We Is Got Him

by Carrie Hagen

  p. 29 Readers of the Philadelphia Public Ledger: PL, July 3, 1874.

  p. 30 because Christian feared disturbing Sarah: Germantown Guide, August 15, 1874.

  p. 30 “suspicious persons”: Ross, 40.

  p. 30 Residents had told Lieutenant: Ross, 42–43.

  p. 30 Several women were watching: Ibid.

  be not uneasy

  p. 33 On the morning of July 4: PL, July 6, 1874.

  p. 33 hoping that the detectives were right: Ross, 46.

  p. 34 His constituents numbered close to 800,000: Keels, 136; Whiteman, 114.

  p. 34 more than 20 percent of whom worked: PI, July 6, 1874.

  p. 34 in the 8,000 factories: Bell, 203.

  p. 34 almost five times: Manual of the Councils of the City of Philadelphia, 1874-1876.

  p. 34 Ulysses S. Grant accepted: NYT, October 18, 1874.

  p. 34 William Stokley had also been: Sprogle, 152–153.

  p. 34 His first political act was to: Wolf, 211.

  p. 34 the immigrant community: Beers, 422.

  p. 34 He immediately fired: Sprogle, 151–152.

  p. 34 other city wages dropped 10 percent: Marshall, 204.

  p. 34 thousands of railway workers: Ibid.

  p. 34 Five days before July 4: Sprogle, 154.

  p. 35 four million Americans had settled: Brown, 16.

  p. 35 into 40 million people and: Brown, 16.

  p. 35 600,000 soldiers, had died and freed slaves: Faust, xi; Hendrickson, 229.

  p. 35 Stokley greeted his honored guests: PL, July 4, 1874; PI, July 6, 1874.

  p. 35 Together, they exited: PL, July 4, 1876.

  p. 35 The mayor’s carriage went directly: Hepp, 82; PL, July 6, 1874.

  p. 35 Trees lined both riverbanks: Philadelphia Public Library, Photo Collection.

  p. 36 He arrived at the excavation site: PI, July 6, 1874.

  p. 37 William Penn had designed: PI, July 6, 1874.

  p. 37 Nobody spoke: Ross, 46.

  p. 37 had delayed his plans for 180 years: PI, July 6, 1874.

  p. 37 Five thousand attendees: PL, July 6, 1874. Details in the following scene are drawn from this article and an article appearing in the Ledger on July 2, 1874.

  p. 37 “We have a manly local pride”: PI, July 6, 1874.

  Yu be its murderer

  p. 39 standardized development had chafed: Beers, 419, 421; Warner, 50, 52.

  p. 39 On a normal weekday, shoppers: Callard, 39.

  p. 39 Jimmy Jones … from floor to ceiling: Haines, 16–22; Callard, 39. Jimmy Jones was also the name of a descendant of this shopkeeper, one who operated the family business into the middle of the twentieth century.

  p. 40 Weeping willows cast: Clemens, 19, 23, 34; Wister, James, 82.

  p. 40 parents had heard: Haines, 2. The archives and Wister collection at La Salle University, organized by Dr. James Butler, were particularly helpful in reconstructing life in Victorian Germantown.

  p. 40 Families picnicked: Coffin, 64–66; Clemens, Quaint Old, 6, 9; Haines, 98.

  p. 40 Germantown’s children were used: Coffin, 39–40; Clemens, East Germantown, 33–37.

  p. 40 monks had awaited: Zimmerman, 1, 4.

  p. 40 two men with bushy beards still roamed: Coffin, 34–36; Clemens, East Germantown, 35.

  p. 41 “See the ghost!”: La Salle University Library, Campbell Collection, Germantown Data #41.

  p. 41 Sarah Lewis Ross had given: EB, September 23, 1874.

  p. 41 Sarah had no idea: Ross, 47.

  p. 42 Christian’s neighbors suspected that: INA, July 28, 1874.

  p. 42 “Why did you not bring Charley”: Ross, 52.

  p. 43 “No harm has come to Charley”: Ross, 63.

