Edward Aloysius Cudahy Jr. ( / ˈ k ʌ d ə h eɪ / CUD -ə-hey ); August 22, 1885 – January 8, 1966), also known as Eddie Cudahy , was kidnapped on December 18, 1900 in Omaha, Nebraska . Edward Cudahy Sr. was the wealthy owner of the Cudahy Packing Company , which helped build the Omaha Stockyards through the 1950s. Cudahy Sr. paid the ransom for the return of his son and made the kidnapper, Pat Crowe , a popular author, lecturer and actor for a brief period. The Cudahy case is said to have influenced many succeeding kidnappings, including those of the Lindbergh baby , Bobby Greenlease , and Marion Parker .
37-941: Cudahy is an Irish surname, related to the name "Cuddihy" and is native to Counties Cork and Tipperary. The Irish form of this name would be written as Ó Cuidighthigh (male) or Ní Chuidighthigh (female). It may refer to: Surname [ edit ] Edward Cudahy Jr. (1885–1966), American kidnapping victim; M. Cudahy's nephew John Cudahy (1887–1943), American real estate developer and diplomat Michael Cudahy (electronics) (born 1924–2022), American entrepreneur Michael Cudahy (industrialist) (1841–1910), American founder of Cudahy Packing Company Patrick Cudahy (1849–1919), American industrialist Richard Dickson Cudahy (1926–2015), American jurist Places [ edit ] Cudahy, California Cudahy, Wisconsin Other [ edit ] Cudahy Packing Company Topics referred to by
74-458: A "Charles Ross" to the press area. The common admonition "don't take candy from strangers" is said to have come from Ross's abduction. The Charley Project, a major missing persons database, is named for Ross. In 1934, Gustave Blair, a 69-year-old carpenter living in Phoenix, Arizona , petitioned a Maricopa County court to recognize him as the real Charley Ross. Blair claimed that after he
111-512: A lesser conspiracy charge and served six years in prison. He always maintained his own innocence and swore that he did not know the whereabouts of Charley Ross. Two years after the kidnapping, Christian published a book on the case titled The Father's Story of Charley Ross, the Kidnapped Child in order to raise money to continue searching for his son. By 1878, the media interest in the case had begun to wane. To renew interest, Ross had
148-622: A manhunt, which the World-Herald called "the nation's leading thrill." After a statement from Eddie Jr., reporters found the kidnapper's hideout in South Omaha . Pat Crowe , a small butcher- shop operator in South Omaha, was identified as a suspect early in the investigation. However, nobody could find Crowe. During January 1901, Crowe sightings were reported from Central America to Nantucket Island , with one report placing him on
185-399: A phone call advising him to search his front yard, where his coachman found a ransom note: Mr. Cudahy: We have kidnapped your child and demand $ 25,000 for his safe return. If you give us the money he will return as safe as when you last saw him, but if you refuse, we will put acid in his eyes and blind him... Get the money all in gold, 5, 10 and 20 (dollar) pieces... Get in your buggy alone on
222-409: A ride with them. These two men were known to the boys, as they had been visiting with candy in the days preceding July 1. So the boys agreed, and were transported through Philadelphia to a store where Walter was directed to buy fireworks inside with 25 cents ($ 6.73 today) given to him. Walter did so, but the carriage left without him. Charley Ross was taken away and never seen again. Christian K. Ross,
259-744: A steamship in Honduras , and another at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota . Thousands of "Crowe wanted" posters were shipped across the United States. In March 1901, the Omaha City Council matched Cudahy's reward, and later in the month, a man named James Callahan was arrested for public drunkenness, his fine for which he paid with a shiny $ 20 gold coin, just like Cudahy had paid some of
296-408: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Edward Cudahy Jr. On the evening of December 18, 1900, 15-year-old Edward Cudahy Jr. left his house to run an errand in his Old Gold Coast neighborhood. As he walked home, a carriage pulled beside him and a man jumped out and grabbed him, pulling him inside. His father, the millionaire owner of
333-482: Is one of the most famous disappearances in U.S. history. On July 1, 1874, four-year-old Charley Ross and his five-year-old brother, Walter Lewis Ross, were playing in the front yard of their family's home in Germantown , a well-to-do section of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . A horse-drawn carriage pulled up to the residence and the boys were approached by two men who offered candy and fireworks if they would take
370-768: The Cudahy Packing Company at the Omaha Stockyards, returned from a dinner engagement at 10:30 p.m. to discover his son missing. The next morning, the Omaha Bee , the Daily News , and the World-Herald all carried the story across their front pages. The next morning, Cudahy closed his plant and encouraged his 2,000 workers to look for his son. His competitors did the same, and soon 7,000 people were searching Omaha. At 9:00 am, he received
407-546: The Cudahy kidnapping case. Despite four days of testimony from dozens of witnesses, the jury acquitted Crowe after 80 minutes of deliberations. The judge held him for the next trial, which began in February 1906; 92 witnesses were called by the prosecution, and none was called by the defense. The Chicago Examiner , following the case along with many national newspapers, proclaimed the defense's closing statement to be "considered
SECTION 10
