The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-15
Police UntangLe KidnapingHoax;
0cmuauol irom plFe ll


 rWhu ihCy Nutlir Ncai Sat around igs4nT Co think what to 3a. g didn't EnaW where t0 tufn ti ust arauud ntg o'clock aheu thought ol a plan pat Rcrnica banaa ou fim and tBcl ia.d hlm .n thC clo8 nff thf draw.
 Carrie Oui schrme
 'hftefaaHe chaurrl thc room around m ra fhr brcal gp a.alH. tHe Eiaerl ao I wouldn't bf HHlfa iua Muea. Then 2 Ecnt to hCa.
 'rse. Eag decidrd % iEy the rest ol Wy plan plt tae caulaFc out Un thf a1fRaik empty and waited ml tMeuadK nat.ctl tAc baby wupt l1 ll Thw 2 naE n0lus io tcA thfm g must have becu kia- napc Nobody uolles it thai day
 -i d.8 the samr th4ne again Wed dat That time Johnny hmos tan eighi-feaT-old DCighboT buyi lau ln and told me .hai Ronnic was gone eat of the carriage Thaf's HtshAH Ht'aA if"AaAN NtNNH NAAN RAAl was klanaped guess it vas abou. 2.s0 ln ihe afternoon.
 Recites Formula
 From that point on. hundreds oi persons including school children. searched for the missing baby. Mrs Carian made a radio appeal Co the "kidnapers' and rec.ted how the baby should be fed-its exact form ula.
 Gov. Maurice J. TObin broadcast an appeal More than $500 was offered in rewards for the safe re- turn of the child. Archbishop Rich 1 ard J. Cushing Of Boston offered 10 act as intermediary.
 Carlan was flown home on emer- gency leave from his Oakland Calf, base. He had never seen his second child. There followed days of frantic searching, tracing down of false clews and ransom-de- manding telephone calls. Carlan answered one call from a Springfield girl who asked $500 She failed to keep the rendezvous. Police later traced and arrested her.
 Never Believed Calls Mrs. Carlan kept police in a frenzy by reports of telephone calls de- handing ransom. Vicious prank sters did make some calls, some of which Carlan ansWersd. One of tEese demanded $30000, and police spent days searching for a red- haired woman and gruff-voiced man on the theory that they might have been the kidnapers. They had been seen leaving restaurant from where one of the calls was believed to have been made.
 Police never believed any of the calls concerned the child. but the father lived in hope. Carlan would dash for the telephone the minute lC rang. He tried to spare his wife any anguish. She appeared djstraught throughout the search which covered nine states and held the interest of the FBI.
 Flaherty was not convinced by Mrs. Carlan's story. Described as a curious and thorough man" by his own wife. Flaherty first be- came suspicious when an early story told by Mrs. Carlan was later changed in one small detail.
 Breaks Case on Bottles
 Mrs. Carlan had told police the babys bottle had been stolen with him. Later she told Flaherty, a father, that the four baby bottles in her kitchen were all she ever had.
 When all other investigations reached dead-ends Flaherty decided to inspect the Carlan home. He arrived with two other policemen yesterday as hundreds of city em- ployes, police and neighbors began another search of sewers and vacant lots in the vicinity of the tenement.
 It was then that he noticed the china closet behind the bureau. He worked up to the china closet slow lv. talking cheeTfully as he poked around the flat.
 The effect of his discovery re- acted slower on Carlon than on his wife. It wasn't until after the session at the police station that Carlan began to crack up.
 Veteran Accepts Fate
 He was still in a daze that had followed his first flush of anger when jail matron handed him a letter from his wife. It said:
 "Jim-please believe in me. Don't judge me too harshly. Take care uf little Jimmy. Love-Rose."
 A few minutes later, after police had questioned him, he went to the room where his wife was being held. She flung herself into his arms.
 "Ill stick by you, yes, promise I will" he said.
 He was taken to his mothers flat suffering from shock. He was under the care of physician who said that the 22-year-old veteran of the Pacific wasn't able to fully compre- bend the fast-moving events which led up to the denouement Of the tragic hoax.
 Brother In Dark
 Jimmie, the other son, was being cared for by his grandparents. He was too small to know the tragic story of his tiny brother.
 He had not seen much of his father, either. He had lived with his mother at the flat since his father went to war.
 During the search" for the baby he had romped and played in the bedroom his mother had converted from a dining room-within inches of the hiding place of his brothers body.
 Physicians who were to perform an autopsy on the infants body said it was well-preserved because the flat was poorly heated.
 Flat Described
 The flat was like dozens of oth- CTS in the neighborhood. It was on the first floor, just off the lower odor-filled hallway housing the dingy stairs to the apartments on the second and third floors.
 The house is directly across the ctr root from, prarnmar school The