  p. 43 “Surely you have not heard rightly”: Ibid.

  his lif wil be instant sacrificed

  p. 45 he went home to Germantown: Ross, 64.

  p. 45 the efforts of Simon Cameron: Foner, 485–486; Hoogenboom, 830-839.

  p. 45 Prior to the Uniform Elections Act: Hoogenboom, 830–839.

  p. 46 “There was no plan of any importance”: Ross, 92; Bell, 204.

  p. 46 pushed Christian closer toward: Ross, 85.

  p. 46 the police had relied upon: Ross, 40.

  p. 47 the authorities summoned citizens: Ross, 73.

  p. 47 “suspicious-looking”: Ross, 73.

  p. 47 to ships on the Delaware, factories: Bell, 202, 204; Warner, 50, 52.

  p. 47 “No one outside of”: Ross, 88.

  p. 48 a third-generation businessman: Biographical Encylopedia of Dauphin County, 1896.

  p. 48 the advisers encouraged Christian: Ross, 86.

  p. 49 He noticed the stamp: Ross, 72.

  p. 49 Jewish communities in the Middle Ages: INA, July 16, 1874; The Germantown Guide, November 7, 1874.

  p. 49 “kidnapping” wasn’t coined: Fass, 10.

  p. 49 one hundred years later, the definition had evolved: Fass, 11; EB, July 21, 1874.

  p. 50 many European slave traders: Fass, 10–11; PL, August 4, 1874.

  p. 50 Children also fell victim to: Fass, 13.

  p. 50 hundreds of “street urchins” disappeared: Ibid.

  p. 50 a solely Italian problem: Fass, 44; EB, July 14, 1874; INA, July 20, 1874.

  p. 50 no organized police force: Monkonnen, 31; Philadelphia Public Library, Police Department Inventory Part 4, 79.

  p. 51 when more than eighty thousand acres were: Warner, 50; Monkonnen, 36.

  p. 51 The corps’ initial efforts: Monkonnen, 36.

  p. 51 “The detective force of Philadelphia”: EB, July 14, 1874.

  he is uneasy

  p. 53 “I felt that it was a fearful risk”: Ross, 97.

  p. 53 After authorizing public citizens: Ross, 55.

  p. 54 close readers had noticed: PI, July 22, 1874.

  p. 54 Jones wrote to the city’s weekly and daily papers: EB, July 14, 1874; PL, July 17, 1874.

  p. 54 The city was outraged: PL, July 17, 1874; PI, July 22, 1874.

  the danger lies intirely with yuself

  p. 55 A family named Henderson: Walling, 204.

  p. 55 Mr. Henderson worked: PI, December 21, 1874.

  p. 56 searchers walked through alleys: PL, July 23 and August 10, 1874.

  p. 56 Throughout the city: Ross, 54-55.

  p. 56 clapboard houses: Warner, 52.

  p. 56 a stable keeper named: INA, July 18 and July 20, 1874.

  yu child shal die

  p. 57 the Ledger had had a reputation for: Supplement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 1962. Page 16.

  p. 57 the Ledger staff was the first in: Ibid.

  p. 57 prompt reporting been more in demand: Summers, The Press Gang, 15.

  p. 57 Nearly 3 million men: Faust, 3.

  p. 57 elevated journalistic standards: Summers, The Press Gang, 15.

  p. 58 every major American city: Summers, The Press Gang, 15.

  p. 58 the New York Herald alone sent forty: Ibid.

  p. 58 Readership in more than one hundred metropolitan: Summers, The Press Gang, 12.

  p. 58 George W. Childs: Supplement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 1962. Page 18.

  p. 58 The Ledger developed: Ibid.

  p. 58 readership of 400,000: Summers, The Press Gang, 12.

  p. 58 chief editor was a man named William V. McKean: Supplement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 1962. Page 18.

  p. 58 “For what may be done in one instance”: EB, July 14, 1874.

  p. 58 “The journalists of this city”: EB, July 16, 1874.

