Charley Ross - Suspects

Suspects

On a December night in the same year, the Long Island house belonging to Judge Charles Van Brunt was burglarized. Holmes Van Brunt, Charles' brother, lived next door, and gathered the members of his household, armed with shotguns to stop the intruders in the act. As they entered Charles' house, they saw two lanterns go out, and the resulting torrent of gunfire from Holmes and his men brought down both burglars where they stood. They were Bill Mosher and Joe Douglas, career criminals who had recently been released from jail. Mosher was dead on the spot. Douglas was mortally wounded, but managed to live a few more seconds and was able to communicate with Holmes. Everyone present was understandably shaken by the experience, and there is no clear consensus regarding exactly what Douglas said. Most agree that Douglas said that there was no point in lying (as he was about to die) so he admitted that he and Mosher abducted Charley. His further statements, if any, are more controversial. He either said that Charley was killed, or that Mosher knew where Charley was, possibly adding that he would be returned unharmed to the Rosses within a few days. In any case, he did not give any clues to Charley's location or other particulars of the crime, and died soon afterwards. Charley's brother Walter 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 took the boys from in front of their home the previous summer. Mosher in particular was very identifiable as he had a distinctively malformed nose, which he described to police as a "monkey nose". For most, the issue of who the men in the carriage were was settled beyond reasonable doubt. But Charley was not returned, and the case was far from over.