The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1892-06-03
hsEAN rHIEvINa.
A stylish FI1Isf who stole ContrIbutls-s
70 che Poor

A stylish thief who stole ContrIbutIo1a
70 the Poor
''Do you know the loyFest-doyyu trick
I ever heard of2" inquired a detective
whose engagements give him as much
time Ia New York as Chicago A mega
tive answer was made with considera-
bic curiosity as to the reply &c would
elicit
well sir," continued the officer, s.I
met him on the platform of the Sixth
avenue railway station ut Park place
two nights before last Christmas
had been iaying FOR him for two weeks.
but no opportunity presented Itself for
detecting his identity till then Queer
JOB. that isn't it-iuyiug for the mean
est, lowest-doWn man alives OF course
that wasn't the technical charge ON
which wanted him- You can't arrest
a man just for being generally mean
and low-doyvu and cusscd, and if you
did You couldn't convict him
NO, had @ blank warrant for this
fellow on a very definite and dis
agreeable charge grand larceny, in
fact-but his peculiar form Of larceny
just lacked being as mean as that OF
the mythical gentleman who stole the
copPcFs OF his deceased grandmother
eyes
cat all the elevated stations in New
York, fastened by a brass bracket
against the outer wall, in plain view,
are two heavy glass globes, with slots
in the top The yellow background
and the red cross OF Geneva sufficient
~ announce their purpose without the
printed legend beneath. They are boxes
for the reception of voluntary contrlbu-
tons for the free hospitals Of New York
city.
"Nov, along about the holidays.
when the spit OF merriment and good
viii breeds generous thoughts I'm every
soul, these little transformations boxes
gather silver very rapidly. The ones
downtown, below Eighth street. iu
fact, are generally filled every twenty
four hours with uiclsels, dimes and
quarters dropped in by those OF the
rushing throng who aren't in too great a
hurry to remember the unfOri % tie
sufferers in the hospital
Now, for month or more before
Christmas these globes would occasion
ally be found broken by the collectors,
never more than one or two O night
and always at different stations. I was
put on the job below Park place and
another man above. spent two weeks
lOafing around the stations, going from
one to another on the trains, and finally
assured myself that the theft occurred
about the time the last train went up
town at night. + Travelled on that last
train, getting of and on again at every
station for three days, but with no re-
suits. Yet every morning another globe
would be found broken and its contents
gone AT last I decided to put in one
entire night Mt the Park place station,
for the globes there filled better than
at any other point I went up with the
crowd bound for the last train, but
snealzed around behind a dirt-boE and
didn't get aboard. All the rest did but
one. He was "a young fellow, well
dressed, wearing a silk hat and a nice
OvercOat, and carrying a shawl-strap.
He made "a rush to board the train as
It pulled out, but just late enough to
have the gates closed on him. Then he
asked the guard the time OF the first
out train In the early morning, and
started as if to leave by the down town
side-stairwny. But he only went half
way down, waited till he heard the
guard retire to the warm office, aud
came back. Aftera careful scrutiny he
walked quietly up to the globe, nearly
full of silver, drew from his shuvvl-strap
"a heavy piece of blanket and a sort of
big nut-cracller made of iron and nearly
two feet long. He first wrapped the
blanket tightly around the glass globe
in che brass bracket, chen put the iron
nut-cruclzers outside Of ali, squeezed
smithereens with hardly an audible
sound. He quickly packed no glass,
nut-cracker, cash, and all as it lay in
the blanket, strapped the sbawI-strap
around, and then stepped out and
called him lie got i've years, and he
ought to have had twenty, 1t was the
meauest sort OF thieving that I've ever
| come acOss in my professional career. "
Chicago Times