  p. 59 “a particularly useless and expansive body”: EB, July 14, 1874.

  p. 59 Both the Ledger and the Evening Bulletin: EB, July 16, 1874.

  p. 59 Inspired by the success of London’s Crystal Palace: Rydell, 8.

  p. 59 The centerpiece of London’s Crystal Palace: Rydell, 15.

  p. 59 Riddle’s risk cost the city: Rydell, 17.

  p. 59 By 1874, Europe had hosted: Ibid.

 
p. 60 “There must be no compromise with thieves”: PI, July 9, 1874.

  p. 60 It attacked Christian’s integrity: Reported by The Germantown Guide, August 8, 1874.

  p. 60 “No man with any soul”: PI, July 27, 1874.

  p. 60 His friends loudly defended: PI, July 27 and September 25, 1874; PL, July 28, 1874.

  p. 60 “No possible good could result by”: Ross, 86.

  he is yet safe

  p. 63 “Tramp Acts” were being passed: Harring, 201.

  p. 63 Sarah Ross’s friends responded: Ross, 110.

  p. 63 She sought the help of: Ross, 100.

  p. 63 search parties conducted: Ross, 54–55, 72–73.

  p. 63 strangers showed up at the Ross home: Ross, 102.

  p. 64 blamed Charley’s disappearance on: Ibid.

  p. 64 “Now you have broken the spell”: Ross, 105.

  p. 64 as far away as California: Ross, 81.

  p. 64 one letter sent to police advised: Ross, 93.

  p. 64 On July 17, Joshua Taggart: EB, July 17, 1874; PI, July 17, 1874.

  p. 64 Police detectives earned: HSP, Folder, Plan of Police for the History and County of Philadelphia, 1874.

  p. 64 “thief catchers”: Monkonnen, 36.

  p. 64 Through the 1870s,: Monkonnen, 31, 80.

  p. 65 Editorials complained about: PL, July 23, 1874; PI, July 22, 1874.

  p. 65 picking up undertones of gossip: EB, July 17, 1874.

  p. 65 And then he arrested: EB, July 17, 1874.

  p. 65 For the past twenty years, the authorities had: Ibid; INA, July 18, 1874.

  p. 65 he had a black eye and a: EB, September 7, 1874.

  p. 65 According to an act of 1860: PI, July 18, 1874.

  p. 66 “Oh no,” responded the solicitor: Ibid.

  p. 66 Christian Ross didn’t think Wooster: PI, July 22, 1874.

  p. 66 “a man of considerable education”: EB, July 17, 1874.

  p. 66 parents demanded that Stokley: PI, July 22, 1874; EB, August 10, 1874.

  p. 67 A man in West Philadelphia: PI, July 27, 1874.

  p. 67 ten-year-old Elizabeth Coffin: Coffin, 20.

  p. 67 “candy and other nice things”: Ibid.

  p. 67 Germantown’s parents: Ibid; Haines, 2.

  p. 67 “Look after that youngster of yours”: PI, July 20, 1874.

  p. 68 “I would be liable to”: INA, July 20, 1874.

  p. 68 “I don’t believe it does”: Ibid.

  p. 68 City solicitor Charles Collis: EB, July 18, 1874.

  p. 68 “Do you think Taggart”: Ibid.

  p. 68 Prison guards in South Philadelphia: INA, July 24, 1874.

  we wil send prof

  p. 71 “Does not the fact that”: PI, July 21, 1874.

  p. 71 “the same handwriting”: Ibid.

  p. 71 “shock and incense the community”: Ibid.

  p. 71 “shameful and unbearable”: EB, July 22, 1874.

  p. 71 “easily committed”: Ibid.

  p. 71 “the whole detective force of the country”: PI, July 22, 1874.

  p. 71 Twenty-four hours later: PI, July 23, 1874.

  p. 72 “every newspaper in the United States”: PL and INA, July 23, 1874.

  p. 72 Clerks in the mayor’s office: PI, July 24 and 25, 2874.

  p. 73 He insisted that: Ross, 112.

