the curious case/disappearance of charley ross

One of my less-spoken about interests of mine is reading about strange missing person’s cases. Y’know, the ones that are super baffling that no one’s been able to solve? Yeah I love those. Something about them really intrigues me.

He was only 4 years old when he and his five year old brother Walter were approached by two dudes who offered them candy and fireworks if they agreed to ride with them, which the boys did. They drove to a store where one dude gave Walter some money to buy something, Walter bought it but the carriage with his brother in it left, and Charley was never seen again. 

Charley’s dad got letters from the apparent kidnappers asking for money in exchange for Charley (and threatening to kill Charley if he didn’t pay and involved the police). The kidnappers assumed Charley’s family was hella rich cause they had a big house and owned a dry goods store, but the reality was that they were super in debt because of the stock market crash of 1873 but he couldn’t pay it and went to the police, where the kidnapping became national news. 

Charley’s family attempted to pay the money for ages, but the kidnappers never showed up, and eventually all communication stopped. 

Fast-forward to a few months later. When a judge’s house was robbed, Charley’s other brother Holmes ran in with some men to stop the intruders and shot them. One lived an extra two hours and confessed that he and a friend of his (who was there at the time) had abducted Charley, which Walter confirmed that he and the other man took him and Charley on that fateful day. However, the man was unclear whether he had killed Charley or if Charley was still alive. He didn’t give any other clues and soon died afterwards. 

Charley’s been missing for 147 years and 2 months, and his whereabouts are still virtually unknown. Charley’s mom and dad spent the rest of their lives looking for him, and interviewed thousands of people claiming to be Charley, all of whom were impostors. 

This case inspired the common saying “don’t take candy from strangers” and a major missing persons database was named for him. It’s one of the most famous missing persons cases of all time, and was really interesting to write about.

ciao!

-Gia