In the summer of 1874, little Charley Ross disappeared after taking candy from a stranger. This is the story of America’s first kidnapping and the nationwide manhunt that ended in a deadly shoot-out.

Sources:

“Charlie Ross - Gustave Blair - Nelson Miller” https://charleyross.com/

“Court Identifies ‘Charley Ross’ But Family ‘Disowns’ Him.” Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), May 9, 1939, Page A-5. 

Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: The James H Barry Company, 1910). Pp. 536-546.

Fass, Paula S. Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Hagen, Carrie. We is got him: the Kidnapping that Changed America (New York: The Overlook Press, 2011) and “The Story Behind the First Ransom Note in American History.” Smithsonian Magazine. December 9, 2013.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-story-behind-the-first-ransom-note-in-american-history-180948612/ 

Ross, Christian. The Father’s Story of Charley Ross, the Kidnapped Child (Philadelphia: John E Potter and Company, 1876).

Schechter, Harold. “The Kidnapping of Little Charley Ross, 1874.” The Yale Review. May 14, 2018. https://yalereview.org/article/kidnapping-little-charley-ross-1874

Zierold, Norman. Defy All the Devils: America’s First Kidnapping for Ransom (Open Road Media, 2018).

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan 

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