Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1878 — THE SEARCH FOR CHARLIE ROSS. [ARTICLE]

THE SEARCH FOR CHARLIE ROSS.

Nearly Five Hundred Boys Mistaken to: the Missing One. Mr. Christian K. Ross has been lecturing in New England, where he hat given a plaintive recital of the abduction of his son to large and deeply interested audiences. Mr. Ross in his lectures goes over the whole story of the abduction, and adds many interesting anecdotes of his search for the missing boy. He has a record of no less than 497 boys, who at one time or another have been supposed to have been his son, and the work of proving the mistake in the different cases has involved a great deal of correspondence, which Las reached to forty-seven States, Territories and counties. Of the 497 boys but three were found to have been kidnapped, the rest being poor little waifs who had no friends in the world. Speaking of his treatment by strangers while prosecuting his search for his lost son, Mr. Ross says that iu nearly all cases it has been of the kindest, the officials and private individuals in the different cities and towns doing all in their power to aid them. To illustrate the widespread interest in the case, Mr. Ross relates an anecdote of a negro woman, who, wishing to call her children into the house, cried out: “You, Julius Caesar, come yer dis minute, or you’ll git carried off like Charlie Ross. ” Nevertheless he has found some people in the New Jersey woods, within two hours’ ride of this city, who have never heard of the event. One of the most singular facts of his search has been the number of prison convicts who professed to know something about the abduction, but who insisted upon being set at liberty as a condition of giving information, or assisting in working up the case. Another singular fact was the number of lost children who were called Charlie Ross. Of these there were no less than ten,.though, in all but two cases, the name was given the child by persons who had found him. Several instances, in which supposed Charlie Rosses have been adopted by persons finding them, are briefly touched upon by Mr. Ross, who comments feelingly on the fact that, through his terrible loss, so many little ones, who might otherwise have become felons, have found good Christian homes. He says he has been criticised by some persons because hedoesnotexhibit.more emotion when investigating evidence promising the restoration of his son. People say to him, “Why, you do not seem to be as much interested in it as we do;” to which he answers, “ This is your first case of this kind, but I have them almost every day, and if I gave way to my feelings every time I should very soon be unable to do anything more. I restrain my emotions, because it is easier to bear the repeated disappointments.” He says he has been asked how he knew his boy was alive at the time Mosher and his comrade were killed. His knowledge came from the statement of a prison convict, a brother-in-law of Mosher, that hq talked with the abductors just before the time of their death, and that their conversation was of getting Charlie Ross to England and making a fresh effort to get money for him. Mr. Ross relates, also, how he found, in Newark, N. J., a horse which his little eon Walter identified as the one driven by the abductors when they took Charlie, the identification being made from a peculiar habit of the horse, which the little fellow called laughing. The clew, however, amounted to nothing. Mr. Ross compares his quest to a search in a deep, dark abyss, by the light of a taper. Now and then he could hear a little voice in the darkness crying, “This way, papa; here I am.” He would light his taper and go in the direction of the sound to find that it was only the voice of his hopes and the whispering of his own heart.