New Britain herald., 1917-10-08
KIDNAPPING CASE
IS NOW RECALLED
Abduction Of Little Lloyd Keet Of
Missouri Brought to Mind
MANS TRIAL IS ON TODAY

Is Alleged to Have Been Leader OF
Gang That Stole Infant from Home
Later Killing the Infant and
Throwing Body in Well.
Marshfleld, Mo-, Oct. s.-The trial
Of Claud j. Piersol, charged with kid
mapping Lloyd Keet, infant son of q
Springfield, Mo-, banker opened in
circuit court here today.
Piersol, who is only 20 years of
age, Is alleged to have headed a band,
two of whom are charged with aid
ing him in the abduction of the Keet
baby and four others who are ac-
cused, with the trio of a plot to alb
duct a jeweler of Springfield.
Although the death of the child,
whose body was found in an aband-
oned cistern, does not figure in the
charge against Piersol, conviction for
kidnapping, or attempting to kidnap,
carries a life sentence in Missouri
The abduction of Lloyd Keet, the
fourteen-months-old son of ]. Holland
Keet, a banker of Springfield, Mo-,
eliminated in the babys DEATH 1t
involved another alleged kidnapping
conspiracy, said to have been part of
a German plot and the attempting
lynching of one of the so-called con-
spirators in an effort to force him to
confess that he was implicated in
the Keet baby's disappearance and
death.
While the child's parents were at
tending a ball at the Springfield
Country club on the night Of May 80,
1917, the baby was stolen from his
crib in the family home. Ten days
later the body was found, wrapped
in an old black underskirt, at the
bottom of a well at the Crenshaw
mansion, which had been uninhabited
for many years. Meanwhile, friends
detectives, and the baby's father had
secured the Ozark hills and had even
visited previously the old farm house
in their search for the missing boy.
No threats had been made to the
Keet family, previous to the abduc-
ton. but on the following morning,
Mr.. Keet received a note threatening
mutilation to the infant If a ransom
of $4,000 was not paid the following
night. Mr.. Keet endeavored to COM
ply but failed to meet the kidnap-
pers. Various rewards were offered
but these were followed up by q
letter to the father that the ransom
fee would be increased from $4,000
to $4,000.
Six days after the disappearance Of
the boy, Taylor Adams, his Wife
Allie Adams, and his two sons, Make
and Cletus, respectively 1S and 20
years old, and Claude Piersol were
arrested. All vehemently denied any
connection with the Keet case but
alleged statements Of the prisoners
told of a plan to abduct G. A. Gle
ments, a Springfield jeweler, and a
baby other than the Keet's child.
The German plot angle entered the
case, according to the alleged state
ment by Piersol, that a man had en-
ployed him to assist in kidnapping
Clements. The man was said to have
received orders from a German agent
in st. Louis and to have promised
Riersol he might be called upon to
kidnap persons in Canada and Mexico
as we'll as in the United States.
All efforts to shake the statements
Of the persons arrested were unsuc-
cessful. They maintained they had
nothing to do with the Keet case.
On June 9, however, party of citi-
zens made a second and more thor
ough search Of the Crenshaw farm
and found the body. A coroner's in
quest decided that the child had died
from exposure and lack of proper
nourishment.
The excitem ent in Springfield be-
came so great that a mob stormed
the county Jail demanding that the
prisoners who were being held there,
be turned over to them that they
might avenge the baby's death.
Sheriff Webb attempted to spirit
his prisoners away in an automobile
The mob pursued and finally caught
them at Stockton, Mo-, 2S miles north
of Springfield where they took Pier
sol from the sheriff and went through
all the movements of a lynching
party, even to stringing the prisoner
from a tree limb. Piersol held to his
original story, and denied that he was
responsible for the Keet infants
death. The mob surrendered him to
the sheriff and the prisoners were
lodged in the Stockton Jail.
Federal agents of the department
of justice followed up the pro-German
angle Of the case and arrested Dick
Carter, of Springfield. who Is being
held on a charge of being implicated
in the Clement plot.
Taylor Adams, Claude Piersol, and
Cletus Adams are charged with alb
duction. Charges of murder against
them were dismissed. Allie Adams
and Make Adams are charged with
implication in the Clement conspiracy.