Evening star., 1938-06-01
BULLETIN.

1AS4N 44Nb L S1s, IN. l., JUNE i
K P).-A wallet containing a pic
ture of child said by its finder to
" resemble strongly 5-year-old James
7 B. Cash, jr., kidnapped in Florida,
was picked up today on a stairway
leading to the Long Island Rail-
road station here by Charles E.
Price, freight clerk On an enve-
lope containing the photograph
was this unsigned message: Boy
held by gunmen and woman. es-
capped in the Everglades 16 miles
from Princeton (Fla.) across the
railroad tracks" Chief of Police
Charles Neinstehl Immediately
telephoned Federal agents.
BY the Associated Press.
PRINCETON, Fla, June 1.--Aban-
doning hope for the safe return of
kidnapped Jimmy Cash, hundreds of
men undertook a grim manhunt in
posses of is today, while Federal
agents dramatically seized one of their
number.
Emerging from conference with
the father, James Bailey Cash, sr., in
his home, the G-men grabbed M. F.
Braxton, a bald, portly carpenter about
SIS years old, who was in the throng
being formed into posses in a school
yard 100 yards away.
ID Shielding him with their bodies,
they hustled him to an automobile and
xped off northward to Miami. Brax-
7 on was taken to the office of the Fed
eeal Bureau of Investigation there,
} 1ere agents, declining to make public
rany information, closeted themselves
/, with him.
A furry of excitement was caused
within the same hour when man
at Cutler, village a few miles north,
was found shot to death beside sui
eide note. 1t developed he had been
in poor health and his act had no
connection with the kidnapping case.
A general call was sent out for VOL
unteers to start thorough search of
the farms and groves in this vicinity
for some trace of the 5-year-old
youngster, stolen Saturday for s10,-
600 ransom, which was paid early yes
terday. The highway through the
center of Princeton soon was lined
with automobiles for a mile in each
direction as the aroused farmers re-
sponded.
Hundreds of Boy Scouts arrived in
buses and automobiles. Members of
veterans organizations and civic clubs
and c. G. c. men also joined the
growing throng of searchers.
E. ]. Connolly, F. B. l. inspector in
charge of the case, personally directed
search of the area around the spot
where Cash tossed the $4,000 in
small bills from his car in accordance
with ransom note Sheriff D. c.
Coleman and deputies joined him.
Mr.. Connolly also organized the
citizens into posses, selecting 26
trusted men as group leaders. The
searchers, who came with pistols and
shotguns, were requested to leave
all weapons behind and take only
stout sticks to beat the brush.
The F. B. I. inspector assigned each
posse to a specific area with instruc-
tions to search all buildings If ad-
mittance were denied them at any
house, he told them to post a guard
of three men around it and send a
messenger to report the fact to head
quarters here.
Uncle Gives Up Hope.
II talked with the family and
nothing whatever happened last
night" said w. P. Cash, the boys
uncle. THE case is exactly where it
was yesterday, only it is one day
worse.
1--WE given up all hope the boy
will be found alive. I didn't have
much hope from the start, but I feel
that last night was the last chance
for him to return alive"
The boys father secluded himself in
his frame apartment house to await
word from the kidnapers. His wife
was near prostration
The fathers last excursion had been
10 make solitary drive at dawn Tues
day over route mapped in a ransom
note to drop the $4,000 in small bills,
repeatedly packed in shoe box, at a
signal from twinkling lights.
The spot where the ransom was paid
wss east of the main highway that runs
( between Miami and Key West, between
the road and the shore of Biscayne Bay
q few miles away. The location led to
speculation whether the kidnapers
might have escaped in a small boat
with the money.
If this was the procedure and if the
blue-eyed youngster had not been killed
1t was thought likely he would have
been set free somewhere in a country
side consisting of vast fields, where
truck crops are grown for the winter
markets.
Mr.. Cash said when he returned from
dropping the ransom money he ex-
(See KIDNAPPING, Page A-4.)