Jump to content

List of kidnappings before 1900

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

The following is a list of kidnappings summarizing the events of each case before 1900, including instances of celebrity abductions, claimed hoaxes, suspected kidnappings, extradition abductions, and mass kidnappings.

Before 1900

[edit]
Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
99 B.C. Antonia Cilician pirates Misenum, Italy Unknown Released A daughter of orator Marcus Antonius. Antonia was kidnapped by Cilician pirates; she was released following the payment of a ransom.[1]
75 B.C. Julius Caesar Cilician pirates Aegean Sea 25 Released Caesar was kidnapped while traveling across the Aegean Sea to study in Rhodes in 75 B.C. His captors demanded a ransom of 20 talents of silver for his release; a sum Caesar reportedly persuaded his captors to raise to 50. He was released upon payment of this ransom, and later ensured his abductors were apprehended and crucified.[2]
52 B.C. Publius Claudius Pulcher (son of Clodius) Pirates Alba Unknown Raised by Mark Antony Publius Claudius Pulcher was a young male child who was the son of Clodius was kidnapped by pirates after his father died.[3]
880 Solange The son of a nobleman France Unknown Murdered Frankish shepherdess who, according to legend, was abducted by the son of the count of Poitiers due to her beauty and popularity. Resisting his forceful abduction, her kidnapper grew enraged and then decapitated her. Myths claim that her severed head invoked the Holy Name of Jesus three times, before the body picked it up and walked towards a church in present-day Sainte-Solange, where it dropped dead. Solange has been locally canonized as a Saint to whom numerous miracles have been attributed.[4][5]
994 Siegfried II, Count of Stade Norman pirates Harsefeld, Germany 38 Escaped Count of Stade kidnapped by Norman pirates. He was held in captivity at Harsefeld Castle in Lower Saxony, but escaped from his captors.[6]
13th century Elisabeth of Wrocław Bolesław II the Bold Unknown Unknown Married Przemysł I of Greater Poland and had five children Elisabeth was kidnapped by her brother Bolesław II the Bold because her family wanted her to marry Przemysł I of Greater Poland for political reasons. The marriage helped the reincorporation of Kalisz into Greater Poland. In 1250, Elisabeth founded a monastery in Owińska. Elisabeth and Przemysł had five children before the latter's death in 1257. He left Elisabeth her dower, in which was an estate in Modrze, where Elisabeth died in 1265. She was buried in the Poznań Cathedral.[7]
1357 Prince Halil, the son of Orhan Bey and Theodora Kantakouzene Marmara Sea pirates Izmit 11 Ransomed The pirates holed up in the fortress at Phocaea and were besieged for months by one ship from Orhan, two ships from Emperor Andronicos (paid for by Orhan). Finally, Orhan himself arrived and paid the ransom of 30,000 ducats ($5.3M in today's money).[8] When Orhan died, Halil was killed by his brother Murad.
1438–1440 140+ victims Gilles de Rais Pays de la Loire, France Murdered (allegedly) Between 1438 and 1440, hundreds of children reportedly disappeared in the Nantes region. Many of the victims were last seen being taken away by servants of Gilles de Laval, the Marechal de Rais. An ecclesiastical court investigating accusations of murder against Rais found that the victims had been abducted on his orders and sexually abused by Rais and his servants before being murdered and disembowelled. Rais and several of his servants were executed for the alleged crimes. Modern historians are increasingly sceptical of the accusations against Rais, but most consider him guilty of at least some of the charges against him.[9][10][11][12][13]
1509 Catharina de Grebber Gerrit van Raaphorst Wassenaar, the Netherlands 13 Stayed with abductor for four months, then returned home Parents sued. Court case and sentence are well documented. Abductor was found guilty and sentenced to a walk of repentance. What became of her after that is unknown.[14]
1 October 1549 Edward VI Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Buckingham Palace 11 Rescued The young King Edward was taken captive by the Duke of Somerset, who had been alerted of a threat to his power as Lord Protector, and brought to Windsor Castle where he was held prisoner. He was freed on 11 October when the Regency Council ordered Somerset's arrest and Somerset was later executed for treason.[15]
24 April 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell Linlithgow, Scotland 24 Stayed with captor Bothwell, who had been recommended as the third husband for Queen Mary by the Ainslie Tavern Bond, took her prisoner on the road to Edinburgh with a retinue of 800 men and removed her to his castle at Dunbar, where he allegedly raped her. After her release, she agreed to marry him and created him Duke of Orkney.[16]
1568 Philip William of Orange-Nassau Philip II of Spain Leuven 13 Kept by abductor for 30 years before being released. Father William the Silent was in disagreement with Philip II of Spain who decided to abduct his eldest son, kept him as a hostage for ensuring the good behavior of his father and raise him as a Catholic. Released 30 years later.
