On June 27, 1874, two men rode their horse and carriage past 529 East Washington Lane
in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was here that they happened upon Charlie and Walter Ross playing in their front yard
by the road.
Charlie was four, Walter was six.
Naturally, the passerbys talked to the children and offered them each a piece of candy and
went on their way.
But this kind gesture only set the scene for the men's true intentions that would soon
be discovered in just a few days.
Charlie and Walter felt that they hit the jackpot and excitedly went inside the house
to show their father, Christian, what they had just gotten from two seemingly nice men
who were passing by.
When Christian asked where they had gotten this candy, the boy said a man gave it to
them.
Christian drilled the boys pretty heavily about the men in the carriage, but soon brushed
it off as two gentlemen simply making a kind gesture as they passed through the neighborhood
and gave the incident no further thought.
Let this be a sign that you should always teach your children, grandchildren, or anyone
under your care to never take candy from strangers.
Because this is the story of what would be the very first ransom case ever documented
in American history.
This is Dine to Be Found.
Welcome to The Dash.
Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dine to Be Found.
Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions
on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.
Discussions are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature
of this podcast.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Hi everyone, this is Deb, your host from the True Crime podcast, Dine to Be Found.
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Now let's get onto today's episode where I'll be talking about Charlie and Walter Ross,
two little boys who were abducted right from their front yard at their family's home in
broad daylight.
And let me start by saying that Walter made out okay here, unfortunately, Charlie did
not, or at least not that we know.
I had mentioned at the beginning of today's Dash episode that these two men had ridden
by Charlie and Walter Ross's home.
On June 27th, 1874, they gave Charlie and Walter each a piece of candy.
Five days later, on July 1st, which was just a few days before the National Independence
Day holiday, these men rode by the Ross mansion again and stopped to talk to Charlie and
Walter as the boys played out front as usual.
What they had been doing for the past several days was scoping out the neighborhood to assess
people's social status and this neighborhood where the Ross family lived would have been
considered an upscale neighborhood during the time.
The two men continued these ride-bys of the Ross mansion, carefully observing how Charlie
and Walter Ross would play outside in front of their home every day and if there were
any grown-ups around, any time they encountered the boys, they would stop and chat and then
just be on their way.
On July 1st, 1874, however, the men stopped to talk to the boys again and this time they
offered to buy Charlie and Walter firecrackers for the 4th of July holiday.
So of course, Charlie and Walter hopped on board of the buggy with the men and off they
rode.
The men drove into town, pulled up to a cigar store that had fireworks displayed in the
window and gave Walter 25 cents to go inside to buy the firecrackers while Charlie waited
outside in the wagon with the two men.
While Walter was inside the store, the men rode off with Charlie.
The men who kidnapped Charlie and Walter Ross presumed that their father Christian was well
off.
After all, Christian was a dry goods merchant, he was a husband and father of seven children.
Christian had lived in a well-to-do area of town and these factors are likely why these
two men chose Charlie and Walter as their kidnapping victims.
As I mentioned, the day that Charlie disappeared, Christian had returned home from work that
afternoon and presumed the boys were outside playing at someone's house.
His wife was out of town due to illness and was visiting one of their older children.
Christian was left in charge of Charlie and Walter for the next couple of weeks until his
wife could send for them.
Christian went about looking for the boys when they didn't return home for tea.
He asked his neighbors if they had seen Charlie and Walter and one of these neighbors told
Christian that he saw them jump into a buggy with two men so of course Christian immediately
began searching for his children.
Several hours later, Christian located Walter at the local police station but Charlie was
not with him.
Walter had been found in the Kensington area of Philadelphia which is around five miles
or eight kilometers southeast of the Germantown area where the Ross family lived.
Walter was able to give a pretty fair description of the two men.
The man who had given him candy a few days earlier was described as having a reddish
mustache and he wore glasses.
The second man was older.
He also wore glasses but had a funny looking nose that reminded him of, in Walter's terms,
a monkey.
Christian immediately placed an ad in the newspaper which offered a $300 US dollar or
$248 pound reward for Charlie's safe return.
The first ransom note Christian received on July 5th was shortened to the point.
The author of this letter had terrible spelling and grammar folks.
I tried to read it for this episode but I will definitely put the note in our show notes
because I can't even get through reading.
The grammar is so atrocious.
Now the second letter came on July 6th that demanded $20,000 or $16,591 for the safe return
of Charlie Ross.
The letter read, quote, you will see your child dead or alive.
If we get your money, you get him alive.
If no money, you get him dead, unquote.
The next ransom note arrived on July 7th stating that the kidnappers were ready to negotiate.
This letter instructed Christian to correspond through the Philadelphia ledger regarding
any further negotiations.
