The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-03-31
TOO FOND OF POSIES.
Policeman Cooper Must
Have Systematically
Robbed Florist
Reid.
OVER $1,000 WORTH TAKEN
The officer Caught with ll5
Jacks Over Three Blocks
from His Post.

-
The arrest of a policeman on q charge
of entering and larceny is not a common
occurrence, and it is no wondert hat tne
residents of the Greenville section are
exercised over the only case OF that KIND
ever known in the district.
John Reid is widely known as a florist.
His hot houses cover several acres and his
business is one of the most extensive and
important of Hudson county.
Saturday, as has been briefly told in
THE JERSEY CITY NEWS, his n%eighbors
and the police were astonished to learn
that his hot houses had been entered Fri
day night and robbed of q large quantity
of choice roses, and that a policeman.
well known, and bearing previously an
excellent reputation, was the thlef.
Griffith Cooper, q young man OF twenty
five years, who has been on the force
about four years, is the policeman who
was caught IN the act OF robblng the hot
houses, and who, in addition to wrecKing
his reputation, has brought disgrace upon
his mother and sister, respected residents
OF Greenville.
The facts of the case, as gathered yes
terday from Mr.. Reid and his employees,
are as follows
-4L 1ld0u al u l. -
Hubers, went to Mr.. Reidsand begged for
a job of work. He was destitute and
wiling to work, as he said, for his board.
Mr.. Reid was not in want OF help, Il ne
took pity on the man and set MIN at work
in picking dead leaves from plants at u
per day. Two weeks later he increased
Hubers' wages to 81 per week, and after a
few weeks, when his night fireman left,
he put Hubers in his place at 50 a week.
Hubers' duties included watching the
green houses.
SYSTEMATIC ROBBERY.
stF0r several months said Mr.. Reid to
a JERSEY CITY NEWS reporter yesterday,
''my houses have been systematically
robbed from time to time. My choicest
flowers have been cut and carried away,
and ! presume at least 81 1000 worth or
flowers nave been stolen from me. /
could not get on to the thief. but sus-
pected two parties N bided my time.
about the 1st of February / took in
my employ a young florist named Walter
Erwald, who came with a first-class
recommendation from Mr.. Zundel, a
florist of Haverstraw. He soon noticed
the disappearance of flowers, and he and
my foreman conversed with me on the
subject.
Last Sunday night one Of the houses
was entered, and the registers were un-
screwed, causing q damage Of $500 to my
plants. This, l think, was done TO divert
suspicion from the guilty parties to my
employees.
Walter Erwald thought Friday night a
good one to watch for the thief, and
he was correct in his ideas. He
secreted himself in one of the houses,
and sometime after midnight he was sur
prised at seeing in an adjoining house
a policeman in full uniform engaged in
cutting the choicest roses. Erwald qnietly
came to my house and called me ont, and
we caught Policeman Cooper in the house
engaged in his work. He had visited four
of the houses, and had cut liz choice
roses. Icould hardly believe my senses.
4 had been his friend for years, and had
regarded him as an excellent man. Last
fall | worked hard to have him appointed
sergeant, sand we were always on Intimate
terms, q there he was revealed as a
thief.
MISTAKEN CLEMENCY.
II seized him with the intention of tax
ing him to the police station, but he
pleaded SO hard that l finally told him to
go, and to never let me see him again.
Then went for the Waterman Hubers.
| fired him out of the place, n old him
to come for his wages Saturday night.
when l thought the matter over, I
saw / had made a mistake in not arrest
ing both Cooper and Hubers. / went to
the station and reported the case to Ser
geant Solomon, who said he would arrest
Cooper when he came off duty, on a
charge of entering and larceny, and he
did so. Z
Cooper never stole the flowers for his
use. Other parties were implicated
with him, and | am determined to get at
the bottom of the matter. OF course my
Waterman was in with him. He did not
come for his wages last night and / am
afraid he has skipped.
II feel very sorry for Cooper. but he
has brought it all upon himself. He
could have had all the flowers he wanted
for the asking. Were he not a public
officer, entrusted with the protection of
citizens and their property, l would not
press the charge against him, but / know
it is my duty to make an example of him
under the circumstances"
Mr.. Reid's property is moi within the
territory patroled by Cooper. In order to
get to it he had to travel three long
blocks from his own post. He refuses to
make any explanation other thar the
statement that the Waterman gave him
permission to get the flowers. He denies
that he ever sold the flowers.
Before Justice Wanser Cooper viewed
an examination and gave bonds in $500
to appear for trial, Thomas Harrigan be-
came his bondsman.