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'Don't Take Candy From Strangers': America's First Ransom Kidnapping Remains Unsolved

Charley Ross was the first individual to be kidnapped for ransom on U.S. soil. His father tried until his last breath to bring him home, but to no avail.
PUBLISHED JUL 12, 2024
Representative Cover Image Source: Person in a Mask | Photo by Sebastiaan Stam, Pexels
Representative Cover Image Source: Person in a Mask | Photo by Sebastiaan Stam, Pexels

A father spent his entire life searching for his boy in what is America's first recorded ransom kidnapping, historical documents reveal.

On July 1, 1894, Charley Ross from Philadelphia was abducted by two men when his brother went inside to buy fireworks, Fox reported. The boy never returned to his family despite his father's constant efforts.

John-Mark Smith
Representative Image: Photo by John-Mark Smith | Pexels

The Library of Congress claims that two men in a horse-drawn buggy were following Charley Ross and his brother, Walter Ross, in the days leading up to the kidnapping. The unknown suspects began to offer the brothers candy in order to gain their confidence.

On the day of the kidnapping, the men are believed to have offered candy and fireworks to celebrate the upcoming 4th of July holiday, Fox reported. The boy, investigators theorized, then went with the men in the buggy.

The men took the boys to a store, where Walter Ross went inside to get fireworks. During that time, the men ran off with Charley Ross.

Christian K. Ross, the boys' father, learned from a neighbor that his sons had dashed off with two strangers in a buggy, USHistory reported.

His wife was not made aware of the development as she was recovering from an illness. Two days later, she learned her sons were missing. A stranger eventually located Walter Ross and returned him to the family.

Days later, Christian Ross Sr. received a note that claimed his son, Charley, would be returned in exchange for money. Another note that arrived on July 7 demanded $20,000 for the boy's safe return. 



 

The father contacted the police, and the family eventually received a total of 23 ransom letters from the alleged kidnappers.

One  letter read, "Mr. Ros: be not uneasy you son Charley Bruster, be all writ we got him and no powers on earth can deliver out of our hand," according to the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.

Neither the family nor the authorities could ever make any contact with the kidnappers. 

Authorities got a breakthrough in the case when they were investigating the kidnapping of a Vanderbilt child and the ransom note closely resembled one sent to Charley Ross, USHistory reported.

The investigation led detectives to the fugitive convict William Mosher. The handwriting on the notes was allegedly identified as Mosher's, but the convict had been killed in a Brooklyn burglary. 

The police next turned their attention to Mosher's partner, Joseph Douglas. Douglas claimed that it was Mosher who kidnapped Charley Ross and only he knew where the child was kept.

Christian K. Ross spent around $60,000 to find his son, but never saw him alive again, USHistory reported. Several imposters came forward claiming to be Charley Ross, but all were proven to be liars.

The father died in 1897 waiting for his son. Nobody definitively knows what transpired with the boy.

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