Ransom \Ran"som\ (r[a^]n"s[u^]m), n. [OE. raunson, raunsoun, OF. ran[,c]on, raen[,c]on, raan[,c]on, F. ran[,c]on, fr. L. redemptio, fr. redimere to redeem. See {Redeem}, and cf. {Redemption}.] 1. The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration; redemption; as, prisoners hopeless of ransom. --Dryden.
2. The money or price paid for the redemption of a prisoner, or for goods captured by an enemy; payment for freedom from restraint, penalty, or forfeit.
Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems. --Milton.
His captivity in Austria, and the heavy ransom he paid for his liberty. --Sir J. Davies.
3. (O. Eng. Law) A sum paid for the pardon of some great offense and the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal punishment. --Blackstone.
{Ransom bill} (Law), a war contract, valid by the law of nations, for the ransom of property captured at sea and its safe conduct into port. --Kent.
Ransom \Ran"som\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ransomed} (-s[u^]md); p. pr. & vb. n. {Ransoming}.] [Cf. F. ran[,c]onner. See {Ransom}, n.] 1. To redeem from captivity, servitude, punishment, or forfeit, by paying a price; to buy out of servitude or penalty; to rescue; to deliver; as, to ransom prisoners from an enemy.
2. To exact a ransom for, or a payment on. [R.]
Such lands as he had rule of he ransomed them so grievously, and would tax the men two or three times in a year. --Berners.
Drug traffickers are attacking party members in revenge for attempts by leftist guerrillas to kidnap and ransom traffickers and their families, the attorney general's office has said.
Four armed hijackers in Pyatigorsk, southern Russia, took 40 bus passengers hostage and demanded a getaway helicopter and a Dollars 15m ransom.
In one case in Sao Paulo in July, the family of businessman Gilberto Bernardini paid a much higher ransom than the kidnappers had requested.
Criminals holding a 273-year-old Stradivarius violin stolen three years ago are seeking $2.5 million in ransom, an Italian newspaper reported Monday.
It said that on the same day 100 Contras seized a truck, robbed the passengers of cash and jewelry and demanded the owner pay a $500 ransom.
Previous testimony has linked Edwards to the coffin-sized box, which witnesses said they saw him building, and to a public telephone at about the time a ransom call was being recorded by the FBI.
A court in Duesseldorf convicted Abbas Hamadi of abducting two West Germans as ransom for his brother, Mohammed, who is accused of hijacking a TWA jetliner in June 1985.
The note demanded $15 million in ransom to be deposited in three bags at a location in Islamabad, said the Saudi airline.
There haven't been any calls or notes asking for ransom," he said.
Col. North obtains a $2 million ransom from Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot and flies to Cyprus to deliver it to representatives of those holding the hostages.
Once the ransom was paid, they were murdered, along with the others. In Bolimow, two families - 11 people - had hidden in a bunker that they had built and furnished near the river Rawka.
Later, Ms. Hamilton received telephone calls demanding a ransom of cocaine and cash, Booth said.
The Kroller-Muller thieves demanded an undisclosed ransom, but the Van Goghs were recovered after police set up a trap.
The only word from Mrs. Hearin or her abductors has been a vague ransom note left at the scene and a blood-stained note from Mrs. Hearin dated Aug. 10.
"I think it is grossly unjust for you to hold Terry Anderson for ransom that includes what amounts to a complete peace settlement in the entire region and the end of centuries-old hostilities," Mrs. Say stated.
A Florence magistrate said he ordered the ransom money confiscated so the family couldn't pay.
The president "was forced to pay the tax ransom once in order to save the economy.
The typewritten ransom note ordered Hearin to pay an unspecified amount of money to people he allegedly wronged.
A year ago, a group of disgruntled apprentice workers, young Danes in training for jobs in plumbing and the like, "abducted" his bicycle and demanded ransom.
The ransom effort came days before a secret trip to Iran on May 28 by Col. North and former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane.
He said no ransom notes or demands for money had been received.
Forty hostages were freed after Russian police captured three gunmen who had held them to ransom near the southern city of Mineralniye Vody.
The group demanded a $790,000 ransom, two-thirds of which was to be distributed to the needy.
Heimdal's captors asked for ransom money to press their fight against the Colombian government.
The ransom was never paid because Small's wife could not understand the delivery instructions on the muffled tape recording played to her over the telephone.
The original ransom note concluded: "If any is dead, pay his children."
The rebels left a note for Zender's family demanding $100,000 in ransom.
I was very angry with him." She admitted that she drove Edwards to telephone booths from which authorities said ransom calls were made to the Small family in Kankakee, but said she did not know why Edwards was making the calls.
Jeff Fino said he expects the guerrillas to honor their word to return Scott Heimdal of Peoria after receiving $60,000 in ransom Friday.
The Tamraz associate, who spoke by telephone from Paris and declined to be identified, said a "loan instrument" was fixed to transfer the final $750,000 in ransom money to the kidnappers through a Swiss bank.