Christmas nightmare took hold of Port Arthur family Port Arthur chiropractor was convicted of kidnapping in 1940, returned to practice after prison release and before death in 1973 SOUTHEAST TEXAS TALES Beaumont Enterprise Monday December 8, 2014 The Mingle family had gathered inside their plush Port Arthur home on Dec. 8, 1939 to wrap Christmas presents. The community thought a lot of Fred Mingle, as well to-do automobile dealer, his wife, and their 12 year old son, Irwin. The serenity of their peaceful night at home was shattered when an armed intruder stormed into their home and demanded money. Fred quickly gave the heavy-set perpetrator $ 200 –about $3,300 in today’s currency. It wasn’t enough. The gunman, who spoke in a broke accent, bound Fred and his wife. He then snatched up young Irwin and told the Mingles he’d return the boy if they paid him $15,000 – more than $250,000 in 2014 dollars. Leaving the boy’s frantic parents behind, the kidnapper brought Irwin to a newly constructed, still vacant house just outside the Port Arthur city limits. He bound and gagged Irwin and left him in the home’s attic. The kidnapper then contacted the MIngles with his plan for delivery of the ransom. Fred agreed to his demands, and arrangements were made about where to drop off the money the next day. In the morning – 16 hours after he was kidnapped – Irwin was able to force the adhesive tape from his mouth and shout for help. A neighbor – Mrs. H.H. Dillworth – heard the boy’s cries and quickly ran to her father’s house for help. Dr. William C Welch, a 52year old chiropractor who lived near his daughter, entered the vacant home with others and found the boy in the attic. Dr. Welch removed the rope binding the boy and hoisted him down. That evening, Welch was arrested and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping. Irwin Mingle had recognized his rescuer’s voice as the same as the man who kidnapped him the night before. The story made news all over the United States and Canada. Reporters swarmed the city jail, where Welch insisted that he had been “framed again”. Just months earlier Welch had been questioned by the Secret Service for possession of counterfeit money. He insisted he had been framed., Police Detective Chief Claud Guilbeau determined that the chiropractor was a friend of the Mingle family. During a five-hour interrogation, Welch insisted that he was visiting his son, Calvin, at 7:15, just after the boy was kidnapped at 7. The chiropractor also said that he went for a ride after leaving his son, “as is my custom. Other than those few statements, Dr. Welch remained close lipped. Sheriff W.W. Richardson stated that “Dr Welch quoted passages from the Bible as reasons why he should not talk, and we quoted other Scriptures for reasons why he should.” Sheriff Richardson said that $150 was found in a bookcase at the chiropractor’s home. Welch had $59.00 on him he was arrested Saturday night. Investigators had found a roll of adhesive tape at the bottom of a well at his house the sheriff said. Two days after Welch was arrested, a Jefferson County grand jury indicted himk on charges of kidnapping for extortion and armed robbery. Bail was set at $20,000. Welch still had friends who had faith in him and would try to raise the bail money, according to his Houston attorney, Herman Wright. In January 1940, a jury was selected for trial. Welch arrived in court with an easy chair brought from his homer in which he and is young grandson, sitting on his knee, could sit cozily and observe the trial. During the trial, Fred Mingle testified that, like his son, he also recognized Welch’s voice through the kidnapper’s disguise. But when Irwin Mingle testified, he admitted to telling several people that his kidnapper was a little Mexican man, even thought Welch weighed more than 200 pounds. He also said that he did not get a good look at the kidnapper and finally, despite his earlier assertion, admitted that he did not recognize the kidnappers voice. County Attorney Ed Easterling produced a pistol he said was used in the crime. Chris Dixie, another of Welch’s Houston attorney’s , begrudgingly brought it to court only after being jailed for refusing to deliver it on the orders of Judge R. A. Shivers. An acquaintance of Welch identified it as the gun stolen from him shortly after Welch had asked to buy it. Facing the prospect of death in the Texas electric chair, Welch called for diviner intervention. After both sides rested he sprang to his feet and disrupted the proceedings. He was infuriated that he had been barred from presenting “evidence received from high divine authority”. “ I will be heard” he told the court. “I am dismissing my attorneys. In God’s name I will be heard. I have knowledge that the state is trying to prove me insane.” On Jan. 17, 1940, Welch was convicted of kidnapping. After deliberating 20 hours, the jury recommended a sentence of 15 years. The following April Welch was also convicted of armed robbery. It is unknown if any time was added to his sentence or how many years he actually served in prison. After his release, Welch returned to his chiropractic practice in Port Arthur. He died in 1973. Irwin Mingle followed in his father’s footsteps, opening his own DeSoto – Plymouth dealership in Port Arthur in 1940. Irwin died in 1997
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 04:54:58 +0000
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