#1732783776077444-584: The best speech in a criminal case ever made in Omaha." After 17 hours of deliberations on St. Patrick's Day , 1906, the jury declared Crowe not guilty. Responding to the trial, The Washington Post wrote, "Omaha is evidently a happy hunting ground for savages and malefactors." Crowe's criminal notoriety gained him fame as a lecturer, author, and actor across the United States, until he eventually died in poverty in Harlem in 1938. His written personal narratives of
481-520: The book reprinted and began giving lectures in Boston . Christian and his wife continued to search for their son until their deaths (Christian died in 1897 and his wife in 1912). They followed leads and interviewed over 570 boys, teenagers, and eventually grown men from around the world who claimed to have been Charley. All proved to be imposters. The Rosses eventually spent approximately $ 60,000 looking for their son. In 1924, newspapers ran stories about
518-521: The boys' father, began receiving ransom demands from the apparent kidnappers. They arrived in the form of notes mailed from post offices in Philadelphia and elsewhere, all written in an odd hand and in a coarse, semi-literate style with many simple words misspelled. The communications generally requested a ransom of $ 20,000 ($ 400,000 today). The notes cautioned against police intervention and threatened Charley's life if Christian did not cooperate. While
555-402: The case to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Ross's abduction. By that time, Walter was an adult and was working as a stockbroker . In interviews, he said that he and his three sisters still received letters from middle-aged men claiming to be his brother. The case, and in particular the fates of Mosher, Douglas, and Westervelt, served as a deterrent to other potential ransom kidnappers: it
592-481: The coin. Money we want and money we will get. If you don't give up...you can lead your boy blind the rest of your days. At 7:00 p.m. on the night of the 19th, Cudahy alone arrived at the lantern, which was located near the Little Papio Creek . He left the money along with a note in reply to the captors. He returned to the Cudahy mansion at 9:30 p.m. Eddie Jr. returned home at 1:00 a.m., unharmed. Paying
629-545: The divorce. In 1944, Cudahy married Eleanor Peabody Cochran. He eventually became Chairman of the Board of Cudahy Packing, leading the company out of Omaha in the 1950s, and retiring to Arizona, where he died in 1966. Kidnapping of Charley Ross Charles Brewster " Charley " Ross (born May 4, 1870 – disappeared July 1, 1874) was the primary victim of the first American kidnapping for ransom to receive widespread media coverage. His fate remains unknown, and his case
666-444: The help of the famous Pinkerton National Detective Agency , who had millions of flyers and posters printed with Charley Ross's likeness. A popular song based on the crime was composed by Dexter Smith and W. H. Brockway, entitled "Bring Back Our Darling". Several attempts were made to provide the kidnappers with ransom money as dictated in the notes, but in each case the kidnappers failed to appear. Eventually, communication stopped. On
703-567: The jury found him not guilty of robbery. Another trial in November also found him not guilty. Crowe communicated with the Omaha Police Department through the mail. Despite agreeing to turn himself in after negotiating the drop of the ransom in late 1901, Crowe never showed up. In the spring of 1905, he turned up in Omaha and gave an interview to a World-Herald reporter; however, he disappeared again. On September 5, 1905, he
740-483: The kidnappers fueled a national debate. The San Francisco Examiner condemned the action: "Mr. Cudahy had acted as a bad citizen because it will encourage others." The Omaha Bee noted that Cudahy spoke in a "nonchalant tone" about paying the $ 25,000, as though he "had just dropped a nickel down a cellar grating." Cudahy posted a $ 25,000 reward and hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to lead
777-413: The kidnappers had assumed the family was wealthy because of their large house and Christian's ownership of a small dry goods store, the truth was that the family was heavily in debt due to the stock market crash of 1873 . Seeing no way to pay the ransom, Christian went to the police. The kidnapping soon became national news. In addition to the heavy press coverage, some prominent Philadelphians enlisted
SECTION 20
#1732783776077814-521: The night of December 13, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn , New York, the house belonging to Judge Charles Van Brunt was burgled . Holmes Van Brunt, Charles' brother who lived next door, gathered armed members of his household to stop the intruders in the act. Holmes's group entered Charles's house and brought down both burglars with a torrent of gunfire. The burglars, Bill Mosher and Joe Douglas, were career criminals who had recently been released from jail. Mosher
851-444: The night of December 19 at 7 o'clock p.m. Follow the paved road toward Fremont . When you come to a lantern...by the side of the road, place the money by the lantern and immediately turn your horse around and return home. The kidnapper foresaw the possibility of Cudahy not paying the ransom, and also referred in his note to the kidnapping of Charley Ross , aged 4, in Philadelphia on July 1, 1874. After being advised by police not to pay
888-407: The ransom (and being at the time heavily in debt), his father, Christian Ross, never saw his child again. The Cudahy kidnapper noted that Christian Ross regretted for the rest of his life that he took the advice of the police. Their note continued, Ross died of a broken heart, sorry that he allowed the detectives to dictate to him. Cudahy, you are up against it, and there is only one way out - give up
