The morning call., 1891-07-09
THEFT FROM A COUPE.
Mrs. II. j. O'Connor Loses a
Satchel Containing $4,000.
Mysterious Disappearance of the Property No
Clsw to the Thief-Evidertly the Work
Of Bold Sneak.

One Of the boldest quickest and most
mysterious cases of robbery that can be
found in the criminal records of the State
occurred in this city yesterday afternoon.
ALI the circumstances of the case tend to
show that the robbery was performed by a
master hand at the art of sneak-tllieving,
and the successful operator succeeded in
making big haul.
The loss, something like $4,000, falls upon
Mrs. NJ. j. OConnor of San Rafael. The
most strenuous efforts were made to keep
the affair secret, but CALL reporter sue
ceeded in obtaining the facts of the mys-
FERROUS larceny, which are as follows:
Mrs. OCOnnor and her daughter arrived
from San Rafael yesterday afternoon and
stopped at the Occidental Hotel. Shortly
after arriving the two ladies determined to
go shopping. A hack was summoned from
the United Carriage Company, and the
call was responded to by Frank O'Brien,
who drives coupe ACT When Mrs. OCon-
nor entered the coupe she carried with her
satchel, which contained bank checks,
jewelry and money amounting to $1,000 in
value.
AN UNLUCKY STOP.
After driving around some while the
coupe was stopped in front of candy
Both ladies descended from the coupe
aud entered the candy-store. Mrs.
O'Connor left her satchel in the coupe. 1t
Is claimed that she told the driver to look
out Tor 1t. The ladies' remained in tile
candy-stOTe only few minutes, and when
they returned to the carriage the satchel
was gone. The driver, O'Brien, claimed
never to have left his seat on the box. The
door OF the coupe was closed, but the win
dow OF the door was open.
Inf nn hon thraa min, ms 40, oil ha
tween the going out and returning of the
occupants of the carriage. In that time, in
the most respectable and crowded thor
oughfare in the city, the sa.chel and its
contents disappeared.
THE POLICE ON THE ALERT
The police were at once notified of the
strange and bold crime, aud Detectives
Bee and Harper were set 10 work On the
case, and are still engaged in trying to trace
the thief and recover the stolen properly.
Mrs. OConn0r was completely Frustrated
by her loss, as some of the iewelry, besides
being intrinslcally valuable, was more so to
her on account of being relics Of her family.
She asked, however, that nothing be said of
her loss.
No suspicion of the theft, or completely in
the disappearance OF the valuable satchel is
attached to the driver, Frank O'Brien. He
was not arrested nor suspended from work
by his company. The officers Of the United
Carriage Company, when questioned last
night, stated that they have every con-
fiuence in him. He las been with them
ever since the company organized, and is
one OF their most trusted employees.
THE DRIVERS INTEGRITY.
They stated they would trust him with
any amount. OBrien, they say, worked
fer William Burliug for eleven years before
entering their service, and never had any
trouble before, having the best patrons in
the city. They do not think that any re-
sponsibility should be attached to him, as
he did not know what was in the satchel
and had no reason to suspect it contained
anything so valuable. They further stated
that UBrien was about as much concerned
and Frustrated with nervousness over the
mysterious case AS was the loser.
Detective Bee closely questioned O'Brien
about all the circumstances, and obtained
from Mrs. OCOnnor a description of the
stolen property 1t is supposed daring
sneak thief, with a quick eye and quicker
hand, reached into the carriage window
when the driver was not looking and walked
off with the satchel, not realizing the small
fortune which had been capured.
At the candy-store il was not known last
night that such larceny had occurred, All
they knew at that place was that satcheI
had been missed, but they knew nothing of
its value.