Ellsworth American., 1922-12-06
|HIST1RYS'
MYSTERIES
"WHO STOLE CHARLEY ROSS?"

THE most famous kidnapping mys-
L terry in America and one which Gre
ated more interest the world over than
any other crime of the kind ever COM
mitted-with the possible exception Of
the loss of some of the children of
royalty-was the disappearance of
Charley Ross, young son of a Phila-
delphia family. For nearly half cen
tury the case has baffied the greatest
detectives Of the world and, in spite
Of every effort that has been made, in
spite of the expenditure Of huge sums
Of money, the mystery Is as deep to-
day as 1t was on July l, 1874, when
the boy was first missed.
Christian X. Ross lived in German
town, an outlying section of Philadel-
phia, and Charles was the youngest
Of his FIVE children. AT the time Of
his kidnapping, the child was only four
years old and was playing with his
brother, Walter, on THE sidewalk in
front Of the house.
Some days previous to the kidnap-
ing, according to the story which
Walter Ross told the police, three
men had spoken to the boys and had
given them some candy. On July 1,
these same men drove up in q wagon
and invited the Ross boys to take
ride to the nearest fireworks store
The brothers got In and were driven
some distance to a section of the city
known as Kensington, where Walter
to get out and go into the nearest
store to make his purchase. When
he came out Of the store the wagon
had disappeared.
After searching in vain for his broth
er for several minutes, Walter Ross
became alarmed and commenced to
cry. His grief attracted crowd Of
men and he was taken home, but no
clue could be discovered as to the
whereabouts Of his brother. The
Philadelphia police searched every
part of the city for three days and
advertisements were placed in the pa
pers without success until, on the
morning Of July 4 came poorly writ
ten and ill-spelled letter stating that
Charley is all rite, but you will have
to pay us before yu get him from us
and pay us big too" This letter con-
cluded with the threat that the boy
would be instantly killed if any at
tempt were made to put the police on
his trail
On July 8 another letter arrived
demanding $4,000, which Mr.. Ross, in
spite Of the protests Of the police and
private detectives agreed to pay. Ow-
ing to the watchfulness Of the police
however, the kidnapers were fright
ened and failed to keep the appoint
ments which they made with the boys
father.
Not only all America but Europe
as 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 addition 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-
fession 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-
curate description of what they had
done with the boys body,
Mr.. Ross continued the search until
his death in 1897, and the boys moth
er, who died only few years ago, al
ways maintained that her boy was not
dead, but that he would come back
to her some day. Her belief was never
sustained, however, and the mystery
Of Charley Ross remains one of the
unsolved riddles Of the police depart
ment, the classic case Of successful
kidnapping to which all others are COM
pared