Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-24
BARTENDER GAVE CLUE.
First to Suspect Man and Woman
as Kidnapers.

CLEVELAND. Ohio, March A.-While
the police have no doubt that the man
and woman arrested here late last night
are the kidnapers of little Willie Whitla.
who was stolen from school in Sharon on
Thursday last. and for whose return a
ransom of $4,000 was paid, they have as
yet learned but little from the prisoners.
The facts standing against the prisoners
are most conclusive. The woman had in
her possession when captured $3.50 in
currency. The numbers on the bills
correspond with those on the money that
James P. Whitla, the father of the boy,
left in a candy store here for the kid
napers on Monday night. The woman
has marks on her face. too. as if she
once had smallpox. This tallies with
the description of her by the kidnapped
boy. Her remark Immediately after her
arrest, There will be hell to pay in
Sharon when Bull hears of this is the
only discriminating statement against her.
but it shows that the kidnapping was in
her mind. The pair are known to have
been trying to get out of Cleveland Sc
cretly just before their arrest.
Both prisoners have refused so far to
give their names, but the man has been
identified as James Boyle. steamf1tter,
who has been known in this city for sew
eral years. The woman is the big mys-
terry now, and there were rumors today
that startling developments would soon
come concerning her.
Probably Knows Whitla Family.
The reference that the woman made to
Mr.. Bull. who is Frank H. Bull. Willie
Whitla's uncle, and who has been most
active in his work for the return of the
boy, indicates that she knows Bull and
the Whitla family we'll. Her description
recalls a woman connected by marriage
with the Whitla family who for years has
moved in circles entirely different from
those in which she once lived This fact
may account for the intimate knowledge
that the kidnappers apparently had of the
movements of Mr.. Whitla and the affairs
about the Whitla home
The woman apparently had been well ed
ucated and seems like a person who had
companion were under the influence of
liquor when they were arrested, and In the
course of her desultory talk with the de-
tectives she INDUCED very much in the
fouest PROFANITY This again 1, CORE
who told his father after his recovery
that the woman who had held him cap
tive with the man ''swore something
awful"
Willie Whitla is on his way here to look
at the prisoners. His father has declared
that he will prosecute them to the limit.
Mr.. Bull made this statement in Sharon
this morning:
speaking for Mr.. Whitla. I want to
may prove to be, Mr.. Whitla and Mr..
Bull will prosecute to the extent of their
power The district attorney and his as
sistant are preparing papers. and demand
for the prisoners. requisition will be well
on it's way to the governors Office in
Harrisburg before daybreak."
Bartender Caused the Arrests.
1t was at O'Reilly. a big sandy mus
tached saloonkeeper whose place is at
No. 215S Ontario street, who identi-
fed Boyle and who has given information
about him. He declared in a statement
at 1:36 O'Clock this morning:
when I came to my place at noon I
found Boyle and woman there. 1 had
known him six or seven years. He once
was steamfitter. l noted that he had
been drinking heavily. So had the
woman with him. 1 did not-know her at
all. l never had seen her about Ontario
street before. They had plenty of money
apparently, and were spending freely buy
ing for all in the house every few rounds.
by and by Boyle asked me to get an
automobile. While | was having the call
for machine put in, Boyle and talked.
He said he wanted to go to Shelby to
board a westbound Big Four train there
l said he could get one here If he wanted
it badly. I'm in trouble here and don t
want to go to the station. he said to
me. l suggested when the chauffeur came
and said he could not make the run to
Shelby because of bad roads they go
to Berea, only a few miles.
There is a brick road all the way to
Berea. Boyle said it would not do We
couldn't get train in Berea, he said,
because none of the fast trains that he
wanted stopped there. He had time
tables with him and seemed to know the
train time at most of the stations along
the road. He and the woman went out
once or twice and we're gone for a half
hour at a time.
Once Lived in Sharon.
: when I went to my supper my suspi-
my wife. and she agreed with me that
the actions of Boyle looked queer Com
ing down on the car, crowd was talking
of the failure of the police to make an
arrest. l said l could land them i'm half
an hour. Boyle and the woman were not
in the saloon when 1 got back. went
down to the central station and told Cant
Shattuck my suspicious. We came back
and found the man and woman. and
they were arrested. They had plenty of
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