Defy All the Devils: America’s First Kidnapping for Ransom Audiobook (Free)

The “fascinating, hair-raising, suspenseful” account of just a little boy abducted in broad daylight as well as the desperate manhunt to find him (New York 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 home 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 returned, stating that they had ridden through the town before about Defy All of the Devils: America’s Initial Kidnapping for Ransom men abandoned him in the street but kept Charley. Soon after, their father, Christian K. Ross, received a demand for $20,000 in return for his son.

Ross visited the authorities for help-and before long, the situation became a national phenomenon. A favorite song pleaded for the boy’s secure return. The Philadelphia law enforcement searched every house in the city, and a large number of people falsely reported that that they had seen Charley or knew his whereabouts. In the meantime, the kidnappers’ ransom words were becoming more dangerous and bizarre. The press, wanting to lover the flames of hysteria, published wholly fabricated stories as well as accused Christian Ross of orchestrating the whole lot in order to hide the fact that Charley was illegitimate.

And 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, and the tragic twist of fate that plunged the Ross family back into darkness and haunted them for decades to come.

Originally published as Little Charley Ross