by Carrie Hagen
Letter 10
PHILADELPHIA, JULY 24—Ros. we have seen yu reply in personal (yu agree to the terms in every particular) we accept yu offer for we consider yu fuly understand the great an momentus obligation yu place youself under when you assented tu this agreement. we be sory that we cannot effect the chang to-day. our creed is such that it forbids us to any bisines of this kind only at a certain quarter of the moon an the phace of the moon has just passed over so we have got tu wate one week befor we can transact any bisines between us. this delay may be a great sorce of torture tu yu but it cannot be avoided. we pledge ourselves in the mean time yu child shal not suffer for any thing only the close confinement which is necesary for his safe keepin. we have him so that we feel at ease against all the detective force in the country ever feritin him out. the authorities have offered $20,000 for the recovery of the child an detection of us if they had yu interest at hart this would be the worst thing they could do. this is only oferin a reward for the sacrifice of yu child, We told yu at the beginin that yu child could never be takin from us a live that he was so situated that we could destroy him in one instant. an forever out of al prof against us but yu seam to have no faith in our word. neverthesless yu have nothin to fear on that point for he can never be found by any detective force. neither can any reward no matter how large be any temptation to us to peach one on the other for we are sworn an blood bound unto death tu never give each other away. Ros. one week must intervene befor we can negotiote for the restoration of Charley by that time there will be an $100,000 reward yu will se by that time the detectives can avail yu nothing or yu wil se that we spak trought from the beginin. that there was no earthly hope left yu only in payin the ransom in good faith an then yu get yu child. what we mean in good faith is tu set no trap. We no it is not posible for yu to trap us. but by any stratigem on yu part or connivance it wil thwart our perposes an the money wil never come to us. if this result takes place through any act or connivance of yuse then yu lose yu (child forever.) If yu do as we instruct yu an this money gits lost (it shal be our los and not yuse) an yu shall git yu child just as if we got the mony. no matter what our instruction is for yu to do with the mony yu do it an yu child shal be restored to yu. if we tel yu to burn it up do so, if we tel yu to throw it off the dock do so, if we tel yu to give it to any one do so, an yu child wil be restored yu wether the mony gits lost or not through any act of ours. Ros. the whole contract is sumed up in these words. yu pay us the mony in good faith in denominations from 1s to 10s in U.S. notes an no private marks fixed on them, then we consider yu have fulfilled yu part and yu shal have yu child restored safe to yu. if we do not fulfil our part in good faith to yu, we invoke the vengeance of hell, if there be an hell, to be our eternal portion. we have told yu that we wil transact this bisines with yu and yu friends only. we know a true friend wil not advise yu rong if he has the interest of yu child at heart we shall no nothing about detectives in the bisines if yu cal them in for advice or asistance it wil be at the peral of yu child’s life for in their eigerness to arrest us, which they never can do, they will surely be the means of sacrificing yu child. we shal never cal on yu but once for the mony so it is yu part to have it at a minute’s notice. but yu have plenty of time yet. due notice wil be given yu when to have it at hand (we request no answer tu this) till yu hear from us again which perhaps wil be one week. in the meantime yu and yu family console youself that yu child is wel an safe tu yu. an to us against al detective power. nothin surprised us more after we had told yu the imposibility of findin the child an the risk it wold be tu the child’s life tu find his hidin place yet yu in disregard of this advise persisted in havin the detectives search for him. time wil tel yu that we do not lie in every word we write. the reward signifies nothin, with us wether it be $20,000 or $20,000,000 it wil accomplish nothin with us an the authorities wil fail on that point tu bribe one of us as yu wil se in the end of this bisines. Ros our word for it no harm shal befal yu child intentionaly til yu hear from us again 7 days by that time yu must be prepared for his ransom if yu ever expect him alive. Ros mark the selfishness of Mr. Stokley an his committe of brokers what do they say. not one cent for ransom but millions for conviction. do they have yu interest at heart. no it is a selfish motive. they are wilin to sacrifice yu child that theirs be safe. why do they not pay their mony to have yours restored first, an then offer a reward for our conviction
Letter 11
