Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1910-02-10
Many Celebrities Who Have
Vanished Like Dr.. Cook

Wdo lSbuIuSu LA6 SdMS AISuL ny
, man who had found him crying on ;
, street corner in Kensington. Waite
!, told his parents that several days be
, fore two strange men had given cand,
to Charley and him. These men had re
!, turned to the neighborhood July 1, il
a wagon, and when the two children
asked them if they had any frecrack
ers for the coming Fourth they hat
invited the youngsters to jump in ane
drive to a fireworks store. In Ken
sington Walter was given quartel
to go into store and buy the fire
crackers, but when he emerged from
i the shop he found that the wagon hae
gone with Charley and the two strang
ers in it.
Charley has never returned to this
day, although his mother, now a gray
haired old lady, still waits for him in
the Germantown mansion. During the
days following his kidnapping his IA
Their received anonymous letters de.
handing $4,000 ransom and threat.
enlng the childs humiliation" If a
police trap were set when the ransom
was called for. After exhausting the
ingenuity of the police the father.
through newspaper personals" ar
ranged various meeting places, where
the transaction could be effected, but
each time the kidnappers were scared
away. Then the father made 200
I n Eel
and his vain search cost him in all
1 100000.
The following December Mosher
and Douglas, two burglars, were fat
ally wounded while robbing the house
OF Judge Van Brunt, at Ft Hamilton,
l.. l., and Douglas, while dying, whis-
pered: "Mosher and | stole Charley
Ross
But when asked where the bow was
he but gasped: "Mosher knows all
about the child. Ask him" But
Mosher had already gone to that
realm from which no traveller returns.
and he had taken with him the key to
the MYSTERY of Charley Ross. Last
spring the mother investigated one
more clue-that given by one William
u. Eyster, of McKees Rocks, near
Plttsburg, who claimed that he was
her long lost boy. His story was that
ne had been reared by a family in
Shamokin, Penn. and that his So
called parents had refused to make
denial when he accused them of ron.
eealing him from his real parents.
The Tichborne Mystery
The next~great disappearance mys-
terry prior to that of Charley Ross
was the TichbOrne case. Sir Edward
T1chborne, with an income of 100000
had as heir his nephew, James, with
two sons, Roger and Alfred. Roger,
who was born in 1929 fell in love with
his cousin Kate, Sir Edwards daugh-
ter, and the old knight gave Roger
two years in which to reform before
giving him an answer. So Roger, who
was a dissipated young army officer
J OF %, put out for South America,
where he wandered for a year or so
in an unhappy frame of mind Then
in the early fifties Sir Edward died.
leaving his baronetcy and vast for
tune to Rogers father, James Itch.
borne, and Roger, as the elder son,
now became direct heir to both.
Learning of this, he sailed from Rio
Janeiro in the ship Bell for New
York, whence he was to cross at
once to England. But the Bella never
came to port.
Roger Tichborne's mother, like
Charley Ross's, would never believe
that he was dead. Even after her hus-
band had died and her younger son
had fallen heir to the estates she had
a strong presentiment' that Roger
would one day return. She continued
to advertise for him, and in 1866 an
Australian detective agency presented
to her man claiming to be her long
missing son. His story was that he
had lived in Australia for 13 years
under the assumed names of Thomas
Castro. Lady Tichborne appeared te
recognize him at once, welcomed him
as her son and advised him to asser,
his rights. Relatives and old family
servants also identified the claimant
Then Lady Tichborne died in 1868
and the case later went to trial.
Alfred the younger brother, now
holding the title, brought witnesses
to prove that the claimant was one
Orion, son Of London butcher, while
the alleged Roger put on the stand
sailors who declared that they bad
taken him from the wreck of the Bel
la. He also displayed birthmark and
wound such as Roger had had, but he
lost his case, was arrested, tried and
sentenced to IA years for perjury, but
was set free after 10 years. After q
lecture tour in America in 1885 he be
came penniless, and tried to sell q
confession" to New York newspa
per for $4,000. This was afterward
disposed of in England and he died in
1898, many people still believing him
to be the real Roger Tichborne who
had devised the confession" as q
hoax to raise needed money. His
/, coffin plate was engraved "Sir Roger
Charles Tichborne." Then in 1907 an
aged man, just before his death in
the Kin's County hospital, Brooklyn
made statement that he was the
rightful Roger Tichborne, that he had
returned to England from South
America in 1856. but had been spirit
ed out of the country with the threat
that he would be assassinated if he
ever returned to claim his title and