Brothers, ages 4 and 5, kidnapped from their front yard on July 1, 1874. The same evening, Walter is released and returned home.
CHRISTIAN ROSS
The boys’ father, a failing businessman caught between loyalty to his family and obedience to the police. After initially leading the search to find his son, Christian is targeted by the press when Philadelphia’s city leaders convince him not to pay the ransom.
THE LEWIS BROTHERS
Christian Ross’s neighbors, brothers-in-law, and wealthy merchants. The Lewis brothers represent the family in the investigation when Christian collapses. Frustrated with libel and police incompetence, the brothers disregard the advice of city leaders in November 1874 and negotiate an exchange with the kidnappers on their own terms.
WILLIAM MCKEAN AND THE ADVISERS
A powerful group of Philadelphia council and businessmen, leaders of Philadelphia’s chapter of the “Republican Ring.” Eager to promote the Centennial Exhibition and determined to retain their offices in the November 1874 election, these men do what they can to keep news of Charley’s kidnapping from the press. One well-known member is William McKean, editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
MAYOR STOKLEY
Philadelphia mayor and figurehead of the city’s Republican Ring. Responsible to the Republican advisers, Stokley is concerned with his public approval ratings once his constituents blame him and his force for running an incompetent investigation.
WILLIAM MOSHER
One of the two kidnappers, a forty-something river pirate and career criminal. Raised in Brooklyn, Mosher lives in Philadelphia with his wife and three sons under the name of Henderson. While on a “peddling” trip to Germantown, Mosher and his criminal apprentice Joseph Douglas see the Ross boys. Assuming the boys’ father is a wealthy man and will immediately pay any ransom amount, they take the children.
JOSEPH DOUGLAS
The second kidnapper, a younger man of twenty-eight. After serving a prison sentence for burglary, Douglas works as a streetcar conductor in Manhattan until Mosher finds and entices him to move to Philadelphia. Less conspicuous and more emotionally stable than his mentor, Douglas seeks to cut ties with Mosher once newspapers print their descriptions and Christian Ross refuses to pay the ransom.
WILLIAM WESTERVELT
Brother-in-law of William Mosher and a former police officer. In July 1874, bartenders in New York’s Five Points neighborhood notice Westervelt meeting with two men that fit newspaper accounts of Charley Ross’s kidnappers. Westervelt becomes a police informant early in the investigation, but unbeknownst to the NYPD, he also acts as a double agent, informing the kidnappers of police activity.
SUPERINTENDENT GEORGE WALLING
A career officer and head of the New York Police Department. Walling assumes a main role in the case soon after Mayor Stokley announces Philadelphia’s $20,000 reward for information, when Gil Mosher, William’s brother, arrives in his office with suspicions of his brother’s involvement. When Walling realizes the connection between his former officer William Westervelt and William Mosher, he offers Westervelt his old job back in exchange for spying on his brother-inlaw’s activities.
CAPTAIN HEINS
One of the first Philadelphia officers put on the case. Heins’s loyalty to the Ross family irritates Mayor Stokley and the Republican advisers, who suspect Heins is withholding information from them. The captain closely communicates with Walling throughout the summer of 1874, until he suspects William Westervelt’s intentions and warns the superintendent against working with the informant. In the spring of 1875, Heins demands that Walling turn Westervelt over to the Philadelphia Police.
THE RANSOM NOTES
The voice of the kidnappers. Appearing in excerpts throughout the first two sections of the narrative, these notes direct Christian Ross to communicate his plans through personal advertisements; once this occurs, the chronological placement of the letters and the ads creates a conversation between the criminals and the family.
THE NEWSPAPERS
The voice of the public. The narrative integration of excerpts from the New York Herald, the Philadelphia Public Ledger, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and the Philadelphia Inquirer reflects the American temperament from July 1874 through September 1875.