The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-20
READY TO PAY
 KIDNAPPERS Father of Boy Spurns
 Advice. WILL GIVE uPy.HE ao,ooo J. P. whnta os,s This and More
 az 4nsom. Mother of dnetsa 0h''a T. rro'- tr.t. and ciins' To Her
 Litt.e Daughter-Noth-
 ing From Criminals.
WILL GIVE UP;.HE ao,ooo


 Sharon. Pa.. March 1s-Notwith- standing a rigid search lasting all night by many officers in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia, no trace has yet been found or the man who yesterday kidnapped William Whttla. eight-year-oid son of James F. Whitia. prominent and wealthy attorney.
 The lads relatives. some of whom are millionaires. are making every pos sible effort to locate the child and his abductors
 No decision has vet or can be made regarding the ransom of 310.0o0 de- manded by the kidnappers for the safe return of the child. MT. Whitla i'm mediately complied with the terms con- tained in the letter received yesterday from the men insofar as the insertion of an advertisement in various papers is concerned. The advertisement Is to the effect that he was willing to pay the ransom of t10.000. but up to 10 o'clock this morning no word had been received from the kidnapper as to when and where this money is to be paid.
 The father. dry eyed and full of the
  directing the extensive search. He is in constant communication with near by towns and orders every clue. no matter how slight, run down. MT. Whitla refuses to divulge the letter he received from the extortionists in Its entirety. He is greatly depressed and said he would surrender every thing he owned. if 1t would effect the immediate restoration to him of his boy. He added:
 T will endeavor to get in communi- cation with my boys abductors. It looks as if they would put a terrible threat into execution. Advice Is good. but perhaps time is too short in this case to disregard threats. If money will bring the boy back then will readily pay the $10.o0o."
 The mother is prostrated. She did not sleep last night and tdday clings pathetically to her daughter, salina 10 years of age. The mother refused to allow the girl to so to school to- day. the same school from which her boy was kidnapped yesterday. and sits with her arm about the child.
 Anna Lewis. ths boys teacher. who yesterday prepared William for the journey with the abductors. feels her part in the case deeply. although no blame Is attached to her.
 Searching in Cleveland.
 Cleveland, Ohio, Mch. 1S.-That Will lie Whitla kidnapped son Of Attorney James B. Whitla, of sharon, Pa. would be restored to the hands of friends within a few hours was the prediction made by the Cleveland police late to- night after they had placed under ar rest man whom they claimed an swered descriptions of the kidnapper.
 Upon an alleged statement made by this man, detectives in an automobile hurriedly departed for the eastern sec ton of the city where the boy Is said to have been sequestered.
 A definite clue to the whereabouts of the lad was obtained here today when George Doughterty, clerk of the Hotel Euclid recognized in the published photograph of Willie Whitla, the fea- lures of boy who. in company with man, appeared at the hotel last night.
 The man told the clerk he was wait ing for the appearance of a friend with whom he expected to transact impor- tant business. Dougherty paid no i'm mediate attention to the matter but today informed the detectives of his suspicious.
 Every detective in the city was plac ed on the trail and late tonight Clerk Dougherty accompanied by officers, was whisked away in an automobile. ap- parently to assist in the Identification of the boy who came to the hotel last night.
 At II o'clock the officers returned and reported they had been unable to find the boy at the address given.
 According to the police. the man who | furnished them with the information | is Henry Ball, a porter in local res taurant. Ball told the officers that friend who lived at the Hotel Benway, on Ontario street. met him on the street last night. The friend had the boy with him. saying he was the son of a Mrs. Satchell and asked Ball to take the child to business place near the Erie depot where the boys father would meet him. Ball received two dollars as remuneration. He failed to find the father and then proceeded to visit all the hotels in the hope of To- eating him. Not succeeding Ball took the child back to the Hotel Benaway and left him. It was to this hotel that the police went tonight.
 Frank H. Buhl, the millionaire uncle | of Willie Whitla, arrived here tonight from Sharon and immediately assumed | charge of the hunt for his nephew. Accompanied by detective and Clerk Dougherty. they departed in an auto mobile in a continuance of the search. |
 Ball gave the police but one ad- dress. at which he said the boy might | be found. When a search had been | made for the lad at that address and | he had not been locatd. Mir. Buhl in- sisted that all O fthe family hotels in the city be visited.
 For two hours the automobile whirl- ed about the city. At midnight. thor oughly worn out. he returned to the Hotel Euclid. from which place the | search started. He was unwilling to admit either that the boy seen here was or was not his nephew.
 T am prepared now to pay the $1O.- | 900 for the return of the child. There | need be no questions asked about who stole him or how he was stolen The | man who returns him shall have the | SIC, ,0OO in order to get the boy back"
 Ball was released from detention at midnight after three hours examina- ton.
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