Prison Escapee Foiled in Effort to Kidnap Two Small Boys in North Pelham in 1900

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A hardened career criminal who had escaped from the Westchester County Jail attempted to kidnap two young boys in North Pelham on a May evening in 1900. The kidnapping was foiled by a quickly-formed posse led by the boys' father and Constable Marks. The events were described in an article that appeared in the May 15, 1900 issue of the New-York Tribune. The text of that article follows.

"TRIES TO KIDNAP TWO BOYS.

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ESCAPED JAILBIRD CAUGHT AFTER AN EXCITING CHASE.

After an exciting chase last evening in North Pelham Constable Marks captured Edward Keller, alias Edward Kelly, who escaped from the Westchester County Jail in 1898 in company with two other convicts. Keller was in the act of kidnapping two boys, Peter and John O'Connor, ten and twelve years old.

The boys were playing near their home when Keller came along. After giving them candy he enticed them into the woods. As soon as he was under cover the convict grasped the boys' arms roughly and told them they would have to go with him to New-York. Peter O'Connor says that Keller choked him because he would not go into a house and beg for money. The boys were near the Hutchinson River when Constable Marks, accompanied by their father and a posse of citizens, came in sight. When Keller saw them he left his captives and ran into the woods. Constable Marks finally brought him to a halt after firing several shots. Judge Lyon last night held Keller for the Westchester Grand Jury.

Keller is well known to the police of Westchester County. He has served time in the Elmira Reformatory and in the penitentiary, and was awaiting trial for horse stealing when he broke jail two years ago."

Source: Tries to Kidnap Two Boys, New-York Tribune, May 15, 1900, p. 2, col. 5.

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The Infamous Burglary of the Girls of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor in 1905

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During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a school for girls stood at the corner of Boston Post Road and Esplanade in Pelham Manor. It was known as Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls.

In 1905, an employee of the school committed what became an infamous crime; she stole trunks full of jewelry and finery from the wealthy students of the school. Many newspaper stories appeared at the time. One such story appeared in The Evening World published in New York City. The text of that article appears below, followed by a citation to its source.

"SEMINARY MAID UNDER BAIL AS FAIR RAFFLES
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Trunks Full of Jewelry and Finery Claimed by Students.
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(Special to The Evening World.)

PELHAM MANOR, N. Y., May 22. -- Hilda Armstrong, twenty-three years old, who for three years had been employed as a maid by Mrs. John Cunningham Hazen in her Pelham Manor seminary for girls, has been held to await the action of the Westchester Grand Jury on the charge of robbing many of the students as well as Mrs. Hazen.

Detective H. R. Marks, who worked up the case, looks upon Miss Armstrong, who is of Danish parentage, as a regular female Raffles, and it is believed she had been systematically looting the rooms of the young girls for a long time.

In her room, the detective says, were found two trunks containing plunder, while another trunk, telescope bag and dress-suit case containing loot, as alleged in the complaint, were found hidden in another house in Pelham Manor.

One of the complaints on which Miss Armstrong was arrested was made by Miss Launderman, who comes from a wealthy South Carolina family, who lost clothing and jewelry, and which she identified. The stolen property was spread out in a room in the seminary yesterday afternoon and it was then that about fifty students identified articles as their property.

In the trunks were found a bank-book issued by the Union Dime Savings Bank, of Manhattan showing a balance in Hilda's favor amounting to $750 and more than two thousand different articles of clothing, jewelry and other valuable things, many belonging to the girls.

The stolen stuff included lace collars, cuffs, six dozen handkerchiefs, two valuable Bibles, six pairs of costly gloves, parts of silver-mounted manicure sets, gold chains and rings, expensive underwear, silk quilts, silk skirts, silk and ear muffs and a large quantity of linen goods.

When Hilda was arraigned before Judge Hill at Pelham Manor she was represented by Henry L. Ruppert, who waived examination for her, and the case was sent to the Grand Jury.

The girl was released on cash bail. She declined to make any statement."

Source: Seminary Maid Under Bail as Fair Raffles, The Evening World, May 22, 1905, p. 7, col. 1.

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