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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1920)
; y mm MMi,,',lw' '"'"l';",MlMMM"wiiMMM-MMwMi - . " ; , - ; ' " ' . 1 -'i 1. ") . '. , ' ' "' - ' ii'.- . i "' ' ' ' . . i- - - . -t ' WflCY .(rfWi'O ihn ff '"' W.'',;;irt,.sv.n,v.- . . ( . . , . " rw4V Mrs. George H. Coughlin, Baby Blakely' Mother. (Continued from Preceding Tage) If kidnaping was the real purpose of hla midnight errand he' would hare realized that his only booty was the child, aid that the safety of the little one was of prime importance for the subsequent develop ment of his scheme of ransom. It lt was as & kidnaper, that the man entered the house and left the house with live child in his hands he would have followed the plans he had already mapped out and gone to the place where he meant to keep the child in hiding. He would not hare wandered aimlessly on a side road and then travelled on to the river bank . and sat there until daylight, holding the dead body in his lap, as he claims. I Furthermore, the police, declare that lt Is not credible that a kidnapper would have arrived on the scene with no blanket, bag or receptacle to; conceal the child in. Ac cording to Pasquale's confession, it was by accident' that he came across the old overcoat belonging to one of the workmen In the house nearby, where he found the ladder, and which he used to cover the little one. It is true that Pas quale had with him that night a yellow imitation leather grip, but it- was only 24x9 Inches, not large enough to hold the child. What has be come of that yellow grip is a mystery which Pasquale refuses to explain. That the man did have the overcoat end had a baby In it on the night of the kid naping seems somewhat substantiated by the statement of a woman who lives near the city line, who declares that she saw a , man who carried a baby wrapped In a coat pass her house It was a beautiful moonlight night j If the police theory is xorrect Pasquale rrept into the Coughlin louse bent upoa burglary alone. Surprised and discon certed by the .cry of the little one he seized it and strangled lt Making his es cape before the parents of the little one in the next room could intercept him, he took the Infant along with him, perhaps not knowing at' that Instant whether the child was really dead or merely tempo rarily stifled into quietude. Having safe ly gotten away from the premises he found that tlfe chil-d was really dead. He had bungled the Job. He had secured no valu ables and the child was dead. Pasquale eat down in the darkness and thought the situation over, and as dawn approached concluded that perhaps he could salvage something out of the situa tion after all. H would dispose of the remains of the little one, destroy its clothes and try to wring a ransom from the distracted parents, who -would not "mow that the little one no longer lived. This Is the theory of some of the! detec tives. They believe that Pasquale's cir cumstantial story about the step-ladder and. the vision of mother and child and the plans to return and. kidnap the little one and the accidental smothering of the boy, as given in his last confession, are all a fiction. They are convinced that little Blakely was strangled in his own crib to stifle his cries because he had alarmed the prowler intent onr burglary only. But Mrs. Coughlin does not accept this analysis. She thinks that her child, was stolen in a deliberate and perhaps ex tremely well planned kidnaping plot She agrees with tire police that the story of the accidental strangling In the overcoat fa highly unlikely and she refuses to belleva - it - Is little Blakely alive after alt Perhaps Pasquale Is a much more clever CQundrel than has been supposed. Vhen h planned his second scheme for getting his hands on the ransom money without risking being, caught he worked out the den tails very cleverly. Mr. Coughlin was in-V structed to get on a, fast expressrain and ride along, keeping; his eyes fixed 6n thai countryside until he should see a j figure waving a white sheet At that moment and at that point Mr. Coughlin was to . throw out of the window of the rushing train the package with the money. A well conceived plan and almost too intelligent for a crazy man. And he would have es caped again had not the Pennsylvania po lice sprung a surprise which he could THE OREGON SUNDAY fet?vi u-'V- Avc.:M n3 Vs 'Vv t s hardly have fore seenon a spe cial train follow ing immediately behind the ex press were a squad of detectives who Instantly stopped their train, surrounded tho patch of woods and se cured Pasquale: ' ""'-" It Is possible that the man thought he could re peat these schemes to mulct Mr. Coughlin from time to time and that he held the baby In reserve, Intending to ultimately use the child itself as tho final trump card In his last hold-up of the dis tracted parents. If this is so, then Mrs. Coughlin is right In her instinct that her baby still lives. Pasquale perhaps figures that there is no evidence which "will convince a Jury that he kidnaped the child or, indeed, ever en tered the Coughlin residence. An uncorroborated confession cannot alone be used to convict a self-confessed criminal, and Pasquale has already laid the foundation for a plea that, in any case, he Is an irresponsible crazy man. If, In one way or another, the man escapes con viction he can begin negotiations all over again to return the child to its parents. If the child is alive lt would, do him no good to return lt at this time. If he re turned it voluntarily the police would have the corroboration