925-426: The ransom with. Callahan was also known to associate with Crowe. Police observed Callahan paying with the coins at taverns in Omaha, and on March 21, they arrested him for robbing Cudahy Sr. of $ 25,000. When he went to trial, he did not face kidnapping charges; Nebraska had none that applied to the kidnapping of a 16-year-old within city limits. While that soon changed, it did not change Callahan's trial, and on April 28,
962-500: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Cudahy . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cudahy&oldid=1175587602 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
999-516: The story are studied today for their authenticity. The kidnapping influenced Omaha businessmen to keep their children under close watch, including tycoon Gurdon W. Wattles , who eventually moved to Hollywood to escape the tension in Omaha. Cudahy's family moved from Omaha to Chicago in 1910. He served in World War I and married Margaret Carry in 1919. The couple had three children and later divorced in 1942. His wife died several months after
1036-603: Was "Charles Brewster Ross" in March 1939. Despite the ruling, the Ross family refused to recognize Blair as their relative and did not bequeath him any money or property from their parents' estate. Blair briefly moved to Los Angeles and attempted to sell his life story to a film studio but was unsuccessful. He eventually moved to Germantown with his wife before moving back to Phoenix. Blair died in December 1943 still claiming that he
1073-585: Was Ross. Gustave Blair's victory in the Maricopa County courtroom was met with considerable skepticism but was reported at the time to have solved the disappearance of Charley Ross. In 2011, descendants of the family Blair claimed had adopted him commissioned a Y-DNA study, which disproved Blair's story. Following chain of custody procedures, DNA was collected from a male descendant of each of two suspected brothers, Harrison Miller and Nelson Miller (aka Gustave Blair). DNA analysis determined they had
1110-414: Was a friend and perhaps a confidant of Mosher (while in prison awaiting trial he had told Christian that his son had been alive at the time of Mosher's death), there was virtually no evidence to tie him to the crime itself. Walter, for one, insisted that Westervelt was not one of the men in the carriage that had taken them away. Westervelt was found not guilty of the kidnapping. However, he was found guilty of
1147-470: Was a quarter of a century before another high-profile ransom kidnapping case emerged, with Edward Cudahy Jr. in 1900. While waiting for President Franklin D. Roosevelt to appear at the 1936 Democratic National Convention concluding at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, newspaper columnist H. L. Mencken noted a prank had been played on a public address announcer by someone getting him to continually summon
Cudahy - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-404: Was abducted, he lived in a cave and was eventually adopted by a man who told him he was Ross. Charley's older brother, Walter Ross, dismissed Blair as "a crank" and added, "The idea that my brother is still alive is not only absurd, but the man's story seems unconvincing. We've long ago given up hope that Charles ever would be found alive." As Blair's claim went uncontested, the court ruled that he
1221-442: Was asked to identify the bodies of Mosher and Douglas, and he confirmed they were the kidnappers. For most, the issue of who the men in the carriage were was settled beyond reasonable doubt, but Charley Ross was still missing. Former Philadelphia policeman William Westervelt, a known associate of Mosher (and his wife's brother), was arrested and held in connection with the case. He was tried in 1875 for kidnapping. Although Westervelt
1258-421: Was killed instantly from the gunfire. Douglas was mortally wounded, but managed to live approximately two more hours and was able to communicate with Holmes. There is no clear consensus regarding exactly what Douglas said as he was dying, as all who were present to witness were too shaken by the night's events to give accurate reports. It is thought that Douglas may have said that lying was pointless, as he knew he
1295-423: Was mortally wounded, and he for this reason admitted that he and Mosher had abducted Charley Ross. Douglas is believed to have reported that Ross had been killed, or that Mosher knew where the boy was, possibly adding that he would be returned unharmed to his family within a few days. Douglas did not give any clues to Ross's location or other particulars of the crime and died soon afterwards. Charley's brother Walter
1332-586: Was spotted at a tavern in Little Bohemia ; the ensuing gun fight left one police officer wounded, and Crowe vanished again. In early November 1905, Crowe was captured by police in Butte, Montana . On November 28, 1905, Crowe pleaded not guilty to shooting the Omaha police officer in the September "Battle on Hickory Street". He was also charged with robbing a street car in Omaha of $ 50, and for robbery in
1369-490: Was taken to New York City to look at the bodies of Mosher and Douglas so as to determine if they were the men from the carriage ride. Walter confirmed that they were the same men who had taken the boys from in front of their home the previous summer. Mosher in particular was very identifiable because he had a distinctively malformed nose, which Walter had described to police as a "monkey nose". (The cartilage of Mosher's nose had been destroyed by syphilis or cancer). Walter himself
#76923