September 1600 Andronikos Kantakouzenos Ottoman Empire Giurgiu, Romania 47 Murdered Leading politician in Wallachia during the Long Turkish War. He attempted to negotiate a peace with the Ottoman Empire after the war started to turn against Wallachia, but was taken hostage during negotiations and apparently beheaded the following year.[17]
13 December 1600 Thomas Clifton Blackfriars company London, England 13 Released Henry Clifton sued the Blackfriars Company for abducting his son and the case became known as the Clifton Star Chamber Case
1605 Vincent de Paul Barbary pirates Tunis, Tunisia 24 Released An Occitan French Catholic priest taken captive by Barbary pirates and sold as a slave. De Paul spent approximately two years in slavery—being resold on several occasions—before he was released by one of his masters in June 1607.[18]
1628 Olivier Le Jeune David Kirke New France 7 Released Malagasy boy who was the first slave to New France, where he was sold to a French clerk in Quebec. After the settlement was returned to the French in 1632, Le Jeune was handed to a Jesuit priest who baptisized him and later declared him a free 'domestic servant'.[19]
1644 Jeffrey Hudson Barbary pirates North Africa 25 Released One of several court dwarves of Henrietta Maria. Hudson was captured by Barbary pirates in late 1644 at the age of 25 and spent the following 25 years as a slave in North Africa before a ransom was paid. He returned to England in the 1660s.[20]
26 May 1665 Elizabeth Wilmot, Countess of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester England 14 Stayed with captor English heiress who refused to marry Wilmot, who then attempted to abduct her. She escaped, but later forgave and married him.[21]
c. 1697 John Bowen French pirates Atlantic Ocean Unknown Escaped A petty officer whose ship was commandeered by French pirates. Bowen and others kidnapped later escaped upon the ship's longboat and sailed to St. Augustine. He later became a pirate himself. Bowen died in 1704.[22]
1698 Thomas White French pirates Guinea Unknown Escaped from captors A former Royal Navy sailor. White subsequently became a pirate largely active in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. His vessel, the Marigold was captured by French pirates in 1698 off the coast of Guinea. He was later enslaved by George Booth and John Bowen before escaping in 1701. He later served as a quartermaster for notorious pirate Thomas Howard.[23]
Early 1700s Graman Quassi Dutch protectorate Suriname Unknown Stayed with captor Ghanaian child who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.[24]
1719 Bartholomew Roberts Howell Davis et al. Anomabu 37 Joined captors in piracy A second mate on the slave ship Princess under Captain Abraham Plumb. Roberts and others were kidnapped by pirates while anchored along the Gold Coast of West Africa. He rapidly embraced the lifestyle and ultimately became the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy.[25]
1721 John Phillips Thomas Anstis et al. Newfoundland Unknown Joined captors in piracy A ship's carpenter; Phillips was captured by Thomas Anstis and his crew in April 1721. Initially forced to join the pirates and serve as their carpenter, Phillips soon embraced the lifestyle. He later became a captain, and captured 34 ships before he was killed alongside several members of his crew on 18 April 1724 by several prisoners they had kidnapped.[26]
June 1722 Philip Ashton Edward Low Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada 20 Escaped Ashton was taken hostage by pirates under Captain Edward Low while fishing off the coast of Nova Scotia in June 1722. He escaped in March the following year when his captors landed on Roatán Island and lived in the wilderness on Roatán for 16 months before being picked up by a passing ship.[27]