  p. 73 much of the public agreed: PI, July 22, 1874.

  p. 73 “You must excuse the looks”: INA, July 24, 1874.

  p. 74 He asked why he was locked up: PI, July 21 and 22, 1874.

  p. 74 “And even if I was,”: PI, July 21, 1874.

  p. 74 “getting gloriously drunk”: INA, July 24, 1874.

  p. 74 “had no hard feelings” and “to lead a different life”: PI, July 24, 1874.

  they are goin to search every house in the city

  p. 77 after the arrival of each one: Ross, 64.

  p. 77 he had been accepting “hush” money: Walling, 273.

  p. 77 chastened the police for releasing: NYH, July 27, 1874.

  p. 77 Street children of all ages: Ross, 169; PI, July 28 and July 30, 1874; INA, July 31, 1874; NYT, August 5, 11 and 12, 1874; Fass, 47.

  p. 77 Poor parents and fortune seekers: PI, July 31, 1874; PI, August 10, 1874; Ross 102, 152.

  p. 77 Western Union extended a free wire: Ross, 60.

  p. 78 One mother was stopped so often: EB, August 4, 1874.

  p. 78 In North Philadelphia,: PI, July 20, 1874.

  p. 78 Authorities also mistakenly arrested: PI, July 27, 1874.

  p. 78 A Philadelphia detective traveled: Ross, 122.

  p. 78 “Fancy Bill”: PI, July 30 and August 3, 1874; July 30, 1874.

  p. 78 Neighbors in Germantown remembered two foreign couples: INA, July 31, 1874; PI, July 27, 1874.

  p. 78 they did discover stolen silks and jewelry: PI, July 29 and 30, 1874.

  p. 78 “every Philadelphia property for the child”: PI, July 28, 1874.

  p. 78 An ex-detective echoed: PL, July 24, 1874.

  p. 79 Editorials disagreed, arguing that: The Evening Standard, August 8, 1874.

  p. 79 Benjamin Franklin, the: EB, July 24, 1874.

  p. 79 his doctor confined him temporarily to his bed: Ross, 224.

  p. 79 Without contacting Christian Ross or: PI, July 27, 1874.

  p. 79 “compromise a felony”: Ibid.

  if you want to trap

  p. 81 Frederick S. Swartz, a postal agent: PI, July 31, 1874.

  p. 81 “My God, that’s Charley Ross!”: Ibid.

  before he intercepts yu

  p. 83 Christian received: Ross, 122.

  p. 83 “I have the child and the parties”: PL, July 31, 1874.

  p. 83 By 11:45 A.M.: INA, July 31, 1874.

  p. 83 The Inquirer later reported: PI, July 31, 1874.

  p. 83 Track repairs delayed the train: Ibid; INA, July 31, 1874.

  p. 83 Hundreds gathered around: INA, July 31, 1874.

  p. 83 “The child is not Charley Ross”: PI, July 31, 1874.

  p. 84 At midnight, an undercover officer: Ross, 131.

  p. 84 He shivered as the train moved: Ibid.

  p. 84 “This of course kept up”: Ross, 133.

  p. 84 He arrived: Ibid.

  we think we have left no clues behind us

  p. 89 a former cow path called Mulberry Street: Bernard, 475; Riis, “Preface.”

  p. 89 the city’s most infamous slum: Ibid.

  p. 89 Locals knew this area as: Ibid; McCabe, “Preface” and “XXVII./ Life in the Shadows.”

  p. 89 old, rotten slabs of meat: Riis, 50.

  p. 89 sleeping on lager-drenched wood shavings: Kingsdale, 475.

  p. 89 rented a spot on the floor for a nickel: Kingsdale, 477.

  p. 89 who yawned and stretched away: Riis, photos.

  p. 89 children stepped over sewage: Gilfoyle, 19.

  p. 89 Some walked west to Newspaper Row: Riis, 216.

  p. 89 others meandered north: Ibid.

  p. 89 for a spot to polish boots or sell flowers: McCabe, “LXXXVII. Street Vendors.”

