July one 1874, Charley (As he was known, only four at the time) and his five years old brother Walter Lewis were playing in front of their home in Germantown, an uppity section of Pennsylvania. A carriage stopped and the two boys were approached by two men who offered the boys candy and fireworks if they would take a ride with them. Walter was later left at a fireworks store in Philadelphia shortly thereafter and Charley was never seen again. Christian K. Ross, the boys' father, started obtaining ransom demands from the apparent kidnappers. The ransom demands came within the style of notes mailed from post offices in Philadelphia and surroundings, all written in odd and in a coarse hand writing, barely literate sentences with several easy and common words incorrectly spelled. The requests typically demands a ransom of $20,000, an exorbitant amount at the time.
The notes warned against police notification and threatened to kill Charley if Christian failed to absolutely cooperate. the thoughts of the abductors was that Christian Ross is wealthy since he owned an huge house, however he was really heavily in debt, attributable to the stock market crash of 1873, and he had no access to the amount of money that the kidnappers are demanding. With no other available option, Christian turned to the police. The kidnapping soon became a nationwide news. The press pushed the case daily and heavily across the country, some famous residents of Philadelphia employed the famous Pinkerton detective agency, who had countless flyers and posters printed with Charley's image. a famed song based mostly on the crime was even composed by Dexter Smith and W. H. Brockway, entitled "Bring Back Our Darling". Many attempts were made to pay the abductors with ransom cash as dictated within the notes, however in every case the abductors didn't respond. Eventually, communication stopped.
December, 1874, the Long Island house belonging to Judge Charles Van Brunt was broken into. Holmes Van Brunt, Charles' brother, lived around the corner, and gathered the members of his household, armed with shotguns to confront the intruders. As they entered Charles' house, they saw two lanterns turned off, after which a firefight ensue, by the time the gunfire was over, the 2 burglars are down. They were Bill Mosher and Joe Douglas, career criminals who had recently been released from jail. Mosher was dead on the spot. Douglas was seriously wounded, but managed to speak with Holmes. Most agree that Douglas said that there was no purpose in lying (as he was sure death is near) he admitted that he and Mosher kidnapped Charley. His further statements, if any, are lots of controversy. He either said that Charley was killed, or that Mosher knew where Charley was, presumably adding that he would be came to the Rosses in few days. In any case, he didn't provide any clues to Charley's location or different particulars of the crime, and died soon afterwards. Charley's brother Walter was taken to the large apple city to spot the bodies of Mosher and Douglas to verify if they were those from the carriage ride. Walter confirmed that they were the men in front of their home the previous summer. Mosher significantly was very identifiable as he had a distinctively malformed nose. but there's still no clue on where Charley is, and therefore the case is ways from over.
William Westervelt, a former Philadelphia policeman, a friend of Bill Mosher, was arrested and held in reference to the case. He was tried in 1875 for kidnapping. Though Westervelt was an exponent and perhaps a confidant of Mosher (while in jail awaiting trial he had told Christian Ross that Charley had been alive at the time of Mosher's death), there was on the subject of no proof to tie him to the crime itself. Walter, for one, insisted that Westervelt wasn't within the carriage that took them away. Westervelt, perhaps inevitably, was found to be innocent of the kidnapping. However, he was found guilty of a lesser conspiracy charge and served six years in jail. He invariably maintained his own innocence.
In 1939, a 69-year-old carpenter named Gustave Blair who had legally modified his name to 'Charley Ross' became the last of the thousands of would-be 'Charley Rosses'. The fate of Charley Ross remains unknown. CharleyProject.org, a leading missing persons database is named after him. The phrase "don't take candy from strangers" is purported to have resulted from Charley's case.
Howard Barnett is passionate about helping families find their missing loved ones. Read his blog to find more Kidnapping Stories and Famous Kidnappings.
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