Show STEALING LITTLE ONES an industry W wiloh IN II signs 0 of f Revl Tal away back in n the dark ages when civilization was slow in coming coining and cf the he barbarities of the vicious members of the human family made innocent people shudder there were organized bands of 0 ruf ruffians lians who made it a part f their business to kidnap children and d sometimes grown persons persona and hold ahm tha th a until various sums of money were extorted from the agonized parents or friends of course children were their favorite prey as they were acro more easily kept and could not escape without assistance terrified Ter rifled into silence shut up in sonic some interior apartment of a building or concealed in a 1 cave many a child has dragged out a wretched existence frightened neglected and at last murdered or thrown into dens of vice if the demands of the kidnappers kid were not complied with since the time when charley ross so suddenly and mysteriously passed 0 out at of knowledge but few attempts have been made to disturb the quiet of american households household in this way but of late the disposition to extort money in this mariner manner has seemed to be growing and in spite of themselves yes american parents are feeling more or less concerned because of the dangers that menace their little ones there Is no punishment severe enough for the villain who snatches a child from the heart beart of a quiet and unsuspecting family there is a moral and emotional phase to such an act that is by no means met it if the miserable wretch ends his life at the hands of a justly enraged mob there Is that however in the alertness of the american mind that makes it somewhat difficult for acts of this sort to go unpunished it is not the easiest thing in the world for men of the sort who do deeds of this kind to escape detection such things might have been possible when the country was new and sparsely settled and when there were unbroken forests an unexplored caverns all about the great hills that environ some of our eastern cities dut but the habit of observation is very strong str ong in ila the average yankee and any unusual action or app appearance earince is quite likely to be observed or commented on there are towns in the vicinity of new york city into which a stranger cannot go and lounge tor for six hours without the detective force is warned of it and knows his movements thoroughly it if there is the least suspicious action or expression he Is not tree free from espionage as long as he remains it is greatly to the credit of the men to whom the safety of these places is entrusted that they are rarely mistaken in their estimation of the men they shadow in one town within six years not a mistake has been made and dozens of stragglers have been apprehended and either put behind the bars or given to understand that in moving on was their only safety in the case of the conway child it was developed upon inquiry that it if this scheme worked 6 satisfactorily other children were to be similarly captured and held until money could be extorted from the parents is dut but the sudden coming to griet grief of this effort has it Is hoped shown the persons who contemplate su h villainy that the undertaking is altogether too risky to pay it is a fact that ninety nine out of a hundred crimes are detected and the criminals are punished the hundredth escapes sometimes merely by fortunate circumstances and sometimes because a thorough sifting reveals the fact that the criminal was too close to the household to be prosecuted the cold blooded fiendishness of the kidnapper kidnapped kid napper of children is scarcely paralleled by any act in the history of crime that all efforts should be made to prevent a recurrence of such acts every well disposed of every community will devoutly wish new york ledger |