What the kidnappers did not know was that Christian Ross had suffered quite a loss from
the 1873 stock market crash and was doing his best to even keep a float.
He barely had enough funds to even post those personal ads in the newspaper.
Christian had indeed reported Charlie's kidnapping to the police and they advised him not to negotiate
because this would encourage others after Charlie to kidnap for ransom and no child in the community
would be safe.
Leading their advice, Christian's personal ads turned to vague compliance where at one
point under the direction of the police, Christian went so far as to say that he would not participate
in paying Charlie's ransom.
By July 22nd, 1874, the mayor of Philadelphia offered up a $20,000 reward for the arrest
of these kidnappers.
Christian spent the next several days trying to negotiate with the kidnappers through those
personal ads while police canvassed the area.
According to the Yale Review, they staked out railway depots, public areas, stone quarries,
and abandoned factories.
The police even raided gypsy camps, brothels, and simply went door to door to no avail.
At some point, Christian did attempt to pay ransom and even arranged for a meeting, but
stated that he would not hand over any money unless he had proof of life.
There were also accounts that the kidnappers were not pleased with how the negotiations
were going and refused to make the exchange between Charlie and the ransom money, but
in contrast when they did secure a drop off point, the two men were so broke they couldn't
even travel to make the exchange.
As the nationwide search for Charlie Ross continued, thousands of posters were printed
and distributed across the United States in the hopes to locate the four-year-old boy.
After seeing these headlines in the news, P.T.
Barnum, famous for the Barnum and Bailey Circus, sent Christian a telegram stating that he
would pay the ransom on Christian's behalf if that would help get Charlie back.
Barnum paid Christian's way to meet him where he lived so that they could strategize Charlie's
safe return.
Barnum offered another $10,000 to advertise in newspapers across the country if Charlie
were to join the circus upon his return.
Christian politely declined this offer, but did negotiate repayment to Barnum in good faith
for his generosity.
And soon after those missing flyers were distributed across the United States, a tip came in that
provided two possible names of the kidnappers.
William Mosher, a boat builder by trade, and a fugitive on the run, and Joseph Douglas
an ex-convict.
Through their investigations, authorities were able to link Mosher's handwriting to
the ransom letters sent to Christian Ross.
Again, you all, the spelling is absolutely terrible and the grammar is just as bad.
Police began following leads and seemed to be in hot pursuit of the duo's trail.
Only every time that they felt that they got close, the trail turned cold on their whereabouts.
As it turns out, one of the volunteers who participated in the manhunt for those two
suspects turned out to be an ex-cop and brother-in-law to William Mosher.
Obviously, he was tipping Mosher and Douglas off that the police were closing in, which
provided Mosher and Douglas the ability to keep authorities at bay.
Mosher's brother-in-law later pled guilty to interference in Charlie's kidnapping case.
Kidnapping was not the only list of activities Mosher and Douglas involved themselves with.
On December 14, 1874, both men burglarized a summer home that was closed up for the winter
in Long Island, New York.
This house belonged to a local judge and his brother just happened to live next door.
The judge had an alarm system installed at his summer home, which was wired to go off
at his brother's house, on December 14, that alarm went off.
The judge's brother, his son, and two other neighbors armed themselves before going over
to the empty house to investigate.
When they arrived, they discovered two men inside burglarizing the dark house by candlelight.
The four dugutters entered the house and a shootout ensued.
Mosher was immediately killed and Douglas was mortally wounded.
As he lay dying, Douglas confessed to being Charlie Ross's kidnapper, along with William
Mosher.
He was asked where Charlie was, but could not say because only Mosher had that information.
Of course, Mosher was already dead and Charlie's whereabouts died along with him.
Walter Ross was later brought to the morgue to identify Douglas.
He positively IDed Douglas based on that funny nose he had described to his dad months earlier
when the boys were first taken.
As it turned out, Douglas had a nose deformity due to skin cancer.
So let's talk about the aftermath here.
Christian spent the rest of his life and $60,000 over the years looking for his son Charlie.
He wrote a bestselling book accounting the events of Charlie's abduction, which I placed
a link into the show notes and you all I could not believe that I found this little
gem.
To this day, Charlie's whereabouts have never been discovered.
Christian Ross died in 1897 without ever knowing what happened to his son.
And although I didn't really mention very much on Charlie's mother, I did read that
she died in 1912.
Charlie's brother, Walter, died in 1943.
The Ross mansion was torn down in 1926 and a church was built in its place where it
still stands today.
On February 25th, 1875, the state of Pennsylvania passed strict laws for kidnapping.
And that's it you all.
That is the story of Charlie Ross, America's first ransom case.
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