Imperial Valley press., 1933-02-13
CAPITALIST At
DENVER TAKEN
BY k|DNAPERS
Charles Boettcher Abducted By
Armed Men And Held For
Ransom OF 100000.
EXTENSIVE SEARCH BEGUN
Victim And Captors Disappear
Without Leaving Any Clue Ex-
cept Note Demanding Cash.
BY CLYDE G. BYERS
United Press Staff Correspondent

United Press Staff Correspondent
DENVER, Feb 13. W.P)-Kidnap-
ers held Charles Boettcher the Sec
ond, young Denever millionaire, for
100000 ransom today.
hid themselves in the shadows of
his garage awaiting his arrival
home last night.
Boettcher and his wife arrived
at 11:50 p. m. One of the men
forced him into small sedan. The
ether thrust a ransom note into
the hands OF Mrs. Boettcher.
James @. Newton, the kidnapped
mans business partner, said the
ransom note, typewriter on white
paper, was substantially" as fol.
lows:
Don't notify the police Tell
Claude Boettcher (the victims IA
ther) he had better get 100000 ran
som. He better do business. Fol-
low instructions. Notify us through
a personal ad in the newspapers.
would still be alive if the ransom
had been paid Insert personal
ad in the newspapers stating ready
to come home, please write"
The kidnapers struck in the high
est strata of Denver business an6
society in picking Boettcher as their
prey He was probably the wealth.
lest young man in the city.
His father and grandfather be-
fore him amasSed one of the largest
fortunes in Colorado. The rise of
the family has paralleled the INDUS
trial rise of the state.
Pursuit was prompt for Mrs.
Boettcher summoned police imme-
diately. But despite the police, with
their advantages of large numbers
and radio, the criminals apparently
escaped with their victim.
After recovering from her first
fright, Mrs. Boettcher aided police
throughout the night and cared for
the couples only child Anna Lou,
5. Mrs. Boettcher is expecting the
birth of q second child in about a
month.
Plot Well Staged
The abductors either possessed
authentic information as to Boett-
cher's movements or were inordi-
nately lucky, for he had returned
from Kansas City by airplane only
q few hours before. He had beeli
visiting his mother, Mrs. Millison
Mccormick.
Mrs. Boettcher obtained a brief
glimpse of one of the kidnapers as
ha stepped into light, gun in hand.
A theory that the kidnapping may
have been a cruel, practical joke
was investigated and discarded. A
theory that there may have been
some connection with the kidnapping
and a prowler at the home of Mrs
A. B. Humphreys, sr., aunt of Boett-
cher and wife of the oil millionaire,
also was discussed. This prowlcr,
Paul q. Taylor, trusted telephone
company employee, convinced au-
thorities he was prowling solely be-
cause he had been drinking. He
was released.
Theories included speculation that
one of the thousands of Boettcher
employees, past and present, held
a grudge and conceived the crime
for revenge. 1t would take weeks
or months to check all the en-
ployees, for the Boettchers intro
duced sugar beet production in Col
orado and the kidnapped mans
grandfather was one of the foun-
ders OF the vast Great Western
Sugar company. Also he is chair
man of the board of the Denver
Tramway company, the Ideal Ce-
ment company, the Portland Ce-
ment company, and many other
concerns.
Claude K. Boettcher, the father,
offered the first reward, 5000 for
his sons safe return.