New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-07

man was, that he was tall Anu stoutt anu Wta
whiskers that were the objects of the admita on
| of the servant maids, and the satire of "Mu.
| punch.n But here was little man in plain
clothes. very short, very dark in complexion, and
| with his hair and whiskers cut very close ESQ
4 that they may have nothing to hold on by, he
| darkly whispered to me in conversation we lad
some days after). But suppressed my astonsl-
ment and politely greeted my visitor.
III return Sergeant Wood expressed the usual
civil regrets for the oceurrence-which somehow,
one can't think sincere in a polieeman--and ahea
had brief whispered consultation with Inspector
Falfhetd, What the Inspector said seemed TO de-
elde nm upon some course Of action, for, d Ter
again asking me to describe the man had seen,
ne hurrledly left the room, then completed Tue
iist Of the stolen property and, after accompany
| mug the Inspector in a tour round and over the
house, to see how the entry had been Effected and
after being convinced that She thieves had entered
| from the back through the kitchen, i babe him
| good morning, fully convinced that The best plan
was to grin aud bear our losses as best we might.
1t wasthe firm belief Of every one Of us that every
article of gold and silver was ID the melting pot in
m hour after the thieYesleft tue house, and that
Eporton of lhe stolen property would be recovered
Nor did we think in our hearts that there was any
usu IN the police eXertiug themselves; we he
not. lam ashamed to say any beliefint their powe.
Of detection in areally difficult case, such as Thu
seemed to promise to be.
4 Judge, then, of my surprise, when barely an
hour and a half afterwards, 1 was informed that
the burglars had been captured, and every article
1 OF property recovered. The manner in which the
capture was effected was SO Ingenious and the
whole affair was so credlable to the POLICE force
of the metropolis, that shall makeno apology for
describing it at some length.
The burglary at my friend house in Folkestone
street was not, / discovered, by any means the
first of its kind which had lately occurred. sue
oession ofrobberies had taken place at the Wesp
End during the previous three months all appa-
rently The work Of fhe same man, tfor tue same
features distinguished them all) and the police
HlRd GREATLY nnttlnd q tiiniP
detecting The culprit.
As far back as the middle of the previous June,
the house of greatmipister of state had been
II broken into, aud quantity OF JeWery stolen. IN
4 that case the thief seemed to have clambered up
4 a very high wall, and then to have dropped q
great distance on to some leads. rms gave him
access to window through which ne mad entered
the house. The iewelry was taken from lady's
I dressing ROOM and the robbery must have been
/ effected within yeryshort time after she had left
that room, and she did not retire to bed till three
O'Clock, and the thieves were out of the house by
I five. One remarkable feature in this case was,
that one of the thieves had washed his hands il
the dressing room before leaving it. The police
used every exerton to trace the thieves, but were
unsuccessful; and so mysterious did the affair
seem that they were driven to suspect that there
had been some conniyance on the part of the ser
wants For these suspicious, it is only fair to say
subsequent events proved that there was no
ground whatever.
a fortnight afterwards, another burglary took
place--thls time at the residence Of an ambassa-
dor. IN this case, also, the thief appeared to have
dropped a considerable height. And here, too
the police were at fault.
Afew days after this, burglary took place al.
a house looking Unto the Green Park A lady was
sitting, sbout seven o'clock in the evening in her
boudoIr one, when she heard somebody walkinc.
IN the room overhead. She fancied it was he.
brother, aud called out to him to come to her. No
answer being returned, she ran up stairs, and was
just IN time to see strange man going up the up
per staircase. At sight Of her, he quickened his
footsteps, and, rushing to the topmost story, shut
himself up III one of the servants bedrooms. By
this time an. alarm had been given, and police
man fetched from the street. He does not, how
ever, seem to have been either an intelligent or
very courageous member of the force, for all he
did was to summon the burglar inside to open the
door and come ont. This, however, he declined to
do, wherenpon this valiant defender of our homes
declined to break open the door without further
assistance, and went off to fetch another consta
BILE. OF course, directly his back was turned the
burglar resolved upon flight. To the surprise of
every one, he was seen to get out of the window,
10 make terrific drop''-leap on to some leads,
hence hegot into the Park, and was lost to view
IN the shades of the evening, The Park WIS
searched at once, but no trace of him could be
discovered. The lady, on being questioned, de-
clared that the man she saw was tall and dark
ana that was all the description she couldgYe.