1731 Maria ter Meetelen Corsair pirates Morocco 27 Released Dutch woman who was abducted by Corsair pirates and sold into slavery to Abdullah of Morocco, who attempted to force her into his harem. She avoided this fate by marrying fellow Dutch slave Pieter Janszoon, and was ultimately freed in 1743 by the intervention of the Dutch Republic.[28]
3 April 1768 Rose Keller Marquis de Sade Paris 36 Escaped Keller, a homeless beggar, was offered employment by de Sade, who transported her by carriage to his country residence in Arcueil. According to Keller, de Sade then forced her to strip naked and tied her to a bed before beating her, cutting her with knives and pouring hot wax into her wounds. She managed to escape after being locked in an upstairs room by de Sade and brought criminal charges against him, but he was given a royal pardon two months later.[29]
14 February 1779 Kalaniʻōpuʻu, ruling chief of Hawaii Captain James Cook Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii 50 Captain James Cook was killed by captive Kalaniʻōpuʻu Explorer Captain James Cook attempted to kidnap the ruling chief of Hawaii, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, with the intention of holding him in exchange for a longboat stolen by natives. He was stabbed to death by Kalaniʻōpuʻu during a brief, violent melee between islanders and Cook's men, which also saw four of Cook's crew and numerous islanders killed.[30]
1785 Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne Andrew Robinson Stoney England 30s Rescued Mary was abducted by her abusive husband Andrew Stoney and his servants in 1785 after filing for divorce. During her captivity, Stoney battered her and threatened to rape and kill her if she did not drop the case. The police soon tracked her down, freed Mary and arrested Stoney, who was later convicted of conspiring to abduct Mary.[31]
1803 Rachel Fanny Antonina Lee The Gordon brothers London, England 30s–40s Circumstances disputed Lee, the illegitimate child of Sir Francis Dashwood, claimed to have been kidnapped by the two brothers, but it's unclear whether this was truthful or not. Both were acquitted, but Lee continued to write about her beliefs until her death.[32]
1816 Hugh Glass Pirates under the command of chief Jean Lafitte and later the Pawnee tribe Off the coast of Texas, and Galveston, Texas 33–34 Was forced to become a pirate for two years under the command of chief Jean Lafitte, but escaped by swimming to the coast of Galveston, Texas. After we was said to have been captured by the Pawnee tribe, he lived with them for several years. Hugh Glass was an American frontiersman, trader, fur trapper, explorer, and hunter who in 1816 was captured by pirates on the coast Texas and was later said to have be to have been captured by the Pawnee tribe in Galveston, Texas.[33]
February 1830 Yokcushlu Crew of the British vessel HMS Beagle Tierra del Fuego 9 Released Yokcushlu was a Kawésqar woman from the western Tierra del Fuego who was taken hostage by the crew of the British vessel HMS Beagle at the age of nine. Yokcushlu and other Fuegians were taken to England, where they were educated in English and Christianity. Yokcushlu embarked on the second voyage of HMS Beagle and was returned to Tierra del Fuego, where she and the other captives were left on Navarino Island. Yokcushlu had two children with another captive and recounted her story to Thomas Bridges.[34]
1841 Solomon Northup James H. Birch Washington, D.C., U.S. 32 Rescued Northup, a free black man, was lured to Washington, D.C. for a job offer before being drugged and handed over to Birch, a prominent slave trader, who had him shipped to New Orleans where he was sold into slavery by Birch's partner Theophilus Freeman. Northup remained a slave for twelve years until he was eventually located in 1853 and freed through the intervention of the New York State government. He later wrote a memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, about his experiences.[35]
