1939-11-18 — Page 15

THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 18, 1939 TO-DAY'S STRANGE STORY OF REAL PEOPLE

NO. 88 CHARLEY ROSS

By VINCENT TOWNE

"We set God, man and the devil at defiance to wrest him from our hands!"

of

This challenge was received by two frantic parents in the Summer 1874. They were Mr. and Mrs. Chris- tian K. Ross of Germantown, the well-known suburb of Philadelphia. Mr. Ross was a merchant of the Quaker City and a man of moderate means, Early in the Summer of the year mentioned, his wife had gone to Atlantic City, accompanied by her daughter, leaving behind, in the care of competent servants, their two in- fant daughters and two sons, Walter, a boy of six, and Charley, little bright-eyed, curly-haired tot of four, who still wore dresses.

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Charley Ross and his brother were innocent, well-behaved youngsters who ran carefree through the neigh- bouring fields, gathering wild flowers seemed to vanish like breath into the the fact that they and enjoying the neighbourhood games; wind, in spite of Several times they reported to their were being threatened by the me sisters' nurse that two strange men completely wrought police not ev had driven by in a buggy and offer- devised to catch criminals.

The Winter following the abduc- ed them candy. As July approached they were very much excited in their anticipation of Independence Day and every evening coaxed their father to lay them in a good supply of fire- crackers.

STRANGE MEN OFFERED THEM CANDY.

On July 1st both boys mysteriously disappeared from the sidewalk in front of their house, and Mr. Ross, home after office upon returning

hours, was greeted by, the frenzy of the household servants. Late that night, while he was searching for his two sons, a strange mah appeared at the house with Walter, whom he said he had found crying on a street cor- ner in Kensington. According to Wal- ter's story, the two men who had previously given them candy had re- neighbourhood that turned to the day in a wagon. When the boys had asked these strangers if they had any firecrackers they invited the young- sters to jump in with them and drive to a fireworks store. In Kensington, Walter had been given a quarter to go into a shop and buy the coveted fire- works, but upon emerging from the store the child found that the wagon, the two strangers and Charley were missing.

sent for. Mr. Ross was hurriedly In the morning mail of July 4 Mr. Ross received a note demanding $20,- 000 ransom as the price of Charley's return, the alternative being that the child would be killed if pay was re- fused. This letter stated that if the. any at- abductors should discover tempt to approach the place in which Charley was hidden his "annihilation" After the would be instantaneous. case had defled the ingenuity of the police, the distracted father through newspapers "personals" arranged for various secret meeting places where the ransom should be paid, but each time the kidnappers failed to show Thereafter Mr. Ross made 200 to run down false long journeys clues, and his vain search cost him in all $80,000.

up.

The case sent a wave of indignation throughout the length and breadth of the land, and while the people's fury was at its height the abductors sent cold-blooded to the Ross home the challenge already quoted:

"We set God, man and the devil at

wrest him from defiance to hands."

our

1

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Newspapers, public men and the legal fraternity demanded that there lest such should be no compromise outrages be repeated, but Mr. Ross continued his attempts to meet the terms of the kidnappers. The papers of the old world, including even some of the Orient, took up the case, had the whole of Christendom by the ears.

A purse of $20,000, offered for the discovery

Ross, of Charley stimulated the police of every Ameri- can city to join in the search, and it was estimated that an army of 5,000 man and women of various walks of life were at one time working upon the case with a zeal inspired by sympathy as well as the desire to share in the reward offered for Char- ley Ross' return. But his captors

·

both were shot, Mosher dying in- stantly. Douglas lived only a short while afterward, and when the death rattle was in his throat he con- fessed that he and his partner in crime had stolen Charley Ross. With his last breath, he whispered "Mosher knows all about the child. Ask him." But when told that Mosh had died, Douglas could only say: "God knows I tell you the truth. I do not know where the boy is, Mosher knew."

The career of Christian K. Ross was ruined by the kidnapping of his son. During the 23 years that he servived the crime there was not a day when he did not work upon the case or when he was not in receipt of some letter leading him on a false scent. He and his wife in- vestigated the cases of over 270 inysterious children, located in various parts of the world and who had been described as resembling their lost son. Some wore in gypsy camps, others in orphan asylums and some in the dens of criminals.

On March 19, 1939, Gustave Blair, 69 years old, filed suit in Phoenix, Arizona, to establish a claim as being He stated tion the house of Judge Van Brunt, the real Charley Ross. at Fort Hamilton, L. I., was entered that he was kept in a cave when a by two burglars, Joseph Douglas and small child and afterward adopted by William Mosher. Their job was not a man who told him he was the boy very skilfully planned. They dis- kidnapped in Germantown turbed the inmates of the house and

1st, 1874.

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