The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-12-29
THE MANY THIEVES.
OPERATING IN THIS VICINITY.
nurglnrs Frightened On-An Alleged Al.
tempt ut Highway lsobbcry-NoN New De.
velopmcntsi In tho Worlciour or aInr.
ling DarSlarles-A fow Pointers.

Solomon said in his liastc, "All men are
liars,' and Chief Bennett is Of tho opin-
lon, after mature consideration, tlal all
men are thieves. At least Ms much would
be inferred from tho remark he made yes.
terday at the city building:
ny gosh! It looks us II eyerybody'l
steal now days"
Capt. Benefits opinion Is no doubt
shared by many people in tho community
since the recent epidemic Of masked rob.
berries, sneak theits md highway opera
TONS. No new robbcrics have been re-
ported for n night or two, but there have
been several unsuccessful attempts. A
South Side Waterman tells Of seeing n
stranger held up Friday night by foot
pads, II ttl,ey had selected tho wrong man
for Il victim. He drew u revolver, and the
would DO thieves fed.
: Saturday morning Steve Crawford, the
vigilant Waterman on tho square bounded
by Main, Eleventh, Market and Twelfth
streets, heard II suspicious sound in lie
rear o. George r. Taylor's dry goods store,
and entering tho yard found tracks lead.
ing to 4 rear window Of the store. lie
tracked the two men down through two
other yards, when tho tracks turned.
Just rs he wheeled round, he saw two
men spring from M clubhouse and run
for ~the,Alley leading into Market street.
Steve fired two shots from his revolver,
but without effect. lie reached Market
street i'll time to see tho men run around
the corner OF Eleventh toward the hill.
Ho evidently has M idea who the men
were, but will not say anything except
that both were tall and wore short sack
coats. 1t is reportcdthut two well.known
crooks were seen in the vicinity about
that time.
Captain Bennett in the conversation
already quoted from, complained OF the
character OF the criminal laws. "True.'
said he, there is an ordinance authoriz
ing us to arrest known thieves, but it re
quircs that Il man shall have been con
victed OF crime once before he can be mr.
rested under its provisions. Now, there
are several men that | know to be thieves
and you know it, too, bnt they have ncyel
been convicted in court. They can com,
""N, 81 'uSy Pte'se, "Lu W. Calilio
modest them except III a charge OF com
uniting some crime. We ought to have
detectives here, like they have in Pitts
burgh. A policeman can't hunt dowr
thieves. You might US well start a torch
light procession with a brass band out te
play detective, rs a nan with 4 blue Goa
and brass buttons"
There have been no Developments il
the Workenour or Marling .robbcries
There is 4 suspicion that the three burg
lars arrested ut Stcubcnyillc were engaged
in at least one OF them, but there is littl,
evidence TO support this impression. /
would seem easy to work out the myster,
OF the Marling robbery, us n ofthe three
men who committed it said when he ell
tered the house, ave want that none,
that johnson Murray says he paid yol
to-day" This ought to afford a very sat
isfactory clue.
The officerswl,o tracked the Workenou,
burglars to the North Wheeling ferry still
maintain that their tracks went on thu
ferry float and did not come of again.