PHILADA., July 28.—Ros are yu not convinced by this time that the detectives can render yu no service whatever. are yu agoing let them keep yu under the delusion that they can yet recover yu child an bring us to justice. we tel yu the thing is imposible we fear them not— neither do we fear they wil ever find charley until we find him for yu. We se in the personals that Mr. Percll a milionaire of New York offers to pay the required amount to redeem yu child an ask no questions, but we have no confidence in him neither would we treat with him if he offered one milion in hand an no questions asked. in the transaction of this bisines we are determined to no no one but yu, an if yu suffer these letters to go out of yu hands so that they can personate yu in effectin this change we shal hold the child subject to the fulfillment of yu promise an one fals step by yu or by any one acting for yu, yu may consider the bisenes is at an end, an the trap has sprung that render further negotiation useles to yu. At the end of this week must end this bisenes; it must place him in yu hands safe an sound or must place him in the grave; it is left entirely with yu. if yu have not the mony to redeem him an ask for an extension of time we wil keep him for yu but under no other circumstances we wil not. We are not afraid to keep him for we set the whole force at defiance to find his hidin place. No matter how grate the reward is, it signifies nothin with us—they are goin to search every house in the city. we wil give yu the satisfaction to tel you he is not in the city nor ever has been since the day he left home, nor he never wil be again unles we return him to yu for the ransom, we wil give you the satisfaction of knowin that he is within 100 miles of this city an yet we defy al the devels out of hell to find him. we tel yu sincerely we have prepared this place for every emergency an it is death for yu to find him while he is in our custody. we teld yu in our last letter we could not transact any business for one week. we are now prepared to effect the change as soon as yu be redy, but under no circumstances say yu be redy when yu be not able to put yu hand on it, an hand it out. rest assured if our agent cals for it an he does not get it without waiting, he will never come again an the our of redemption is forever gone by with you. from you former promises we take it as granted that yu be agoin to redeem yu child in good faith, it is unnecessary therefore to repeat the consequences of any perfidey or fals step on yu part. we teld yu to put the mony in a box, but we now tel yu to put the mony in a strong, white, leather valise, locked an double straped an be prepared to give it or take it wherever we direct yu. if yu are directed to cary it yuself yu may take al the friends yu pleas with yu—but don’t let the cops know yu bisines nor go with yu unles yu want the bisines to turnout a failure. if yu want to trap take the whole force with yu an then be sure yu know what yu be doin—for we know what we be doin. this is al the caution necesary for yu to save yu child alive. if you can have all things ready as we have directed yu by thursday the 30th insert the folowin in the ledger personal (John—it shall be as you desire on the 30th.) Ros you may fix any other date that is convenient for you. Rosy u have sed yu had no confidence in these men an would not do as they requested yu. now we say yu must do as we request yu, or there is no earthly hope left yu to save yu child alive. this is the only alternitive given yu an yu wil find we are prepared for every emergency. detection is impossible if yu do not ransom him, he must die. if yu attempt to arrest any of our agents, he must die. If yu fail to comply with the terms after promising – he must die.
Letter 12
PHILADELPHIA, July 30—Ros: from yu answer this day you signify everything is redy. everything is redy with us. we now give yu a wide margin for preparat
ion to make an arest if yu be pleased to do your actions this day desides CHARLEY’s fate it is left with yu alone wether he shall live or die. we caution once, an the last time do not think we are trifling. Ros. you are to take the 12 P.M. train to-night from West Philadelphia for New York. it arrives at New York 5.05 A.M. take a cab at Cortland or Disbrossers streets, N.Y., an ride directly to the grand central station at 4 avenue and 42d streets. take the 8 A. M. northern express by way of hudson river (take notice) you are to stand on the rear car and the rear platform from the time you leave west phila depot until arrive at jersey city—you are then to stand on the rear platform of hudson river car from the time yu leave the grand central at New York until yu arrive at Albany. if our agent do not meet yu befor yu arrive in Albany yu wil find a letter in post office at Albany addressed to C. K. Walter directing yu where yu are then to go. Ros—the probability is yu may not go one mile before our agent meets yu and yet yu may go 250 miles before he intercepts you but be it where it may yu must be prepared to throw the valise to him regardless of all risks. the risk of being lost we assume an yu get your child without fail. these are the signals: if it be dark the moment the rear car passes him he wil exhibit a bright torch in one hand an a white flag in the other hand but if it be light he wil ring a bell with one hand and a white flag in the other hand. the instant yu see either of these signals yu are to drop it on the track an yu may get out at the next station, if the cars continue on their course we consider yu have kept your word, and yu child shal be returned yu safe but if they stop to arrest our agent then your child’s fate is sealed. this letter ends all things in regard to the restoration of yu child.