The question then arose, has any man been seen to
loiter about the house lately? The immediate
answer was in the affirmative. "A tall, dark man
had been seen by the postfnan lettering about the
HOUSE, ana Inc pQSEEna1 mad GOmnlnlca his
plcons that Z he was after no gcod, y to the
sergeant OF the police, but had only been pooh
poohed for his palms.
The sergeant was Immediately questioned, and
explained that he had fancied that the man was /
ouiy counting one of the maids Cd the house in I
question. THIS explanation, howe FER, was con. i
sldered unsatisfactory by tie commissioners of /
9oHee, and the sergeant was suspended: and to +
Il IS suspension may indirectly be attributed the Fl
Y. mate detection ofthe burglar, for the sergeant
elq his disgrace so deeply that he determined to
cave no stone nnturned to bring to Justice this j
" d9r6 man, WHO had such a marvellous power s
making drop leaps.
Meanwhile news came of another burglary at K
.enslngton. 10 this case also, the thief seemed
2 nave SHOWN gteat activity, and again to have L
yashed his hands. Again, a few weeks later a |.
gtglafy was, committed in Hamilton Place Pieca-
3liy1 anG here again the thief washed his hands, L
ven bringing a lemon from the kitchen TO aid him
4 his tasl5.
Il now became almost certainty that all these
obbefies were the work of one man; and as there +
vas the remarkable fact Of his washing his hands L
p almost every instance, it was prob able that
h!s man was o. better class, and gre II refine
nent than the ordinary run Of London BURGLARS. Il
tut an altogether new fact, which was likely to
70 the police in their efforts to trace him was B
,lielted during the inquiries which were made
With respect TO the Hamilton Place robbery. 1t
~ 9splred that two men had been seen for some L
lays lettering about and examining the the house,
md that one of them was talla dark, and the
'ther short and fair But not only had they been
cen; the tall, dark man had actually spoken 10 +
stationed in the district, and
ad been observed to have aforeign accent. 1t
senled mostiprobables therefore, that the man OF Il
fhom they were in search was foreigner, and
he suspended sergeant de ermiued at once to h
olow up this slight clue.
Bpt there are q great many tall dark foreigners
London, and the sergeantis task seemed one of
2 slight difficulty; however, he was q deter
1laed man, Of iron nerves, and he determined 4
md the right man, if he scar he'd through i
ne whole OF london; SO he sat down aud [
fought out the whole matter, aud decided upon i
ne course he would pursue. He could not help t
ancyiug, from all he heard, that It was proba-
le the man in question was discharged Swiss
= stalian valet, or COURIER OF Something Of that
ha 80, followlngnp this idea, lie went 60 CALL
pon = friend OF his who kept very resDeetahIa /
,aRlie.ne1se at the west end Of the town. This I
aap nad been courier himself 10 his earlier
lays, and was well acquainted I'll all lie mem.
,eIs q the confratYfnty, ana, indeed, ma /
dbS2 dAote daily fof iherlat his house. 81 which
,Eher foreigners eesasionaly awaited themselves
Aiges much Consultation with the landlord, TIE
ergeant determined TO attend the tdbledAote B
that day, on the chance Of seeing his man at II
hnner,time, he accordingly made his appeafance,
Of COURSE il plain clothes, aud took his seat with
the ease OF an SnbttNe. None of tae diners /
loweFef, answered in any way TO the description
Of the burglar, and the sergeant began to think /
Lhat he had been wasting his time. But scarcely I
had The cloth been removed. when tall, dark /