New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-05
HEAVY WORK BY SNEAK THIEVES

THE HOUSE OF JOHN c. KING, IN yEsEY-sT., ENTERED
THROUGH THE sCUTTLE-A LARGE AMOUNT IN
BONDS, BILLS AND GOLD TAKEN.
John c.. King reported at the Twenty
seventh Police Precinct statiOn-hOuse, at a. IN.
yesterday, that some unknown person had entered
his premises at No. ola Yesey-st, through
the seuttle. and robbed him Of 100000. Mr..
King is a pickle manufacturer, and. with his
father, has been doing a prosperous business,
for thirty years. He regarded by his neghbOrs
being in very comfortable circumstances. About five
years ago the father John King retired from business
and went to Europe for his health and has remained
abroad. the business being carried by his children,
John and Ellen
Their mother lived with them They had the factory
in the rear OF the store. and when business good
they employed about sixty girls. Recently they had
only one employee, Italian, who went by the
OF Tony and who had been with them for eleven
years The building Is three stories high and very mar
row. The stOrerOOm Is on the first fOOrj the second
story consists Of large ROOM used as sitting aud
dimng-rOom. The third floor contains two small bed
rooms; in the rear King slept From this scuttle
opened on the roof Miss King and her mother Occu-
pied the front ROOM Under the steps leading from the
second story to the third was a small closet, in
which was placed, besides the clothes Of Miss
King, q leather vahse containing their money,
which consisted Of $4,000 In United States per cent
coupon bonds $4,000 United States bank notes. and
strongly locked and rested common nail keg, in
which were loosely thrown $500 in bank notes. reserved
by the Kings for rentmOney The closet asfsstened
by common staple and paddock. Next to the
closet stood large bureau, in the drawer OF
which jewery valued at several hundred dollars.
solitaire diamond ring, valued at $780, was in this
drawer Hanging by peg against the wall was Valu-
able gold watch.
The Kings closed up their store at 11:30 p. M on
Saturday. The hired man went home and the family OF
three the brother and sister and aged mother, went up
TO the room the second floor and sat
down to the table to eat their supper,
that beng their usual hour for that meal
They noticed nothing unusual about the room. After
being seated Mrs King remarked that the milk can had
not been placed outside Of the door where the milkman
could I'll IT, Miss King went downstairs to place the can
without the dCcr aud coming back she noticed, for
the first time staple and lock of the closet were
lying on the floor, aud thinking her brother had
pulled them of, she called to him: johnny,
you needn't have been in such huryyi you
would have found the key IL you had looked
Just then she caught sight OF the bureau drawer half
open and the conviction flashed her mind that
they had been robbed. Mr. King answered her cries by
rushing to the closet, but only to find on pulling the
door open, that the yalise had disappeared The keg
with the $500 was still there The bureau drawer
was Omen but the contents were not touched
The gold watch still hung on the peg by the side OF the
wall The lock had evidently been wrenched from the
closet by some instrument. and, with few spliners
was the only sign OF the robbery. Mr. King then went
upstairs To the third floor and going into the rear ROOM
he found evidence the theft lying around. The
floor was strewn leaves OF banbOOks and pieces OF
newspaper the bed the leather Yase, with Its
lock forced open and red OF its contents The scuttle
was wide Open aordng clear evidence OF the escape OF
the thief.
The Kings were dismayed at first and sat down and
moaued dIsmally the great loss which had come upon
Them Within an hour or two Mr.. King became aware
Of the Importance OF immediate action, and went 10 the
TwentyseYonh Precinct and reported his loss. Detec-
tiyes Muvey and Finn were detailed TO WORK up the
case Their theory that IL Is what Is known among
the police as q " sneak" and not a burglary
that Is, It was committed by some one very
intimate with the affairs OF the Kings. The houses adj
Joining theirs occupied by tenement families seut-
tes open the roofs OF Nos 80 and 81 by which thet
could his To the scuttle OF Mr. Kings bedroom,
tut there was intimacy between them and their
neighbOrs. For Twenty-Five years., said Mr. King yes
day nO stranger has been upstairs in our house and no
one knew anything about the money aud where We
Kept t but my sister and myself and mother"
Mr.. King afterward admitted that the man TONY
knew about the money, and while he would not say he
mad ever been detected In any act OF dishonesty, he
would say he had been always honest. Tony was
a married man and had children. The neighD0rs
said that Miss King had offered the detectives
a large reward to recover the stolen money, but Miss
King the report They said that they suspected
several people In the street there were two or three
bad gangs IN that neghbOrhOOd, aud they could very
easily ascend 70 their roof through scutte which led
FROM the hallway OF of the adjoining buildings, aud
thus effect to their house But the detectives
disbeieye this theory.