Philadelphia Inquirer, October 28, 1921View transcription
INSANITY PATIENT BOY'S KIDNAPPER. Confessed Abductor of Carl Carlin, Camden, Guilty of Offense Before. Steps Taken to Have Man Arrested at Wilmington Sent Back to Asylum. Confessing that he kidnapped three-year-old Carl Carlin from East Camden on October 16, Charles E. Hemphill, a former inmate of the State Hospital for the Insane, at Trenton, was brought to Camden yesterday from Wilmington, where he was arrested Wednesday. "I was reading a funny paper when I saw the boy playing near the bridge," said Hemphill in a statement to the police. "I asked him if he wanted to take a ride on a trolley car and he said he did. I took him along with me and we went to Philadelphia and then out into the country. I did not hurt the boy." Asked to further tell where he had been with the lad, Hemphill wandered in his explanation. From scraps of his conversation it was gleaned that three of the seven nights he was away with the Carlin boy were spent in a railroad station and two other nights they were given shelter at the home of a Mrs. Anna Smith, as he remembered it. Carl Carlin, the kidnapped boy, was taken to the City Hall yesterday afternoon by Detective King. Hemphill was brought from a cell to a room in the Detective Bureau and the little fellow was ushered into his presence. As soon as Carl caught sight of Hemphill he ran screaming from the room and almost went into hysterics. With a faraway look on his face, Hemphill remained silent. Asked About Coat. "Is that the same coat he had on when you took him away?" Hemphill was asked when his attention was drawn to the light jacket worn by the boy. "No, he had on a blue coat," replied the prisoner. A coat of blue material was worn by Carl on the day he was kidnapped. Hemphill has no recollection of kidnapping five-year-old Alice Monroe, of 942 Federal street, who was enticed away from her home on the afternoon of September 8 and abandoned the same night in a woods near Audubon. The prisoner answers in every way the description of the man who took the child away, and the police are satisfied of his guilt. Hemphill was sent to the State Asylum from Woodbury in 1908 in a similar case. He lived at Clayton, where he was arrested after enticing the eight-year-old daughter of a neighbor. He kept the girl out all night, but did not harm her. The case was recalled yesterday by County Detective Steelman, who said that Hemphill was adjudged insane by a commission appointed to inquire into his mental condition. Steelman also stated that Hemphill has fled from the asylum several times and that on each occasion when he regains his liberty he is sent back for enticing children away. "He does not harm the children," said the detective. "He has a mania for the company of little folks and apparently cannot resist the temptation for enticing them away. He loves to buy them candy and will spend his last penny on them." Tried to Get Back. Further inquiry at Woodbury developed the fact that Hemphill had made vain efforts to get back into the hospital after his "escape" on September 2. This information comes to the authorities of Gloucester county through a letter from Mr. Henry Cotton, of the State Hospital, asking that voluntary commitment papers be made out for Hemphill. It was further stated that the man had applied at the hospital to be taken back on September 23, stating that he was hungry and out of work. The hospital authorities refused to admit him without a commitment and later wrote to the County Clerk of Gloucester county for such papers. Hemphill was not regarded as a prisoner at the asylum. Nor was his sanity regarded as of a dangerous nature. He roamed at will around the grounds and frequently wandered away only to be sent back when he would fall into the hands of the law after enticing some child away from home. He willingly accompanied Detectives Painter and King from Wilmington to Camden and made no effort to hide his guilt in the Carlin case. It is the intention of Captain Schregler to have Hemphill formally adjudged insane and sent back to the asylum as prisoner.
Confessed Abductor of Carl Carlin, Camden, Guilty of Offense Before
Steps Taken to Have Man Arrested at Wilmington Sent Back to Asylum
Confessing that he kidnapped three-year-old Carl Carlin from East Camden on October 16, Charles E. Hemphill, a former inmate of the State Hospital for the Insane, at Trenton, was brought to Camden yesterday from Wilmington, where he was arrested Wednesday.
I was reading a funny paper when I saw the boy playing near the bridge. I asked him if he wanted to take a ride on a trolley car and he said he did. I took him along with me and we went to Philadelphia and then out into the country. I did not hurt the boy.
Asked to further tell where he had been with the lad, Hemphill wandered in his explanation. From scraps of his conversation it was gleaned that three of the seven nights he was away with the Carlin boy were spent in a railroad station and two other nights they were given shelter at the home of a Mrs. Anna Smith, as he remembered it.
Carl Carlin, the kidnapped boy, was taken to the City Hall yesterday afternoon by Detective King. Hemphill was brought from a cell to a room in the Detective Bureau and the little fellow was ushered into his presence. As soon as Carl caught sight of Hemphill he ran screaming from the room and almost went into hysterics. With a faraway look on his face, Hemphill remained silent.
Asked About Coat
"Is that the same coat he had on when you took him away?" Hemphill was asked when his attention was drawn to the light jacket worn by the boy. "No, he had on a blue coat," replied the prisoner. A coat of blue material was worn by Carl on the day he was kidnapped.
Hemphill has no recollection of kidnapping five-year-old Alice Monroe, of 942 Federal street, who was enticed away from her home on the afternoon of September 8 and abandoned the same night in a woods near Audubon. The prisoner answers in every way the description of the man who took the child away, and the police are satisfied of his guilt.
Hemphill was sent to the State Asylum from Woodbury in 1908 in a similar case. He lived at Clayton, where he was arrested after enticing the eight-year-old daughter of a neighbor. He kept the girl out all night, but did not harm her.
The case was recalled yesterday by County Detective Steelman, who said that Hemphill was adjudged insane by a commission appointed to inquire into his mental condition. Steelman also stated that Hemphill has fled from the asylum several times and that on each occasion when he regains his liberty he is sent back for enticing children away. "He does not harm the children," said the detective. "He has a mania for the company of little folks and apparently cannot resist the temptation for enticing them away. He loves to buy them candy and will spend his last penny on them."
Tried to Get Back
Further inquiry at Woodbury developed the fact that Hemphill had made rain efforts to get back into the hospital after his "escape" on September 2. This information comes to the authorities of Gloucester county through a letter from Mr. Henry Cotton, of the State Hospital, asking that voluntary commitment papers be made out for Hemphill. It was further stated that the man had applied at the hospital to be taken back on September 23, stating that he was hungry and out of work. The hospital authorities refused to admit him without a commitment and later wrote to the County Clerk of Gloucester county for such papers.
Hemphill was not regarded as a prisoner at the asylum. Nor was his sanity regarded as of a dangerous nature. He roamed at will around the grounds and frequently wandered away only to be sent back when he would fall into the hands of the law after enticing some child away from home.
He willingly accompanied Detectives Painter and King from Wilmington to Camden and made no effort to hide his guilt in the Carlin case. It is the intention of Captain Schregler to have Hemphill formally adjudged insane and sent back to the asylum as prisoner.
