The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-01-25
DETECTIVES D0INGS.
Particulars of the Operations of Thieves
and How they were Thwarted.
LFrom the Cincinnati Times.l

From the Cincinnati Times.]
Our readers will remember that about
month ago we published the facts con-
nected with the burglary at the store OF
Hoffmeister & Co., on Fourth street, near
Elm, in which between 81, 500 and e, 900
worth of fine laces were stolen. The
job was neat one, and upon an examl-
nation of the premises and the quality
of the goods taken, the detectives be-
came satisfied that the robbery had been
perpetrated by experts at the business.
A Sob" of similar character was
successfully worked at the hair store OF
Madame Zwick, On Fourth, between
Walnut and Main streets, about eighteen
months before, and detective Charles
Wappenstein, one of the officers detailed
to work up the case, conceived the idea
that the person who committed the
Zwick burglary had hand in the affair
at Hofmeister's They had apparently,
however, so completely covered up their
tracks that both they and their plumber
was lost sight Of for some time. Mr.
Wappenstein persisted i'll his investiga-
ton, however, and with what success
we propose to tell. He learned that the
goods had been shipped from here to
Chicago, and having business in the
latter city, in the case OF the robbery of
the residence of Col. n. L. Anderson,
and where, by the way, he recovered all
of the jewelry stolen from the Colonel,
ne proposed to investigate a little
Wappenstein and Detective Page, of
indianapolis, who had also been on the
lookout for the goods for several weeks,
ascertained the fact that the goods had
really been shipped from here to Chica-
go, but that as there was no market for
them there they were sent back to Indi
annapolis. The mob of thieves who did
the job were in Chicago at the time, and
hearing of the presence Of Wappenstein
and Page, and snpposing that they were
wanted, fed to Canada, and are now
of Windsor, just across the border from
Detroit.
The officers, after getting through
with the Anderson robbery, turned their
attention again to the Hofmeister burg
larry, and succeeding in tracing the laces
to indianapolis, where they ascertained
that they had been sold at a notorious
'fence, or, in other words, place where
stolen goods were purchased, for the
miserable sum of $500.
The proprietor of this ''fence" I'M
doubleday had q good bargain, but he
was unable to dispose Of the property in
Indianapolis, and so he shipped them to
a friend, or rather perhaps, business
countable reason there was no sale for
them in the latter named city, and the
packages were accordingly returned to
the purchaser at Indianapolis, where
they arrived at an early hour yesterday
morning. From the moment the goods
were first shipped from Indianapolis to
New York, the officers kept track of
them, and yesterday morning when the
train carrying them arrived at the first
named place, Messrs. Wappenstein and
Page, and Mr.. Hoffmeister, whose store
had been robbed, were on hand. The
packages were at once seized and opened
and Mr.. Hoffmeister at once identified
the goods as those that had been stolen
from his place of business in this city
Mr.. Hoffmeister was doubly sure that
the goods received were his, from the
fact that a sacque belonging to his
daughter was found in one Of the pack
ages.
Out of the entire lot stolen, only four
small pieces of lace were missing. The
stolen property was brought to this city
by Messrs. Wappenstein and Page, and
is now at the Office of the Superinten-
dent Of Police.
The officers certainly did neat piece
of work, and are entitled to the thanks
of the community.