The “fascinating, hair-raising, suspenseful” account of just a little boy abducted in broad daylight as well as the desperate manhunt to find him (NY Occasions Book Review)

On July 1, 1874, four-year-old Charley Ross and his older brother, Walter, were performing in front of their stately Philadelphia residential whenever a horse-drawn carriage pulled up with two men who offered candy and fireworks if the boys would ride with them.

Hours later, Walter came back, stating that that they had ridden through the town until the about Defy All of the Devils: America’s First Kidnapping for Ransom males abandoned him in the street but kept Charley. Soon after, their father, Christian K. Ross, received a demand for $20,000 in substitution for his son.

Ross visited the authorities for help-and before long, the case became a national phenomenon. A favorite tune pleaded for the boy’s safe come back. The Philadelphia police searched every home in the city, and a large number of people falsely reported that that they had seen Charley or understood his whereabouts. In the mean time, the kidnappers’ ransom words were becoming more dangerous and bizarre. The press, eager to lover the flames of hysteria, imprinted wholly fabricated stories and even accused Christian Ross of orchestrating the whole lot to be able to hide the actual fact that Charley was illegitimate.

And then the men who took Charley went silent …

This is actually the chilling true story of a crime that transfixed a still-growing America, the unlikely group of events that produced the case’s most tantalizing clues, as well as the tragic twist of fate that plunged the Ross family back into darkness and haunted them for many years to come.

Originally published only a small amount Charley Ross