Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-19
RETURNED OPAREhIS
Freddie Muth Welcomed by a
Thousand Persons.
CAPTURE OF THE KIDNAPER
Impelled to Crime by Pressing Need
for Money.
BOY WAS LEFT UNFRAMED
Kept Quiet With Candy. and Pennies
How He Was Finally
Discovered.

| Freddie Muth, the kidnapped Philadelphia
boy who was returned to his parents yes
terday afternoon, as told in The Star. was
welcomed home by more than thousand
persons. The whole city had been on the
anxious bench. as 1t were, for a week.
awaiting tidings of the child, and when the
news came that he had been found It was
flashed to all parts of the city. People be-
gan tic gather in front Of the Muth home
on Columbia avenue to see the boy brought
home. Mr.. Muth had gone to city hall. and
Mrs. Muth. who had been Frustrated by
| the crime. rose from her bed to welcome her
child. The crowd had swelled to more than
| a thousand persons when a carriage con-
tanning the boy and his father drove up to
the house. The crowd cheered as the lit
| tie fellow was hurried into the house and
into his mothers waiting arms The scene
within the home was most affecting, and
while the mother was listening to the ehiId's
story the house was closed to all callers
Later reporters were permitted to ques-
ton the boy, but he seemed too much dazed
to give connected story of his adventure.
He was still much frightened In answer
| to questions, the child said
The man took me on one car and then
on another. and put me in house where
there were no chairs. He locked the door.
was afraid and cried. He told me to
| stop crying, l would soon see my
mamma. l cried all the time and went to
sleep. The man folded a coat and put it
under me. The next day in the daytime he
brought bread and milk and some oysters
L cried again and the man said l would
see mamma soon. That day he went out
| to get something and locked the doors.
went TO window and saw some boys and
| ladies looking up at me. / tried to lift
the window to talk to them. but the man
came back. He closed the shutters and
told me to stay away from the windows
WI he xyoo dip0 haz ii
| the police We're after me. I got awful
frightened. Two three times we heard
noises down stairs. and the man took me
on the roof and we went into the next
house. The man said they were policemen.
The man gave me pennies and told me not
| to make noise. We were going some place
when lot of men and policeman caught
the man."
When the boy had finished his story the
father turned to the reporters and said:
please thank everybody for me. Thank
the newspapers. 1t was their kind and eff
ficient cooperation that got my boy back
also want to thank the police They work
ed hard to find my boy
Mr.. Muth said that he did not know Kean
and had never seen him until yesterday
Mayor Weaver and Capt Donaghy last
night formally thanked the newspapers for
| the part they played in the case
On the Track of the Abductor.
John Joseph Kean, member of re-
spectacle New York family, one time book
keeper of the Harlem Bank, stock broker
and more recently a real estate agent is
the abductor Driven by the commission OF
comparatively small ofrense to the helm
Gus crime of child stealing he occupies a
cell In the Central police station, with life
imprisonment staring him in the face. Re-
plete with dramatic incidents from its in
ceptlon the climax of the abduction was
sensational to degree. The kidnaper was
taken at the point of a pistol only after he
and yI,a,, l.
that escape was impossible. Kean is a
married man and the father of three chill
dren. He gave as his reason for abducting
the Muth boy that he needed money.
From the day of the KIDNAPPING until the
arrest yesterday afternoon Kean had kept
the. child in three vacant houses In West
Philadelphia Meantime the entire detective
and police force of Philadelphia were CON
Quoting an unremitting search and the
authorities of other cities had been fur
nished with a description of the boy and
his captor. with instructions to keen a
lookout for the pair.
Capt. Donaghy of the local detectjva
force, however, was convinced that Kean
and the child were In the city, the evidence
OF TINS being in the five letters which the
Kiohaper sent TO Mr. Muth negotiating for
the return of the boy. All of these. with the
exception of one received from Wilmington
Del. were mailed in the central district OF
Philadelphia. The Wilmington letter. the
police say, Kean denies having written AL
thoush ne refers to 1t in a subsequent com
municatfon. 1t Is limited that this mfss1ye
was mailed by woman, but the police de-
clare tnat kean had no confederates In the
abduction. - 80
The First Clue.
The first information that Kean and h;s
captive were In the vicinity in which the
arrest was eventually made came from
Joseph Sager, baker at Sixtieth and Hav
erford avenue. who told the policeman last
answering the description of the pair IN an
oyster saloon at No. 6013 Haverford avenue
shortly after midnight last Wednesday
Special Officers Clare and Vale were tmma-
oiateiy detailed upon the case and instruct
so 10 remain In that nefghborhood unti,
.ua.ner orders. They Immediately began a
search OF all the vacant houses in fha
nelshborhood and their search led them to
the very house occupied by the ab,fuctos
ana the child The dwellings were SO con-
strueted, however, that by means Of q re.r
shed kean was able to elt,de fba raiJa
by climbing into the back windows Of tro
au1oinlng houses which were also pnocc,,
pied. A second investigation yesterday re-
arrest Of the kidnaper io VIC
Saser' the baker, was acquainted with
kean and the police were thus enabled r.
o ond ,ao ms address; They visited his home
ana learned from his wife that he had mot
been there with her knowledge since q week
ago yesterday, the day prior to the ahl,,,c
tion she stated. however, that he had
evidently erept into the house, as a nil
low, an overcoat and a cape were missing
With this clue to work on the noIira 70
doubled their efforts. They were certain Of
the identity of the man. but all doubts in
this direction were removed when Charles
j. Cooke, real estate dealer, appeared AZ
headquarters with a complaint that John
Joseph kea4f who had acted as collector
and agent for him, had embezzJed Sa0Io
Specimens Of his handwriting were shown
the police and they were found to he i,5en
teal with the writing in the letters which
the abductor had begun sending to MT.
Muth. ~.
Discovery Of the Boy.
Special Officers Glare and Vale Yesterday
again instituted search of the vacant
houses In their district. and they paid am
other visit to the dwellings Nos. 423 425
and 427 North G2d street. When Vale
reached the third floor of No. 425 he OBJ
served Freddie Muth standing on the rear
Hello, Freddie." -
Freddie said: '.Hellor and immediatelv
began to cry. Vale leaped through the
window and stepped across the roof to the
adjoining house. He was just in time to
SEQ kead H1irryinSr d0vvu tho T.,-o