  p. 89 If the oldest boys made enough money: Kingsdale, 477.

  p. 89 Posters of sports stars: Kingsdale, 475.

  p. 90 men propped tired feet: Kingsdale, 474.

  p. 90 saloon keeper’s oily head and: Kingsdale, 475.

  p. 90 could look through the wrought-iron windows: Kingsdale, 474, 485.

  p. 90 Charles Stromberg had owned: TW, 52.

  p. 90 even a poor man could scrape: Kingsdale, 474.

  p. 90 had some time to himself between: Kingsdale, 475.

  p. 90 Stromberg knew one of the man: TW, 52.

  p. 90 blamed the dismissal on his refusal: TW, 47.

  p. 90 his wife had sold some of their furniture: TW, 69.

  p. 91 they peddled an insect repellent: TW, 34.

  p. 91 he began to record their visits: TW, 53.

  p. 91 Hartman asked Westervelt one night: TW, 60.

  p. 91 saloons turned into community centers tha
t: Kingsdale, 476, 478-479.

  p. 91 the patrons shared Irish heritages and: Kingsdale, 483; Asbury, 119; Harring, 182.

  p. 91 “wife pacifiers”: Schlereth, 227.

  p. 91 sang about lost loves or: Kingsdale, 480.

  p. 91 and left letters: Schlereth, 227.

  p. 91 whenever a chalk mark appeared: TW, 60.

  p. 91 Stromberg kept it despite: TW, 43.

  p. 91 “I can tell you confidentially that I …”: TW, 52.

  p. 92 “two shillings”: TW, 60.

  p. 92 paid a few cents for: Riis, 64.

  p. 92 Kerosene lamps cast small shadows: Riis, 59; Brace, 93.

  p. 92 smells of unclean bodies and: Barnard, 6.

  p. 92 lay with at least a dozen sleeping: Barnard, 6; Riis, vi; McCabe, “XXVII: The Five Points. 2. The Cellars.”

  we know not what to make of that

  p. 93 “Chief of Police of Philadelphia:”: Walling, 200.

  p. 93 in 1847 at age twenty-four: Walling, 33.

  p. 93 Advertisements and society columns: Beckert, 156.

  p. 93 members attended record numbers of: Beckert, 154.

  p. 93 workers framed Fifth-Avenue mansions: McCabe, “VIII. PUBLIC SPACES. and X. FIFTH AVENUE.”

  p. 93 ladies flaunted jewels and furs: Beckert, 156; McCabe, “IV: THE RING 1. History of the Ring.”

  p. 94 the arrival of more than 3 million immigrants: Beckert, 146.

  p. 94 number of factories and miles of railroad track: Beckert, 144–146, 208.

  p. 94 immigrants in New York protested: Johnson 3, 30; Emsley, 44, 54.

  p. 94 a common enemy: Johnson, 41; Harring, 12, 225, 248.

  p. 94 When Walling gained his first: Walling, 48.

  p. 94 “strong-arm” police teams: Johnson, 15, 19; Miller, 215, 223.

  p. 94 25 percent of laborers lost their jobs: Emsley, 56; Tholfson, 115; Beckert, 209.

  p. 94 Tension became so thick around Irish shanties: Johnson, 15, 19.

  p. 94 “Shame! Shame” at the police: Johnson, 30.

  p. 94 During the summer of 1874,: Johnson, 39.

  p. 94 Working women who returned home alone: Johnson, 22.

  p. 95 even after human-rights groups: Johnson, 18; Harris, 17.

  p. 95 After becoming an inspector, Walling: Walling, 153.

  p. 95 The Board of the Police reserved the right: Walling, 178.

  p. 95 an Officer Doyle in the city’s thirteenth ward: Zierold, 140.

  p. 95 internal restructuring in the department: Walling, 179.

  p. 95 Walling demanded to see Mosher, Doyle, and Hedden: Walling, 201.

  p. 96 “What are your reasons …” and following conversation: Walling, 201.