadelphia. 4
JOHN ]. KEAN HIS ABDUcT0R
Fad Robbed Employer and Said He
Would Have Repaid Him Out OF
Ransom He Expected-Victlm

Fad Robbed Employer and Said He
Would Have Repaid Him Out OF
Ransom He Expected-Victim
Druggcd to Keep Him Quiet.
Philadelphia.-Fre Muth, the
seyen-year-old son of Charles Muth.
the ieweler of 1852 Columbia ave.
| nue., who was kidnapped, was found
| by the police after week or unre-
mitting search in vacant house az
E25 North Sixty-second street with
! him, as his captor, was John Joseph
Kean, once a prosperous real estate
| broker, who was arrested for the Z
kidnaping. He is forty-two years
Did and has a wife and three children.
"I was passing Mrs. Muth's jewelry
store one day and saw the boy sitting
| ir the window. I heard some one
say, Now don't you go away, Fred
die 1t occurred to me, How much
would they give to get the boy back
if ne did go away?" Kean confessed.
He was at his wits end for money
and took the chance. ~
He had committed embezzlement.5
Unless he had money at once the
penitentiary stared him in the face.
| In ar instant the crime was con-
ceived; in two days it was executed.
! He faces a sentence of life imprison-
ment. =
His capture was effected in West
Philadelphia, on the roof OF the
house, to which in his last desperate
extremity he had dragged the child,
and was just ready.-to cast him over
| the caves and then kill himself with
bottle of poison when he was taken.
dragged to the street, and to a patrol
wagon, in which he was whirled to &
detective headquarters in the City
Hall. with the boy at his side.
When the child was placed at a
telephone in the Office of Mayor.
Weaver and told to talk to his
mother it seemed as il every man
there, including the Mayor, police ofh-
cials and men accustomed to scenes
of heartbreaking interest, would new
er recover from the tense excitement
! of the occasion. Tears ran down
| their cheeks and not man said a
word. q
The boy, with smudgy face and
showing the hardships which he had
.undergon ~carcely realized his po-
sition. He had been kept under sub
lection by means of drugs and liquor
and was not at all like bright boy
Of seven years
In little while the boy was ta-
ken to his home, where Mrs. Muth
grasped him in one long, fond en-
brace, and then tainted from sheer
Joy. Only one or two close friends
were permitted IN the house at that
moment, for Mrs. Muth ha' been
showing signs of complete" collapse
under the strain to which she had
been subjected for seven days.
| One hundred thousand Quaker
| City mothers knew of the capture
one hour after 1t was made, and the
| great celebration of the birth OF the
Republican party was dwarfed into
insignifcance by the demonstration
that began at p. m. and spread
throughout the city as rapidly as the
| news was disseminated. One church
uptown threw open its doors for
special service of thanksgiving.
The recovery of the boy and the
| capture of the man who stole him,
mark one of the most extraordinary
| performances in detective work ever
recorded or ever 'co4Hdctef on such
lines.
For four days the police have
been confident that Kean was the
abductor. They had not been able to
learn his hiding places, however, de-
spite the fact that the entire police
| force Of the city was working to that
end. and the police of all the large
Eastern cities had been instructed
to look out for him. Chief OF De-
tectives Donaghy let the impression
20 out that the search had been
abandoned in this city and that the
abductor would be arrested in the
home of Mrs. Gustave Brandus OF
44Oa St. Marks avenue, Brooklyn, a
sister of Freddie's mother. This
merely was a ruse that threw Kean
off his guard and enabled the police
| IN find him