30 October 1850 Unnamed 5-year-old girl Franklin B. Evans Salem, Massachusetts, U.S. 5 Murdered Evans, a pedophile and suspected serial killer, confessed while awaiting execution for another murder that he had abducted and killed a five-year-old girl in Salem in 1850. He claimed that he had broken into the home of a man named Mills and carried off the victim, who appeared sickly, so that he could kill and dissect her; he then raped and strangled her before deciding against dissecting the corpse and burying the body in a location he could not remember.[36]
21 June 1853 Martin Koszta Austrian officers Smyrna (present day İzmir), Turkey Unknown Released Koszta—a Hungarian national—had participated in the political movement of 1848–49 to separate Hungary from the Austro-Hungarian Empire before emigrating to the United States in the early 1850s. In July 1852, he made a declaration under oath of his intention to become a citizen of the United States and renounce all previous national allegiances. While later returning to the United States, Koszta was captured by Austrian officers and confined in custody. Following diplomatic arguments between Austrian and American authorities—each of whom argued the other's conduct in the affair violated international law—Koszta was released and allowed to return to the United States.[37]
23 June 1858 Edgardo Mortara Police, ordered by Pope Pius IX Bologna, Papal States 6 Stayed with abductors Mortara, a Jewish child, was taken from his family[38] by Pope Pius IX because a Catholic housekeeper had secretly baptized him. The child was never returned to his parents, notwithstanding the humanitarian pleas of President Ulysses S. Grant, Emperor Franz Josef, and Napoleon III. At age 18 he was ordained as an Augustinian priest, taking the name Pius.
16 October 1859 Lewis Washington John Cook and his men Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 47 Rescued American planter and slaveholder who was held hostage by John Cook, a leader during the Raid on Harpers Ferry, in an attempt to initiate a slave revolt and who was interested in several relics Washington had inherited. He was later rescued, and testified at the latter trial.[39]
24 August 1867 Fanny Adams Frederick Baker Alton, England 8 Murdered Abducted, murdered and then dismembered in a hop garden near her home. Her remains were found later that same day, and the killing caused a great outcry in the United Kingdom. The phrase "Sweet Fanny Adams" originated from this case.[40]
1869 Ngataua Omahuru Māori loyalists New Zealand 5 Released Omahuru was kidnapped at age five by colonial forces during the battle of Te Ngutu o te Manu. Taken to Whanganui, he was later adopted by William Fox, who later became the Premier of New Zealand. Omahuru was later reunited with his family.[41]
1 July 1874 Charley Ross Possibly Bill Mosher and Joe Douglas Germantown, Philadelphia, US 4 Unknown Charley Ross was the first American known to be kidnapped for private ransom who received wide public attention. He and his brother, Walter, were taken by two men from their house under the pretense of buying fireworks. Walter was sent to a fireworks shop, during which time the men left with his brother. Walter was quickly found but did not know where Charley was. The primary suspects, Mosher and Douglas, were killed before they could be proved to be the kidnappers, and Charley was never found.[42]
Around the 1870s/1880s Petrus Kafiar Unknown Supiori Island 7 Released Petrus Kafiar whose father was a headmam and was a Supiori Island native[43] was kidnapped at age 7[44] around the 1870s and 1880s, and was eventually released. Some time later he became an evangelist.
