Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-12-13


rhe urettv little rooms occupied BY Cap.
saIn John McCulIagh, st the SIXTH rec1ncs
station. hos,sc. looked last night much more
inc 4 dleordered secoud.h band clotniag:.
storc tbau the apartments IN which suao
noIice officer was domictied. Strewu aoemt
thc rooms. covering sofas, chairs. tables,
and door, were articles from wn'cn >
family OF a hundred or more--men'
women. md children-mieht have go
looted complete outfits for each member.
shoes end hats were mixed yromiscuousiy
with dresses and shawls; suspenden ana
belts mingled with shirts and underwear OF
All kinds: cloaks. bounets. bats. snaws--
In fact. little Of everything that might
reasonably be expected 70 cover the human
form. were In the Captains rooms, ana tney
ali came from the house OF one MARX Vooen'
an alleged receiver Of stolen goods: wno'
with bis wife, daughter, aud son-in-nw,
until recently occupied apartments on tne
first floor Of No. 06 Mulberry street
When Captain McCullagh became aware
some time ago that all was not wnae u
seemed TO be at the residence OF Mr.. 20.
hen. and that Mr.. Cohen himself was no,
above suspicion, he aud Detectives Cottreii
ana Gerrow set TO work to find out what
xas wrong, As the Captains suspicious
had been aroused by the knowledge that
numbers OF Young boys visited Cohen ire
ouentIy with more or lees heavy bum
dies. and left him. taking apparently
nothing with them. he Immediately tried
m find a bow whom be could trust enough
10 allow him TO enter the lions den. such
a how was found by Detective Cottrell In
the person OF young Marx Price. who re-
ioices In having attained bis fourteenth
h,r,bdav The bow was under deep obi
cations 10 the detective, aud really appre-
cjated the fact that he was. Two years
ago. az perilous fire in Mott street, in
which the life Of Prices mother was
threatened, CottrelI, at the risk oil his own
life, saved Mrs. Price, and from tbat day
she and her young son have been his sworn
friends.
Young Price, who knew the ways OF the
Young thieves Of the city. entered readily
into the plan proposed by Cottrell, and on
"wednesday night the youthful detective,
having followed boy who was known as
"Abe" Finkeldein, and who bad had
deals" with Cohen in stolen articles,
grappled with him In front OF the police
station in Elizabeth street and bad him
arrested. Then the detectives made de-
scent on Coben's place. and the articles
which litter Captain McC 4,laghs rooms are
identified yesterday by numerous store
keepers as property which had been stolen
from them, and Cohen, his son-in-law,
young FinkelsteIn, and Jacob Davis, known
Familiarity as "Looney jake" another
Young thief, were arraigned at the Tombs.
Justice White held Cohen as receiver OF
stolen goods in default Of $500, and also
his son.in-aw, Selig Bergman. and detained
the two boys as witnesses.
Cohen is powerfully built, OF medium size,
| with big black eyes and full. busby beard.
and would inspire any thing but pleasant
| feeling to man who might meet him alone
| in some dark place. There is nothing about
| him TO retrieve the villainous expression OF
his lace. The two boys were as hardened
| little ruffians IS ii would be possible to I'M
agine. They are only thirteen and sixteen
wears old, but in crime they are adopts, and
| their adroitness may be enyied by "crooks"
who have had more experience in their par
| ticular line Of business. In the Tombs they
| acted more as though they were there on
| lark than that they were there TO answer
for crime. and joked and laughed about
their position with all the assurance OF
| those who are, rs it were, to the manor
| born.
When their case had been disposed OF,
Young "Looney Jake" showed q remarka-
BILE amount Of loquacity. and. in the words
OF his iellow-prisoner, "gave dc whole
snap dead away" He had no compunc-
ton OF conscience in talking about his nefa-
rious exploits, but rather told them In
gleeful manner, as II he had been talking
OF things OF which he might well be proud.
His description Of how he "worked de
racket" tells the whole story.
"Ye see," he said, "Pve done eleven
months in the Refuge" [by which he
meant the House OF Refuge :" an am up
to more snuff than you can get onto. So,
when about three or four weeks ago met
Young Harris Cohen. the old un's son, and
he ast me II | wanted TO make some gelt,
twigged like a shot, an agreed instanter. |
| knowed what he wanted almost afore he
smoke, cause I know lots o. felers that
works fer his old man. All the boys
around the place knows him an sell
him their swag. Well, Harris and me
went TO place in Church street where the
stoJe.felleTs keep their show-windows and
cases on the sidewalk, aud Harris asked me
IL 1 had jimmy. Not benz prepared TO
| meet him, didn't have none with me, but
! he lent me one OF his own, and got away
| with some stuff from one OF the cases
opened. Then l met this young feller "
(pointing TO Finkelstein] san him an me
am Harris worked together fer about a
| week, when one day Harris got the collar,
ans dom five months now fer it. He's no
good. Got no enterprise. an amt fly for a
! cent.
Everything we got we took to Cohen,
and the old skin paid us about dollar
for IS worth. One time | got onto
pair OF false teeth on Canal street that was
\ Ay,,f n
glye 'em to Cohen cause he said they
wasn't worth anything. He's bigger
skin than you felers think he is. He al.
ways bought everything we took him,
though, and didn't ask no questions. Lord
bless you, he didn't want TO ask no ques-
tions. He was only too glad to collar the
stuff we brought him, for he could sell as
fast as he could buy. Sometimese we cot
ladies' jackets, sometimes shirts. Dresses
we booked from the front Of stores, an al
sorts o. things. Didn't make no difference
10 Cohen what they were, he'd buy 'em all
Only he wouldn't pay enough. The mos
ever got from HIM at a time was IS. Thai
was for some ladies' jackets"
The boy went on in this strain for some
time, seeming to enjoy his story more and
more rs II went on. He said that all the
bows about his age land all be said was cor
roborated by the hoy Finkelstein) were In
the habit Of sneak-thieving. aud, with not {
single exception. the boys all dis
posed OF their stolen wares to Cohen
That gentleman, not contenting himsel
with simply buying, did all he could
to induce boys to steal and bring him th'
result OF their theits. Boys who ought no
to be out OF their dresses soon learned t
become expert sneak-thieves, and dis
played wonderful resources in devisius
means to steal. The boys, as rule
worked in pairs, one helping the othel
out, aud only one generally doing the steal
ing while the other did all he could TO dis
tract the attention OF the persons unde
whose care were the coveted articles. Th
youngsters generally confined themselve
to stealing wares from picking.boxes ant
samples displayed in front OF stores, bu
sometimes they went into places OF bust
ness and stole from under the very noses o
,, clerks without being detected. They Opened
boxes with the aid OF small burglars tools
and did their work with the utmost audaci
,, ~ In broad daylight, and sometimes whel
, policeman was within ten feet OF them
,, How they managed 10 so successful
, evade being captured in their daring wor
Is a mystery.
|; From all appearances, Mr.. Cohen did no
| At.tp