Letter 13
PHILA 31 July.—Ros: Yu seem to have no faith in us whatever. we told yu to be at yu store on thursday and this bisines would be all settled up but yu seem to pay no attention to it. at the time we supposed yu wer gitin redy to effect the change yu were as the Evening Star stated on you way to potsvill to see some child there. if yu ever expect to git yu child yu must look to us and no one else for there is no other existin powers that can restore him we have told yu to let the detectives take their own way an do as they pleas for they wil do yu no good and we don’t think they can do much harm if yu had done as the last letter instructed you and let the potsvill affair alone yu would now have the plasure of seeing yu child safe at home after we had seen that yu had gone to potsvill we did not instruct our agent to meet yu from the fact we thought it was no use. if yu are trifling with us yu wil find we are not the right party to be trifled with but if yu mean squar bisines with us although we are perhaps the worst men in the world we wil act honorably with yu in this affair. we told yu the last letter was the only one yu should ever reseive from us an we would keep our word but we are inclined to think yu did not get it befor yu started for potsvill. to save yu al further trouble an vexation in runing around to false reports that yu child is found here, and found there, we tel yu candidly that yu child is not in the possession of any woman or family or that his hair is cut off short. to save yu further troble pay no attention to any telegrams of that description for it is only trouble in vain for yu. your childs hair is the same length that it ever was an there is no disfigurement whatever in him but he is kept where no human eye can behold him yu have expressed the opinion that we would git tired of keeping him an turn him over to some charitable institution. dont flatter yuself with such an idea we have told yu what his end is, if yu do not redeem him we shal never digress from that. he wil never be taken from the place he is now concealed unless he is brought out to be restored to yu. Ros. if yu want to redeem yu child yu must come to us. you can reach us through the personals of the Ledger or Evening Star. our address is John. a change can be easily accomplished if yu desire it. remember yu have our word in 10 ours the whole thing shall be consummated yu git yu child an we git the money
Letter 14
PHILA. Aug, 3.—Ros—in not keeping our apointment with yu was entirely a mistake from the fact of havin seen a statement in evening star that yu had gone to potsvill on the day you was to setle this bisines with us. we saw the mistake but not in time to communicate with our agent or to notify yu not to go as we directed yu. Yu say yu want us to point out some sure way by which this money can be transmited to us— of course we can not call on yu personally neither can we receive it by letter. Ros—We will make the followin proposition to yu and if yu comply with the terms propounded we wil settle this bisines in very quick time satisfactory to both parties concerned so far as the restoration of your child is concerned. We assure yu that yu child is now well and in as good health as when he left yu home—do yu consent to the followin proposition and stake the life of Charley on the faith of yu promise.
Proposition 1st. Yu wil hand the box with the amount in to our agent when he calls to yu store.
Proposition 2d. Yu wil hand him the box, ask him no questions— not folow him—not put any one to folow him—not tel him what the box contains—not notify the detectives so they can folow him—not do anything that wil interupt its transit to us.
Do yu agree to the first and second proposition while we hold the life of Charley to bind yu to yur promise. Remember when yu promise your word is life or death to yu child. If yu consent to these terms answer the folowing Ledger or Evening Star to save time. (John i agree to the 1st and 2d propositions.) The reason we have warned yu in al our letters about the detectives to keep them ignorant of this compromise bisines is not that we fear detection but we now they wil interfear and baffle us from receiving the money and yu from giting yu child. we told yu in our last this corrospondonce must end but it was a mistak on our part therefore we be wilin to give yu a fair opportunity to redeem yu son if you wil. when our agent call on yu he will give yu a symbol of which yu wil previously receive a facsimilar so there wil be no posibly mistake in him, if there be it shal be our loss and not yours providing yu do as instructed. if we lose the money through our agent yu get yu child just as if we got every dollar.
