Evening star., 1938-01-24

K|DNAPER Of ROSS
is FACING CHAIR
Indictment of SeadIund Un-
der Lindbergh l LaW to Be
Sought Today.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, Jan. 24.-John Henry
Seadlund. confessed kidnap-slayer Of
Charles 8. Ross, sat chained to the
bars Of . skyscraper cell today while
Federal agents forged the last links
in the chain Of evidence they hoped
will send the former 27-year -old lum-
berjack to the electric chair.
Federal prosecutors indicated they
would ask the grand jury. scheduled
to convene today, to indict Seadlund
under the Lindbergh kidnap law.
j. Edgar Hoover, chief OF the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation, said
Seadlund, who was also known as
Peter Anders, had confessed kidnap-
ing Ross on September IS and later
shooting and killing him and James
Atwood Gray, the swarthy logger's
accomplice in the crime. Their bodies
were found chained in a crude, wood
lined cave in the Wisconsin north
woods.
Death Penalty Provided.
The Lindbergh law provides the
death penalty If the victim had not
been liberated unharmed Lawyers
said that since Seadlund made a COM
plete confession and led Federal
agents to the bodies and to his cached
ransom he would likely plead guilty
in the remote hope of evading the
death sentence.
Seadlund, who, Hoover said. was
launched on his crime career by
Tommy Carroll, Dillinger gangster
since slain, was held in a lookup in
the nineteenth floor Offices N the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation. Five
agents stood guard. He was brought
to Chicago Saturday night by plane
from St. Paul, where the agents spent
several days in q speedy cleanup OF
the case.
Shortly after the party's arrival
Hoover. who returned to Washington
yesterday. told reporters about Sead-
lunds life.
He was born at Ironton, Minn.."
Hoover said, had a high school edu-
cation, but became q woodsman and
hunter when he grew up.
During hunting trip he met Car
roll, who was hiding in the North
Woods in 1884. He carried food to
the gangster's hide-out, and became
interested in crime through his
friendship with Carroll Later Car
roll was killed by police Seadlund
then began a series of hold-ups, the
first Of which was at filling station
in Crosby. Mimi, and restaurant at
Brainerd. MINI. He adopted the alias
Of Anders to spare his family, as his
mother and two sisters still live at
Ironton."
The chief of the Federal agents
said Seadlund wandered from coast
to coast, robbing banks and business
houses. Twice during his travels he
went to the State Of Washington,
where he worked as a lumberjack.
In February Of last year." Hoover
said. "he was on his way East again
when he met Gray, red-haired boy
of l9. Gray. Kentuckian, boasted
that he had been q robber and killer
in the South. Seadlund took the
youth as his partner in crime. =
Planned Other kidnapping.
Hoover said that last August Sead-
lund drove to Decatur, ILL.,, with the
avowed intention of KIDNAPPING for
ransom Augustus E. Staley. jr.. head
Of . food products company bearing
his name. but gave up the idea.
Hoover disclosed that Ross, q re-
tired manufacturer, asked his wife
to pay the kidnapers $4,000 for his
release. refusing to make the amount
$50,000, as they demanded Seadlund
added a cipher after Ross had penned
the note. Hoover said, making the
amount $4,000.
Seadlund, who was seized at Santa
Anita race track, near Los Angeles,
about 10 days ago. led Hoover and his
aides to a cache Of $32,625 OF the
s50.000 ransom money in Wisconsin
and Minnesota. Previously the agents
found $500 in ransom bills on him
in Los Angeles and $s,72S additional
money.
A radio commentator announced
in New York last night that Ross
kldnapers had planned to seize Dizzy
Dean and Joe Di Maggie. baseball
stars, for ransom, but Mr.. Hoover
was quoted by an N. B. c. official as
saying he had no comment what
soever. What the radio announce
ment said was correct."<
Mr.. Hoover was in the studio at the
time
Meanwhile, 1t was reported that
Mrs. Paul Seadlund, so, Of Ironton
planned to visit her son within a few
days. Blaming his troubles on lack
OF work. the widowed mother said
yesterday she had turned Rray the
last three years worrying over John
I'm glad they caught him"
HOOVER INFORMS nrpAprAxrNyr