{"id":102751,"date":"2025-05-07T11:03:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=102751"},"modified":"2025-05-07T11:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:04:14","slug":"l-a-mystery-a-kidnapping-in-hollywood-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/l-a-mystery-a-kidnapping-in-hollywood-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Mystery: A Kidnapping in Hollywood (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, James Pylant concludes his story of the puzzling kidnapping of a young mother in Hollywood in 1921 that confounded the police. James is an editor at GenealogyMagazine.com and author for JacobusBooks.com, is an award-winning historical true-crime writer, and authorized celebrity biographer.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 25 January 1921, 27-year-old Gladys Witherell was lured from her Hollywood home by a mysterious gray-haired man (see Part 1<\/a>) telling a false story about a nearby automobile accident that she thought involved her mother-in-law.<\/p>\n

When kidnapping suspects Charles Beverly and Leda Tenney were killed in a car crash while being tailed by detectives in the early morning hours of January 29, John C. Kratz feared his abducted daughter would never be found alive.<\/p>\n

Yet, the investigation swiftly took a different direction later that same day, involving cousins Arthur (left) and Floyd Carr.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Los Angeles Evening Herald (Los Angeles, California), 27 January 1931, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 10:23 p.m. on January 29, Gladys\u2019s husband Otto Witherell answered a phone call from a man identifying himself only as \u201cO. S.\u201d As the caller talked, telephone operator Alma Bryant eavesdropped on the conversation (as authorities had instructed her to do). As soon as she realized it was the kidnapper, she alerted three coworkers who tracked the call. Detectives had coached Otto that if the kidnapper happened to call, he should prolong the phone conversation as long as possible. That allowed operators to trace the call to a pay phone in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The $2,000 reward<\/a> was split among the four telephone operators who tipped the police about the caller.<\/p>\n

A five-car posse quickly surrounded the telephone booth just as Arthur Carr exited it, and police apprehended him. At the police station, he claimed to take orders from a crime syndicate, which investigators didn\u2019t believe. They demanded he tell the truth, and after a barrage of questions, Carr admitted he knew Gladys\u2019s whereabouts.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Los Angeles Evening Herald (Los Angeles, California), 31 January 1921, page 10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Based on Carr\u2019s information, a posse arrived at a desolate canyon cabin near Corona, California, at 4:30 a.m. on January 31, where they rescued the kidnapping victim. Floyd Carr, the gray-haired stranger, was found hiding in a closet, brandishing a revolver. He was overpowered after a fierce struggle in the dimly lit cabin.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Riverside Daily Press (Riverside, California), 31 January 1921, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arthur Carr stated the abduction was Floyd Carr\u2019s revenge plot against Gladys\u2019s father-in-law, A. J. Witherell. \u201cYou see, the old fellow had blocked him in a deal where he could have gotten a fishing yacht,\u201d Arthur explained. \u201cSo, we decided to make him suffer a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew the Witherells had money and thought it would be easy to get $20,000 [down from the original demand of $50,000] by kidnaping the young woman,\u201d Arthur told officers.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Los Angeles Evening Herald (Los Angeles, California), 31 January 1921, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later that day, the Carrs pleaded guilty<\/a> to a charge of kidnapping in Los Angeles Superior Court.<\/p>\n

Otto appeared in court the next day and testified on behalf of his bedridden wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese men many times discussed openly with her, the risk they were taking,\u201d he said. \u201cThey scoffed at the law, scoffed at the penalty they might be forced to pay for their crime. They said the big money they would get if successful was well worth the chance of a few years in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if the cousins thought the criminal justice system was going to let them off lightly, they were severely corrected by Judge Walton Wood during their sentencing on February 2.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Riverside Daily Press (Riverside, California), 2 February 1921, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cI know of no offense more despicable than the one you pleaded guilty to, even capital offenses,\u201d remarked the judge. \u201cThere is a parole board but it usually consults the judge who passes sentence before it acts. I hope I am a judge 10 years from now when you two appear before the board.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

California\u2019s state parole board denied the kidnapping Carrs\u2019 release<\/a> requests in 1936 and 1939. \u201cNo further consideration will be given the Carrs\u2019 pleas for release, under the board\u2019s ruling,\u201d came with the second rejection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, the kidnapping of Gladys Witherell was unrelated to the brazen burglaries that alarmed Los Angeles in late 1920 and early 1921. A year after her abduction, several of the stolen items from that string of burglaries were sold, leading to the arrest of 79-year-old John Albert Burke who confessed to the thefts. Burke said that his banditry behavior came after being hit on the head with a gas pipe, which fractured his skull and caused headaches. He started drinking to ease the pain.<\/p>\n

Claiming to be a blue-blooded Kentuckian, an Oberlin College graduate, and a Civil War veteran, Burke had become a prominent civil engineer and helped lay the path for the Denver-Rio Grande railway through Utah. In 1914, Burke was confined in an asylum in Santa Clara, California. He was working as a gardener at A. J. and Mary Witherell\u2019s Hollywood house when he began burglarizing and stole $16,000 worth of furs and clothing from them.<\/p>\n

He claimed to have asked a physician to write a letter to the Witherells to explain that Burke\u2019s physical trauma led to amnesia<\/a>, which caused him to \u201cdo things of which he had no recollection later.\u201d Burke was given a five-year probationary sentence considering his \u201cpast usefulness and advanced years.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

After their two ordeals (the robbing of Otto\u2019s parents\u2019 house, and the kidnapping of his wife Gladys), the younger Witherells kept a low profile. In the 1930s they relocated to Chicago, where Otto was vice president of a manufacturing company.<\/p>\n

In 1948, Gladys\u2019s 81-year-old father, John C. Kratz, was killed when the car in which he was a passenger plunged over a 150-foot embankment in Redlands, California.*<\/p>\n

Otto died in 1967. Gladys survived him by 19 years, dying in 1986. Both were interred in a Hollywood mausoleum<\/a>. Their son, John Allen Witherell, died in 1995.<\/p>\n

* \u201cTwo Local Men Killed in Crash,\u201d Anaheim Bulletin (Anaheim, California), 24 January 1948, p. 1<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image: Sherlock Holmes investigates a mystery.
\nIllustration credit: https:\/\/depositphotos.com\/home.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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