Letter 15
PHILADELPHIA, August 4.—Ros: we saw yu ansur. yu say it is imposible to agree to the terms, then we say emphaticaly yu can never redeem yu child from us. yu requested a more sure way of paying yu money for yu child we agreed to give yu a satisfactory way which would have made the change sure and safe for yu and safe for us, the way we propounded was the sure test of your sincerity and yu answer implies distinctly that yu son is not worth that amount to save him, yu may be entertaining the idea that if the money is not paid we will turn him loose. yu wil find when it is to late that this was a grate mistake. we tel yu plainly and positively that the chances of yu ever geting yu child again is ninety-nine out of an hundred against yu. if yu do not redeem him he is just as good as the money to us for we have him for reference though we may never work this thing in this country again. be where it may we have the Ros child to show that we do about what we say when we told yu your child should stand responsible for our word to us we ment just what we said and any perfidy on yu part would have brought instant death on his head. now we are convinced that you would not keep faith with us, if yu could violate it with impunity to yu child and yet we do not blame yu for that, and yet do yu suppose that we would produce the child and hand him over to you the instant yu paid the money to us. the thing is absurd to think of such a change, we are not redy yet to have chains put on us for life. we did think once that we might effect the change in canidy in that way, but we find that cannot be, for yu could hold us there on robbery and extortion until yu could get us here and then yu would have us on the whole. Mr Ros the way the case stands now, it looks as if yu dont want to redeem yu child, or at least yu must redeem him on yu own terms. That is impossible; we repeat it, that is absolutely impossible. If yu ever get him from us, and we are sure yu never will get him from any other than us, yu have got to come to us on our own terms and our terms wil be more stringent than ever. One has suggested to redeem yu child with counterfeit money; another to mark all the money, and then we could be trape
d after with the money. We say if yu had redeemed yu child with counterfit money, or with money privately marked, we would not restored yu child till yu had replace the marked money double-fold. A woman has proposed to Tagget to produce Charley and his abductors for $5,000. This will be by far the cheapest way for yu to git yu child, for we wil never restor him for one dollar less than the amount we first named. when we found out yu circumstances was not good, we were goin to throw off one-half the amount an accept $10,000 but the public have raised hell so, and sympathised for yu in offring such large rewards that we shall have the whole or none. but they took good care in offering it in such away that they would never have to pay one dollar of it. if they ment bisines why did they not offer so much for the child and so much for the abductors. the reason is they thought one or the other rewards might have to be paid. but we don’t think they would ever have to pay a dollar for either child or us. yu wil find the truth of this in the end (if I no myself). Mr. Ross we leave the city to-night. we shal not communicate with yu any more unless yu can satisfy us yu want to redeem yu child on our terms which wil be $20,000 and not one dollar less and it must be paid to us as we prescribe. when yu receive this we shal be at least 200 miles from here we leave the detectives of phila and Mr tagget to work out their clues. we think we have left no clues behind us. Charley wil remain where he was taken the second night after he left home. If Mr tagget can find a clue to that place he wil no doubt get the reward we have no feminines into that place. charley will never come out of there. it shal be his everlasting tomb—unless the ransom brings him out. we are not destitute of a few dollars yet, charley shal never starve to death if death it must be, it shal come upon him as instant as the lightning strock itself. Mr Ros, if you have anything to say to us it must be through the personals of New York Herald. we can see that, where ever we are and no doubt every day, we shal notice nothing only from you. no matter what propositions others may make they wil receive no attention. yu say the action must be symultanious from the nature of this bisines that can never be, so that ends the bisines we told yu in 10 ours after the receipt of mony if we found it genuine, and not secretly marked al up, yu would then get yu child in our way of passing him over to yu. this does not suit yu so we wil leave yu to yu own way of giting and the detectives to work out their clues.
