The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-02-23
EXPLOITS OF A GIRL THIEF.
DESCENDING FIRE EsCIPEs AND DUMB
W1ITER ROPES.
Margaret Wormer. Shy and yet In her Teens,
but Astonishing the Police by the Boiduess
of her Opernttons-TeIIing Her Own story.

Dut AstOntahtnn the Police by the HOlducaa
of her rOpcrnttons-Telling Her Own story.
Margaret wormer, tho desperate girl
thici who slid down the rope OF tho dumb
waiter OF tho Adelphi apartment house on
Thursday afternoon. is yet guarded by police
man in Ward G. Roosevelt Hospital. She is tall
nnd slender has light complexion. and is shy
and retiring in manner. Her hair ia auburn.
and her features are regular. On Nov. sho
was discovered in the Bolts block nm apartment
house. 800 West Forty-nfth street She ran
down into the back yard. scaled high fcnco
and entered an adjoining house. in which she
ascended TO the top floor Pursuit being hot,
she opened n window in tho hail. and climbed
down an iron fire escape with the agility OF
cat into the yard. She then climbed over six
high yard fences and got fairly into a public
street. whore shc was finally arrested by Onlcer
Barnes. She at that time had entered n room
usually occupied by Elizabeth Mortimer. who
wns absent and had carried out some clothing
which sho had gathered together in n bundle.
While she was in tho Foriy-seventh street
police station. Detective Cottroll noticed
| ting with peculiar setting OF stones
on ono OF her fingers. He left
the station and in n few minutes returned with
Lena Kreger OF 2G0 West Forty-sixth street. the
| owner OF tho ring from whose apartments II
had mysteriously disappeared several weeks
| previously. For these crimes sho was sent To
| Blackwrlrs Island for two months. where her
work. she says, was to scrub the 1oor OF one OF
| the largest wards in the penitcntlary. At this
time she gave her right name. Margaret Wor-
mer and said she was l6 years old. In
wns war MARY Mary Smith SmUd and % That "sS she "@ was
only Is years old Superintendent Alfred A.
| IscOmb, Of tho AdClphi apartment house. and
| the police say she Is undoubtedly 10 or 20 years
| old. II is also alleged thnt she once found en-
street where Y she @ climbed from % Closet through
| high window hardly more than fifteen inches
square into bedroom. To come out she had
door on the inside. Tho room il one OF II suite
occupied by Mrs. A. Kreger, who at the time
Before last Thursday there had been three
mysterious robheries in the Adclphi. In each
case clothing had bcen taken from one Of tho
rooms in the NTH or top story occupied 10y the
servants None oi rrhe me patrons OF me house
on Feb. "a, when Izse Murphy M % and other 1gr scr
wants wants IN ne house missed Tsi about t 40
the sliding OF bureau drawers in a room in
| which she kept dresses. II was in the fth
| On going 90 1t she found it unlocked. and
| pushed IL FAR enough open to enable her to see
| n loud voice. ns II ingto somebody; There's
| nobody in here" Then she walked In n lcis-
%rdy %snT sSe to 9e % 4i Sa Mas On doTe Sa
sidewalk. He told hcr to stand in the hall In
such pos stion that she would he able to stop
| either the main entrance or the basement
| door. which is under the stoop. The position
the dumb waiter. He ran up, stairs. feeling
sure that he had Mt last caught tho thief. When
he arrived at tho nth story he saw n young
woman in tho hall with n large basket on hor
| arm. She started AS II TO run past him. but
ne the soRs s to- door
OF the dumb waiter, The car OF the waiter hap;
pened 70 be standing between the third and
walters and Intended % crouch down in
lower door BY catching the hand-ropo:
However. she sprang into 4 and cnughi hold Of
top top Of the ear. Mr. Liscomb was only n frac.
| tion OF a second behind her. Her weight on the
HSS when @ he suddenly S' stSyed it BY SEEING the hand
| rope. The jar probably caused her to loosen her
firm hold or else. feeling ne necessity Tor =
lhs% !sfEiSly and drew blood from her palms
fcii with her basket on the top OF ihe
Lscomb secured the hand rope by means OF the
lever, and was Mt first inclined to keep her
posing his wife would be able to secure her on
a lover floor, he let tho ear descend, suddenly
he felt the weight ,deere9se. She HI, had leapedd
had loft her position in the hall and had gone
out on the. sidewalk. whore she, would be able to
lNdy-like young woman come out Of the main
entrance she hesitated at first about
Sss S%s"s hh 81. she SSssS shy h6we%s4 na
and when she saw that her hands were bloody
hsf She Rsn ssI 52
waist Tho young woman struggled, and be-
fore Mr.. Lscomb could come down stairs she
had carried her captor across West Filty-sec-
ond street. She limped on the way to the sta
ton house because oae Of her, feet had been
Sitting ny in her bed in the hosptal. she told
~ went into the Adelphi =" She said. to ns K
| n lady n question. | did not uuu the nnrSOn |
was looking for. and in my search got to the
top noor. Suddenly man opened the door
| and rushed toward me and l. being frightened.
6ii1PPG%d him and run run down stairs. lie Headed me on
the rope. and letting 1t run through my hands.
slid down 70 the bottom 1t it9re my hands ter;
over the rope and on my hands. too, Then !
caught my hSis anele n ne rope IN ainG, pnd
could. Tho man came mud caught hold Of me
and said had been trying to steal something. "
Mary insists that the basket she dropped con-
tained only her own clothes Tho pawn tickets
for upward Of q 900 worth e properly found in
her mothers house. 4l5 West Fortieth street
she says. were for articles which belonged ~
tho family. and on which they were forced 10
The bundles Of clothing consist largely Of fine
| underwear. There arc also many shaWls
cloaks. and dresses None OF the pawn tickets
| represented Jewelry. The police explain that
jewelry can bG sold ~ n receiver of stolen goods
Tor about half its value. while At pawn shop a
|
Ward has about nfty bundles Of clothing, the
proceeds OF the pawn tickets. Among tho
| articles found was cloak indcnted
by Lizzie Murphy, which shows that
1t must have been Maggie Wormer that com
mitted tho robbery in the Adcphi on Feb. IA.
Just after that robbery Detective Cotrell found
in gnrrct Of the Adelph a freshly filed brass
key and file lying on a trunk. After the more
| rocent theft in tho Adephi n large bunch of
iron keys WIS found on the floor in the room in
which the thief was discovered. and in the
station four brass door keys were found in her
pocket.
Very many apartment houses and flats are
provided with door bells for each suite of apart
ments. Tho OCCUPANTS Of tho upper stories
may. when their bells are rung, withdraw the
bolt Of the front door. 10y means Of system oi
wires. without leaving their rooms. II, after
withdrawing the bolt. nobody comes up to them
apartments. they conclude that Il mistake has
been made, and usually think no more
about i, 1t was in this, way that Mar
Earct Wormer gained admittanre TO the
Adclphi. Nevertheless, she WIS obliged to use
one Of the brass keys which were found in hcI
pocket to open door leading from the halt
The police say that the safest Of all "rackc,s
is day sneak thieving, and that the most OF II is
done in apartment houses. or other houses
containing many tenants, Once inside Of them
the thief has only To knock nt one door after nm
other till n vacant room Is found. Thcn II Is
entered by means Of n skeleton key II lh'