which would con vict him with certainty. One significant thing tends to lend color to the possibility that the child is still alive. On the morning after the kidnap Ing footprints of a man AND A WOMAN were discovered in the soft earth at the foot-of the ladder.' Pasquale has denied that he had any accomplice. But if his errand on that June night was to kidnap the Infant It would be quite natural, to have a woman as his confederate. If any body had seen them along the road the Infant in the arms of a woman would dis arm suspicion, i A screaming baby In the hands of a man might have attracted at tention. How came those footprints of a woman - beneath that ladder T And another thing. Pasquale carefully secured the hot-water heater used to heat the baby's milk bottle and carried lt down the ladder and set It on the ground. The heater was found at the foot of the ladder the next morning and Pasquale says he made a special trip out of the window and down the ladder to make sure of lt This would look very much like the first Btep In a'well deliberated plan to .steal the child and provide for its subsequent welfare. Pasquale did another thing which seems strongly to Indicate a kidnaping purpose. He slipped the baby's half-consumed bot tle, of milk into his pocket A man with no intent to kidnap and preserve. the child would scarcely have done this. Furthermore, j lt Is a highly significant fact that Pasquale at the very moment of the crime took time to do something then and there which could only have been done for the purpose of establishing some thing to Identify him later on Inhiegotia t Ions which he must then have had in mind. In his first letter to Mr. Coughlin he said: ;- It you dont think that I am the man who stole your child look at the window sill of the nursery and find three nicks cut by a penknife.? And, sure enough, the three nicks were there. " And still again lt was remarked that the bedclothes In the little crib were not tumbled, but were carefully folded hack as a woman lays back the cover after she has taken an infant out of Its bed. This - would not Indicate a hasty selling and trangllng ot the little one to still its -JOURNAL, PORTLAND, lAiXUaP &tAM 'Lifcc (Jul d ttiAjtd. Lt . H ' t t j iflr .r 7K 'C ft. V I kudu, CUi4 ctvUd kt tfu- but A Imam (tfMjf, .x voice. Would Pasquale himself have been likely to have folded back those bed clothes in the way they were found? Is it possible that the same feet that made those woman's footprints at the foot of the ladder also were actually in little Blake ly's room and their owner smoothed back gently the cover while Pasquale lifted the little sleeping form into his arms? If little Blakely was deliberately kid naped and a woman was on the scene to take care of the child, it is almost beyond belief that the little one was accidentally strangled. If the woman's footprints were made by an accomplice of Pasquale there Is every reason to suppose that the baby was carefully cared for and removed to a place of safety In accordance with plans well matured. If this is so the man Pas quale has lied from beginning to end in every essential detail and Mrs. Coughlin may be justified in her hope that some where some woman still haa little Blakely alive and well. This she has always believed, and in her touching appeal for the return of the little one, she said: "To the abductors of Blakely Coughlin: , I want my .baby. Some woman must be caring for it. Won't you Jet your mother heart plead for me now and Bend htm safely back to me?" Pasquale will be put on trial In a few weeks, charged with, murder' kidnaping and burglary. The prosecuting attorney feels sure he has evidence enough to con vict the man. Pasquale is thirty-eight years old. He is an Italian, born near the French-Swiss border and has a wife and two children, but asserts that' he does not know their whereabouts. He has a long police record. He has been arrested a number of times for robbery, has resided in New York City and then moved to Philadelphia. A few weeks before he kidnaped the Coughlin baby he was released from the county prison at Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, where he had served two years for larceny. Nowhere along his criminal career, so far as the police can ascertain, Is there anything to indicate an unsound mind. On the other hand, Pasquale is a man of more than average criminal intelligence and evi dently has had considerable education. In his letters his grammar and diction Is re markably good and the . following photo graph of his signature shows a well round ed, easy handwriting: Whatever happens at the trial of Pas quale, lt is not likely that the true facts and all the facts surrounding the disap pearance of little Blakely Coughlin will be known for a long time to come it ever. If Pasquale should manage to secure his freedom and the child Is still alive it is thought likely that he will find a way to try to return the little one to its parents for whatever ransom money he can get (C) 1920. IateraaUoaa; Feature Service. Ina, SUNDAY MORNING NOVEMBER 21, 1920. I From Mrs. Coughlin' Appeal to Kidnappers to Return Her Baby. Section of the Coughlin - Wrapped Great Britain BichU Seaerved. O f Hi Hit v vui lfW7f rux- . i 1 V - f r( - h L vV. - o 1 1 - LI i i . If i lit y,, t. 1 ' & J yr. . - I ; i ; X;- -r i: fl rs - VV, I? ,.:?JiM"' ' r II "'"mil if ' ........ i " i3i c r - . ,.f tf'vkK ? f If1 ..- ' - V Pro jil. ftisW will v I k"- . ! i i ) : lirzm i Residence and Pasquale's Escape With the Kidnapped ChU4 in an Old Overcoat, According to Hi Confession. '
