Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-04-01
K|DHAPERS IN TOLLS;
$3.50 CASH FOUND
Woman Arrested at Cleveland Com
fesses She and Man Were
Plotters Against Boy.
WILLIE WHITLA AT HOME AGAIN
Confession of Prisoner Hints That
Trouble May Be Expected in
City of Sharon.

William Whftla is now safe with his
father. and the hunt in which hun
dreds of detectives and police have
searched scores Of cities since the little
boy was ktd<1ped from his school in
Sharon, Pa. on Thursday. is ended.
The father turned over to woman.
the agent OF the kidnapers. the $4,000
ransom they demanded. He then re
turned 10 the Uollenden Hotel in
Cleveland. aud awaited the arrival of
the boy. according to instructions de-
livered by the woman Willie. several
hours later. walked in. He had been
sent in from the edge of town on a
car.
Mr. Whitla not only had given the
woman the ransom. but he had placed
in her hands all the letters he had re-
ceived from the gang and promised he
would give no clew that could lead to
her Identification.
A woman and a man with S9,7 in
currency in their possession were
arrested in Cleveland Tuesday night
and the police declare beyond doubt
they are the kidnapers of S-year-old
Willie Whitla of Sharon, Pa, who was
returned to his father Monday even
ing.
What IS believed threat against the
Whitla family was uttered as a boast
by the woman as she was taken into
the Central Police Station. Apparent
ly befuddlcd by liquor she said in an
swer to questions
1 am the one who planned the whole
thing. There will be trouble for me
and IL in Sharon tomorrow"
Beneath the woman's skirt was found
the $3.50 All of it but $40 was bound
in packages with the original slips
placed on the money when WhftIa took
it from the bank still around it.
Captain Norman Shattuck and De-
tective Frank Wood made the arrests
in the cas- end of the city. When near
the police station the man broke away
from Detective Wood and ran toward
an alley. Shattuck fired two shots
from his revolver into the air and the
man stopped
The woman appears TO be well edu-
Gated and is refined in manners. She
says she spent fifteen years of her life
in Il convent in Pennsylvania. but de
MES that she has ever been in trouble
before. Both the man and the woman
deny that they know the name of each
| other. They admit that they are not
man and wife
According to the police, the two were
| intoxicated when placed in custody
Due to their condition they were not
| questioned closely by the police and
! were locked in separate cells. The man
| says that he has been a resident of
! Cleveland for seventeen years. He
| claims to have a mother and a sister
there. Captain Shattuck is said to
have secured his description of the kid
napers from Willie Whitla and this de-
scription led to the arrest.
Willie Whitla told Captain Shattuck
that the woman who kept him pris-
! oner had smallpox scars on her face.
! The woman in custody has red spots
! on her cheeks and appears to have had
smallpox. She is Il tall blonde. prob
ably - years old. She was dressed in
a black silk skirt, a gray coat and
black hat. The man is dark and smooth
faced
Tuesday detectives heard that man
and 4 woman answering the description
of the kidnapers had been seen on the
outskirts of the city. They came down
town and bought numerous articles of
clothing, rendering So and SO bills in
payment, it was learned. Later a re-
port came that the two had left a
package in downtown store, which
proved to consist of discarded clothing
Captain Shattuck and Detective Wood
trailed the man and woman around the
business district of the city for several
hours during the afternoon, but delayed
taking them into custody.