Gunnison news-champion., 1922-12-22
EiISTnRY'S'
YSTERIES9

YS1ERIES
"wHo STOLE cHARLEv RosSr
THE most faDous kidnapping mys-
tery In America and one which ere
ated more Interest The world ever than
any other crime Of the kind ever com
mitted-wifh TIE possible exceptloo of
the loss of some of ths ehildrva Il
royaity-was the 0laappsaranco &
Charley Ron. youAg 80 of Q PhiIa-
delphia family. Fer nsariy half csa-
tury the cass hes baaled the greatest
Detectives a the world and. b splts
q every sRost sAas Aas bssn nada b
Qete Of The GEpsad1tuso - hugs sanD
q money. the mystery b ~ desp To-
day a. n was - July I. l67A when
7 he boy was nfst missed
Christian X. Ron lived h German
town. an outlying section Of Philadel
phia. and Charles was ths youngest
of his Avs childrsn. AZ The time of
his kidnaplng. the cAlld was only -four
years old end was paayins with his
brother. waltss. % tAs sidswalk b
front Of the house.
Some days previous 10 the kidnap-
Ing. according TO the story which
Walter Ross told the pollcs. three
men had spoken to the boys and had
given them some candy. On July I,
these sams men drove mp In q wagon
and invited the Ross boys to take a
ride to the nearest fireworks store.
The brothers got In and were driven
some distance to q section Of the city
known ~ Remington. where Walter
Ross was given q quarter and told
to get out and 90 into the nearest
store to make his purchase. When
he came out Of the store the wagon
had disappearsd.
After searching In vain for his broth.
- for several minutes, Walter Ross
became alarmed and commenced to
cry. His grief attracted q crowd Of
men and he was taken home, but no
clue could BE- discovered ~ to the
Whereabouts q his brother. The
Philadelphia police searched svefy
part Of the city for thrse days and
Advertisements wsrs placed In the pa
pefs without saccess until, On the
morning Of July Z came . poorly writ
ten and iIl-spslled letter stating that
Charley b all Fite. but you viii have
. pay = before ~ ct him from ~
and pay % BID. too" This letter con.
eiudsd with the threat that the boy
would b instantly killed Il any a.
tempt were made to put the police ou
his trail
On July . aoethsr Isttsr arrived
dsnandias 10000 which Mr.. Ross, ip
splts q the protests Of the police and
private detectives. asrssd to pay. Ow-
NJ b The watehfulnsss Of the police,
however. the kidnapers were fright.
ened and failed to keep the appoint-
ments which thsy made with ths boys
father.
Not only all America but Europe
a. well, was now concerned with the
Ross kidnapping case and the bright
est minds In the detective forces Of
two continents Joined In the search,
lured by the size OF the reward and
the fame which would accompany an
actual solution Of the mystery. Re
ports of the missing boy came from
all sections Of the country and Mr.
Ross made more than 200 trips In
running down clues which proved to
be false. In add Hon to spending at
least 100000 In his fruitless search.
Almost up to the present time. men
who have claimed to be Charley Ross
have put In their appearance. only to
have their stories shattered by some
details which fail to match In with
The facts.
The nearest approach to solution
Of the mystery was the deathbed con.
fessi0n Of two burglars named Mosher
and Douglas. but the truth Of their
statements could never be verified be-
cause they died before giving an ac-
curAts description Of what they had
done with the boys body.
Mr.. Roa continued the search until
his death In 1897. and the boys moth
e.. who died only . few years ago. d.
ways maintained that her boy was not
dead. but that b would como back
to her some day. Her belief was never
sustained. however. and the mystery
Il Chaxsev noeo remains ons Of tie
unDlve6 h64lss e ths police depart
ne1t ~ ciass1e case Of successful
hdnaplas - whfcA an othess ars con