by Carrie Hagen
Petty, R. W. 163
Philadelphia Inquirer, The 14, 54, 57, 58, 63, 65, 68, 71-73, 83, 100, 124, 125, 126, 128, 145, 176, 187, 189, 199, 203, 209, 217, 236-238, 240, 242, 250
Philadelphia Public Ledger, The 12, 14, 28-31, 33, 36, 43, 49, 51-54, 57-59, 70, 79, 81, 85, 103, 104, 126, 176, 224, 235, 236, 238, 244, 266, 270, 272, 276, 278
Pinkerton Detective Agency, the 79, 124-127, 129, 163, 169, 175, 181, 211, 223
postal service, the 81, 106, 268
Poughkeepsie, New York 155
Purcell, Arthur 79, 129, 130, 223, 283, 284
Quakers 17, 247, 248
Reading Eagle, the 145, 146
Reading Railroad, the 81
Reconstruction 34, 38, 93, 161
Red Bank, New Jersey 113, 169
Republican machine, the 46, 159-161
Republicans 12, 13, 34, 45, 46, 58, 103, 127, 159-161, 210
reserve corps, the 51
Revolutionary War, the 26, 247
Richmond, Virginia 78
Riddle, Edward 59
Ridge Street 112, 191
Rittenhouse square district 56
Ritter, Milford N. 145-147
river-pirate gangs, river piracy 12, 17, 92, 96, 111, 112 172, 191
Roosevelt, Theodore 191
“Ross Case A Humbug” 145
Ross, Charley 11, 13, 21-23, 25-30, 33, 35, 36, 40, 42, 49, 50, 54-56, 58, 60, 63, 66, 68, 69, 73, 77-79, 81, 83, 84, 86, 92, 95-97, 99-102, 104-106, 110, 115, 116, 118, 120, 121, 125, 126, 129-131, 134, 136-139, 141, 146, 147, 151, 154, 157, 161, 162, 170, 173, 175-177, 180-183, 186-190, 194, 197, 199, 204, 205, 209, 211, 212, 215, 217-219, 221, 223, 226, 229-233, 235, 236, 241, 244, 245, 250-254, 258-261, 264, 265, 268, 270, 272, 273, 275, 278, 280, 282-284, 287
Ross, James 181, 182
Ross, Sarah Lewis 26, 29, 30, 41, 42, 45, 48, 60, 63, 126, 141-143, 146, 147, 154, 163, 164, 176, 182, 185, 203, 213, 218, 241, 259
Ross, Schott, & Co. 26, 36
Ross, Sophia 23, 42, 260
Ross, Walter 11, 21-30, 39, 41, 42, 48, 55, 64, 66, 69, 81, 84, 105, 109, 110, 113, 120, 121, 123, 125, 130, 143, 151, 162, 170, 176-178, 186, 196, 203, 209, 222, 242, 251, 258, 260, 261, 268, 270, 276, 282, 283, 291, 293-295
Russell, Mrs. 191-193
Saul, Nicholas 111, 112
Savannah, Georgia 231
Schuylkill River 17, 35, 233, 247
Scotland 99, 105
Scott, Levi 175, 181, 182
Scott, Thomas 181, 182
Scott, William 195, 196
Sebastian, Annie 102
Secret Six, the 210
Sheppard, District Attorney Furman 243
Sherrard, James 109, 110
Ship, Henry 181, 182
Silleck, Detective 113, 155, 174, 180, 185, 186, 190-193
sixteenth ward, the 30
Sixth Street 31, 33, 176, 261
Slaughter House Point 111
Slobbery Jim, 111
Smith and McNeal’s 153
South Philadelphia 39, 55, 56, 59, 65, 68, 69, 89, 99, 102, 115, 120, 170, 171, 236, 241, 249, 252, 282
South Seventh Street 68
spiritualists, spiritualism, psychics 63, 142, 143, 204, 217, 239, 270
St. Louis, Missouri 182, 183, 205, 215, 217, 291
St. Paul, Minnesota 101
State House, the 225, 226, 245
Steel, Henry 109
Stokley, William S. 12, 13, 30, 33-38, 46, 66, 68, 72, 101, 124, 127, 133, 134, 154, 159, 161, 162, 175, 188, 201, 204, 209-213, 218, 234, 255, 258, 261, 274
strikes 94
Stromberg, Charles 90-92, 115, 117, 137, 243
Swartz, Frederick S. 81
Swedenborg 142
Taggart, Joshua 64-66, 68, 69, 73, 74, 77, 99, 124
Taggart, Lukens and Carlin 64
Tenth Street 227
thief catchers 50, 51, 64, 65, 127, 191
Thirteenth Precinct, the 95, 97, 117, 119
Titus, Detective 222
Tombs, the 112
Town Hall 25, 30, 37
Tramp Acts 63
Trenton, New Jersey 131, 212, 218, 238, 251, 252, 284
Troxell, Amanda 236
Troxell, Catherine 236
Troxell, Mary 236
Underground Railroad, the 17
unemployment 34, 153, 159, 160
Uniform Elections Act of 1874, the 45
Union League 160, 210
urination stoppage 138, 141, 286
Van Brunt, Albert 195, 196
Van Brunt, J. Holmes 172, 173, 178, 195, 196, 199, 200, 252
Van Fleet 221-223, 238
Walling, George W. 13, 93-98, 109-113, 117-119, 123, 130, 136, 137, 149, 151, 153-156, 164, 165, 169, 170, 174-178, 185-188, 190-194, 196, 198-201, 203, 204, 211-213, 221-227, 229, 230, 232, 237, 241, 243, 244, 253-255, 259
Walnut Street 35
Walnut Street Jail 247
Walter, C. K. 81, 84
Washington Lane 18, 19, 23, 26, 30, 41, 64, 67, 109, 123, 125, 139, 163, 257, 258, 260, 261, 282
Washington, D.C. 135, 204, 205
West Philadelphia 30, 31, 67, 81, 84, 242, 276
Westchester 155
Westervelt, William 13, 90-92, 110, 113-119, 130, 136-138, 150, 153, 154, 156, 164, 165, 170, 171, 177, 200, 201, 219, 223-227, 229, 230, 232, 237, 238, 241-246, 248-250, 252-255, 258,
Westport, Connecticut 189
Whigs 34
Wingohocking Creek 40
Wissahickon River 40
Wood, Detective Charles 155, 156, 176, 177, 226, 238, 255
Wooster, Christopher (“Frank Wistar,” “Christian Worcester”) 65, 66, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 77
world’s fair, world’s fairs 59, 133, 233
Wyeth, Charlotte 102, 103, 136
Christian Ross.
Washington Lane, 1876
The first ransom letter
The first ransom envelope
First page of Pinkerton pamphlet sent to police across America
Pinkerton flyer, as posted in public places
Superintendent George W. Walling
Main Street (Germantown Avenue) at Rittenhouse
Main Street at Manheim
Main Street life
1 Most ransom letters are abridged. The responses of Christian Ross and his advisers are not abridged.
2 While Christian Ross mentions that Letter #6 was mailed from a postal box in Philadelphia, there is no record of the text of the letter in his memoirs or in newspaper accounts of the trial. The police and the family spoke of 23 ransom notes in total, and the next to last note was marked #22 ½. The kidnappers did not place numbers on the letters, and at times appear confused as to how many notes had been written. It is possible that early published versions of the letters simply skipped from #5 to #7, and upon arriving at #23 too early, used the #22 ½ as a marker.