The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-06
CHARLESTON CHAT.
Capture OF TWO Negro Burglars Causes
Satisfaction

CHARLESTON, Feb. 5.-The entire city is
/ just now in q condition of smiling. The
I arrest OF two negro boys, neither OF them
I over % years Of age, causes the smile. For
/ over six months these tvs boys have man
/ aged 10 terrorize city Of e., 900 inhabitants
I guarded by a metropolitan police force Of
/ ever seventy trained veterans. 80 fire.
/ Quent and 50 daring were the burg
lars that for the past six weeks almost
the entire city has been under arms. Double
/ barrelled shot guns muskets, ancient fusees,
I pistols, old Allen pepper toxes have been
| in use in the household, and people have
| been on the watch all night for the enter
[ prising burglar. Scarcely a night has
| passed within the last month that some
/ house has rot been entered and robbed. In
/ one instance a residence on Bull street which
! was undergoing repairs was entered
| for three successive nights. he
| first night the burglars carried
| of what lead pipe they could conveniently
| handle; the second night they took out the
/ gas fixtures and the CRATES and other mate
/ rial, and on the third night they cleaned
/ out everything that was portable about the
| house Then the owner goC mad. He or
/ gained an armed posse and went 10 the
( house privately about dusk and spent sew
] eral nights there. The representative Of
| the MORNING News asked him if
he didn't think it rather late
/ 10 lock the door after the horse had
/ been stolen. His reply conveys a very ac-
curate idea of the terrorism that prevailed
here. oh, no" he said the flooring and
/ the marble mantels are still here, and there
are some Cd Is and ends Of lumber and the
walls and ceilings They'll come back tor
them" He is still keeping his nightly
| vigils
There is no regular detective force at
tached To the police here, although three
! policemen are detailed Tor detective work,
and they are good detectives. TOO. For g
month The city has been waging an uncOm-
promising war against tramps and Migrants,
but the city was handicapped. 1t had no
| jail, and the stOckade, which is doing duty
! for Jail, has only limited capacity. This
| soon became crowded and it became neceS-
sary TO let the Migrants loose.
| The detectives were very much puzzled !;
the robberies were 50 systematically planned
and 50 successfully executed that they were
entirely baffed In almost every instance
these two young rogues would ENTER the house
without breaking the locks. They usually
Skinned Up the piazza posts, went through
the house, plundered the pantry, enjoyed
meal, committed nuisance, usually in the
parlor, and then went out through the front
door. The officer who arrested them made
! one Of them climb post just to show the
representative Of the News how he could do
it. have seen a cat climb a tree when a
bootjack was following him, but for easy,
scientific, perfect climbing the young
burglar would discount any cat in christen-
dom
THE DETAILS OF THE ARREST
have already been published in the MORN
ING NEWS. The rogues were arrested in a
back kitchen on one of the principal
thoroughfares in the city, and in their room
was discovered a vast quantity of stolen
goods. The news of the rest was speedily
noised abroad, and for two days the police
station was crowded with victims many of
them succeeding in identifying lost articles.
Later in the day the detectives unearthed
an accompllce, one-legged negro who lived
nearby and in whose possession they found
large quantity Of jewelry. From the
Identification Of the stolen articles it is
evident that this gang have been perpetrat-
ing most of the burglaries that have
been committed here during the past six
months
What have they done with the most valu-
| able goods they stolel This is the question
that agitates thinking minds in the commu-
nifty just now. The one-legged negro.
Penensn, could hardly have disposed of ali
the jewelry. 1t was found that he melted
the gold and silver articles brought to him
| by the thieves, but he could hardly have
disposed of them all. Burglars rarely carry
gold and silver ware to the Junk shops. al
| though they get rid of lead and copper pipes
! by their assistance. A growing conviction
prevails that there must be some dealers in
Charleston who have convenient consciences
and who do not scrutlnlze too closely the
purchases they make.
The arrest of these three negroes has GER
tainly relieved the public mind of great
fear, and sleep will return to many house
holds the inmates of which have not had
perfect rest for many nights.
THE LICENSE AGITATION HAS SUBSIDIZED
some what. The City Treasurer states that
the aggregate amount paid in for licenses
this year, is about 81, 600 behind the amount
paid in last year The Anti-License Asso-
citation claims to have about $50 members,
and they also declare that they will fight
the case. They will have an opportunity TO
do so, as the city has employed a detective
to get up the evidence The greatest diff
Guilty the association seems to have, is TO
get counsel to undertake the fight No
eminent lawyer will undertake a losing
case, and the law in this State is 50 clear
having been passed upon by the Supreme
Court-that it is difficult to get lawyer to
make the fight.
The Anti-License Association however.
is n small affair compared with the vast
army of merchants who have paid their
Licenses simply in spirit of fairness to the
new administration. There are numbers of
leading merchants here who are opposed to
the license system, but who refused to go
into the anti-license combination because
they bad no desire to hamper the city gov
ernment. These merchants will probably
hold a meeting. discuss the matter fairly
and calmly, and will then go to City Coun-
Gil, as did the merchants Of Augusta and
state their views. With a knowledge of
the opposition to the license system the
Council may perhaps discover some means
of raising the requisite revenue without
license.