August 1882 Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud McCoy Hatfield family Pikeville, Kentucky Murdered Three members of the Kentucky-based McCoy family, who were involved in a feud with the West Virginia Hatfield family. On 6 August the three of them shot and stabbed Ellison Hatfield during a drunken brawl; a few days later, armed men led by Devil Anse Hatfield took them prisoner while they were being taken up to Pikeville for trial and removed them across the state line to West Virginia. When Ellison died of his injuries, Devil Anse arranged an impromptu firing squad who executed the McCoy brothers.[45]
4 May 1889 Patrick Henry Cronin Clan na Gael Chicago, Illinois, U.S. 42 Murdered Cronin was a member of Clan na Gael, a Fenian secret society based in the United States. Opponents within the group accused him of being a British spy, and on 4 May 1889 he was abducted by Clan na Gael members who killed him and stuffed his body into a trunk before disposing of it in the sewers. Four members of Clan na Gael were found guilty of involvement in the murder, although two were later acquitted on appeal.[46]
31 January 1896 Pearl Bryan Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. 22 Murdered Bryan was having a clandestine affair with medical student Scott Jackson. When Bryan became pregnant, Jackson and his roommate Alonzo Walling drugged her with cocaine and drove her to Fort Thomas, Kentucky, where they killed her and decapitated her body in an attempt to conceal her identity. Both men were hanged together the following year.[47]
  1. ^ A to Z of Ancient Greek and Roman Women ISBN 978-0-816-06710-7 p. 24
  2. ^ History of Julius Caesar ISBN 978-3-734-06723-5 p. 87
  3. ^ McIntosh, Matthew (2022-10-28). "Publius Clodius Pulcher: Caesar's Willing Puppet in the Ancient Roman Bona Dea Scandal". Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  4. ^ "Sainte Solange". 20 June 2006. Archived from the original on 20 June 2006.
  5. ^ "Sainte Solange". carmina-carmina.com.
  6. ^ Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg ISBN 978-1-526-11277-4 pp. 22-23
  7. ^ H. Likowski, The beginnings of the Cistercian monastery in Owińska, Poznań 1922, p. 32.
  8. ^ Halil İnalcık: Kuruluş Dönemi Osmanlı Sultanları, İsam, İstanbul, 2010, ISBN 978-605-55-8606-5 pp. 66–69
  9. ^ Trollion, Capucine (1 September 2021). "'Barbe Bleue' : pourquoi 'on ne peut pas tabler sur l'innocence de Gilles de Rais'". rtl.fr.
  10. ^ Gauvard, Claude (2020). "Gilles de Rais en procès". In Berlière, Jean-Marc (ed.). Les grandes affaires criminelles du Moyen Âge à nos jours (in French). Paris: Perrin. pp. 17–35. ISBN 978-2-262-08102-7.
  11. ^ Heers, Jacques (1994), Gilles de Rais, Vérités et légendes (in French), Paris: Perrin, ISBN 2-262-01066-8
  12. ^ Bouzy, Olivier (January 1993). "La réhabilitation de Gilles de Rais, canular ou trucage ?". Connaissance de Jeanne d'Arc (in French) (22): 17–25. ISSN 1151-1400.
  13. ^ Cazacu, Matei (2005), Gilles de Rais (in French), Paris: Tallandier, ISBN 2-84734-227-3
  14. ^ "Grebber, Catharina de (1495/1496-na 1515)". Resources.huygens
  15. ^ Brigden, Susan (2000), New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485–1603, London: Allen Lane/Penguin, ISBN 0-7139-9067-8
  16. ^ Gordon Donaldson, The Memoirs of Sir James Melville of Halhill (London: Folio Society, 1969), p. 65: Grant G. Simpson, Scottish Handwriting (Tuckwell, 1998), no. 18 contract 14 May 1567.
  17. ^ Vergatti, p. 235. See also Stoicescu, p. 41
  18. ^ Coste, Pierre (1931). Monsieur Vincent: Le Grand Saint du grand siècle [Mr. Vincent: The Great Saint of the Great Century] (PDF) (in French). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer – via DePaul University.
