The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-10
DECLARES THAW
KIDNAPPED BOY,
THEN BEAT HIM
Indictment Against Slayer of
Stanford White Makes
Serious Charge.
SAYS MILLIONAIRE
POSED AS A FRIEND
Brought Boy to New York to
Help Him and Then
Assaulted Him.

new OK, jan. 1U--IldIIy AeIluAiA
Thaw, charged with enticing a 19-
year-old boy from California to New
York and beating him with whip in
room at the Hotel McAlpin on
Christmas night, was indicted by the
New York grand jury yesterday for
kidnapping and second degree assault
Detectives with a warrant expected to
find him at the Belgravia hotel in
Philadelphia, but if he was there he
are looking for him.
Thaw was in Jacks restaurant,
Sixth avenue and Forty-third street,
as late as last Sunday morning. Per-
sons who saw him there say he was
drinking brandy and that when he
went out he neglected to pay his
check. For some time after his re-
lease he kept away from the white
lights, but recently they have iIlum-
ined him again In the last week of
December he was in Jacks nearly
every night, always in evening dress
and buying refreshments for all who
cared to share his bounty.
Thaw's companion or bodXguard,
George G. O'Byrne, was indicted for
kidnapping, being accused of helping
Thaw to keep the boy prisoner. A
man supposed to be OByrne was ar
rested in Philadelphia at a railroad
station. He said that he was Oliver
Brewer, Pittsburgh salesman, and
was not the man wanted in New
York. He admitted that he had
been with >Thaw "as friend in
10 la1y ~ ,3rI
Boy Comes to Testify.
The boy who makes the charge is
Frederick sGump, Jr., OF Kansas City,
son of a manufacturer of trunk leath-
er. He says he escaped from Thaw
on the morning after Christmas hur-
ried back to Kansas City and told his
mother and father what had happen
ed. They told Frank P. Walsh, who
has known the Gumps for long time.
Walsh came right to New York with
the boy and they gave District Attor-
ney Swami the story.
That was last Friday. BY 2 o'clock
Saturday morning William Hartman
Black, Assistant District Attorney, had
examined all the available witnesses,
including employees Of the McAlpin,
and had the case ready for the Grand
Jury. LastS night Walsh and young
Gump went to Philadelphia, where
the boy was to see If the prisoner
Brewer was the man he knew as
Q'Byrne, Thaw's bodyguard.
The minimum punishment for the
crime of kidnapping is five years in
prison. and the maximum is fifty
years. A Brooklyn Judge recently
sent the kidnapper of child to the
penitentiary for forty-nine years. The
penalty upon conviction for. second
degree assault is an indeterminate SEN
tence Of not more than five years.
Previous Beating Charges.
The offence of which Fred Gump,
who is a tall, thin, dark haired boy,
not long out Of high school, accuses
Thaw, recalls some of the myriad
stories told in court about the antics
Of the man who killed Stanford
White, lwho was twice tried for his
life, sent to Matteawan as insane, and
after his escape declared sane by
jury on July 16, 1915, and set free by
Justice Hendrick. W.
In an insanity hearing at White
Plains in July. 1909, Susan Merrill told
Of seeing Thaw,s before the shooting
Of White, flashing girls with dog whips
in room which he hired in Mrs. Mer-
rill's lodging house in Manhattan.
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, testifying in the
two trials of her husband, said she
had heard stories of his beating wo-
men.
William Travers Jerome. who as
District Attorney, prosecuted Thaw,
and later as special Deputy
did his best to keep
him in Matteawan. has always insist
ed that Thaw, if set at liberty, would
break loose" sooner or later and do
some violent thing, particularly If he
did not keep away from alcohol.
Thaw, according to all night observ-
ers OF Broadway and way stations, has
been drinking both champagne and
brandy on recent trips to this city
from his Pittsburgh home.
First Met Boy in 1915
Mr.. Jerome was asked yesterday
what he thought of the developments.
II don't want to say anything he
replied. II am unwilling to make any
This simply confirms my
The story of Frederick Gump, Thaw
and O'Byrne as told to the District
Attorney and Frank p. Walsh, who
was at the Holland House yesterday,
runs substantially as follows:
In November, 1915, four months af-
ter Thaw was set free in New York
On a bond of $4,000, which was can
celled when the State decided not to
appeal from the sanity verdict, he
was enjoying himself at Long Beach,
Cal, a resort near Los Angeles. The
Iump family, having moved to Long
Beach from Kansas City, whittier they
later returned, were among those
who believed that Thaw had been
horribly mistreated and whatever his
past would prove himself a worthy
Thaw met young Gump in an ice
cream parlor and became interested in
1im. Gump told him he expected to
enter the school Of mines of the Uni
yersity of California.
why don't you go to Carnegie In
stitute in Pittsburg instead ?" asked
fnaw. II think 1 could get you a
job in the shops, SO you could pay
your way through"
Nothing definite came of that at the
lime. Thaw came back East, sent
he boy a Christmas card and a cor
followed. Thaw asked
his protege to keep it secret, but the
BOY told his mother and she answered.
Ill Thaw's letters herself. Thaw re-
ported that he was looking for an
opening leading to a self-supporting
job for young Gump in Pittsburg and