HELD FOR RANSOM

Southland Times, Issue 22449, 12 October 1934, Page 7

HELD FOR RANSOM

WOMAN KIDNAPPED ROUGHLY HANDLED BY ABDUCTOR HUSBAND’S DISCOVERY (United Press Assn. —Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) New York. October 10. A message from Louisville (Kentucky) states that Mrs Berry V. Stoll, aged 2G, wife of the vice-president of the Refining Company of Louisville, was beaten and kidnapped from her home to-day by an unknown man. A ransom note found in the Stoll home indicated that Mr William Stoll, president of the Louisville Board of Trade and a brother-in-law of the kidnapped woman, was next on the list of the kidnappers.

The husband discovered the kidnapping when he returned home from his office. He found a maid, Mrs Fowler Willett, aged 24, bound hand and foot. The maid said that the abductor got in on the pretext of using the telephone. She said: “I have never seen a more fiendish looking man.” He drew a pistol and forced the maid to help him bind Mrs Stoll’s hands with tape. He was unusually rough, the maid said, as was evidenced by traces of blood on the floor.

The ransom note asked for 50,000 dollars. The husband published a statement addressed to the kidnapper stating that arrangements for the ransom were being made. The maid said that the kidnapper beat Mrs Stoll and she was bleeding as she was dragged out of the house.