  19. ^ Trudel, Marcel. "Le Jeune, Olivier, a servant of Guillaume Couillard". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. We do not know whether Couillard treated him as a slave or set him free, for in the burial register Olivier is listed as a servant. No text certifies that he was a slave. His situation may very well have been the same as that of the Indian girls Charité and Espérance, whom Champlain was unable to obtain permission to take to France and whom Couillard adopted.
  20. ^ Lloyd, John; Mitchison, John (2010). The QI Book of the Dead. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24491-1.
  21. ^ Biographical information from the entry on Elizabeth Wilmot in Lord Rochester's Monkey, written by Graham Greene, ISBN 0 370 10290 8
  22. ^ Roberts, V'léOnica. "Captain John Bowen". Buccaneers, Privateers & Swashbucklers. Vleonica.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  23. ^ Humanity, History of. "Infamous Pirates: Thomas White". www.goldenageofpiracy.org. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  24. ^ "Graman Quassi: Meet the Ghanaian who discovered the potent Quassia Tonic to heal Whites". yen.com. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  25. ^ "Famous Welsh". Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  26. ^ Conlin, p. 54
  27. ^ Edward E. Leslie, "Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls", 1988, pp. 107–8
  28. ^ Sytze van der Veen, Meetelen, Maria ter, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Meetelen [13/01/2014]
  29. ^ Lever, Maurice (1993). Marquis de Sade, a biography. Translated by Goldhammer, Arthur. London: Harper Collins. pp. 153–70. ISBN 0-246-13666-9.
  30. ^ Meares, John (1791). Hawaiian Historical Society. Reprints (1787, 1788 and 1789). p. 76.
  31. ^ Foot, Jesse, The Lives of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., and the Countess of Strathmore, written from thirty-three years professional attendance, from Letters and other well authenticated documents (1810)
  32. ^ Gordon, Loudoun Harcourt (1804). An apology for the conduct of the Gordons; containing the whole of their correspondence, conversation, &c.with Mrs. Lee: to which is annexed, An accurate account of their examination at Bow street and their trial at Oxford. J. Ginger and T. Hurst. p. 142.
  33. ^ "Hugh Glass – Fact vs Fiction". The Real Story of Hugh Glass. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  34. ^ "Beagle voyage networks". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  35. ^ "Narrative of the Seizure and Recovery of Solomon Northrup". The New York Times. Documenting the American South. January 20, 1853.
  36. ^ "Evans Hanged". New York Herald. February 18, 1874.
  37. ^ Defending Residents Abroad: The Almost Abduction of Martin Koszta in Smyrna. By Niels Eichhorn, 7 April 2020. The Journal of the Civil War Era. Accessed 10 November 2020.
  38. ^ Kertzer, David I. (1998) [1997]. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-76817-3.
  39. ^ McGee, Ted (5 April 1973), National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Beall-Air (PDF), National Park Service, archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2013
  40. ^ Anon. "The true story of sweet Fanny Adams". Hantsweb: Curtis museum. Hampshire County Council. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  41. ^ Sinclair, Keith; Dalziel, Raewyn. "Vogel, Julius". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  42. ^ Porterfield, Waldon R. (2 October 1974). "Little Charlie and the Crime That Shocked the Nation". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 20. Retrieved 3 December 2014. [permanent dead link]
  43. ^ Anderson, Gerald H. (1999). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 349–350. ISBN 978-0-8028-4680-8.
  44. ^ C. L. M. Penders (31 July 2002). The West New Guinea Debacle: Dutch Decolonisation and Indonesia 1945–1962. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 119–. ISBN 978-0-8248-2470-9.
  45. ^ Rice, Otis K. The Hatfields and the McCoys. University Press of Kentucky; 1st edition (December 31, 1982). p. 26. ISBN 9780813114590
  46. ^ "'A diabolical murder': Clan na Gael, Chicago and the murder of Dr Cronin - History Ireland". History Ireland. 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  47. ^ "Pearl Bryan: A Murder Story". Putnam County Public Library. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_kidnappings_before_1900&oldid=1238705555"