Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-15
MYSTERIOUS AS EVER,
No Glue Found to the Much-Looked- For
Burglars
fursufng Their Slashfnx Career-Acts
oh vandalism - Cutting Furniture
and Curtafns-Houses Visited.

Thus far the police have been coun,ete,v
at sea regarding the burglars who have
operated at so many houses and committed
acts OF vandalism in addition to carving
on what money and jewelry they found.
All sorts OF theories have been suggested
ana advanced, but while the theories are
uhder discussion the burglars are operating
ana many women are living in a state OF
nervous excitement. Many locks ana bolts
nave peen put on doors during the mast
'hree weeks and many doors are barred
.hat were never securely fastened before.
al oio member OF the police force said this
morning that last night, for the first time
IN many years, he carried his outer CAR
ments to his bed room ana laid tbay, s.f.iv
on chair at his bedside.
Can the man be a crankY' some of ths
officers are asking.
ne can hardly be that, they think because
II Is almost certain that there are two per-
SUNS oolng the work, perhaps a man ana a
ooy ana should the man be a crank 4. A
hardiy lair to presume that the boy would
SUCK to him as he evidently has done I'm
the past
When the first two crimes were commit
TED IT was thought that revenge was the
man motive. This idea, however no long,
CT prevails as the depredations have been
committed at various houses and the same
man could hardly have had a grujes
against the families Of persons in SO many
oinerent walks in life and who are total
strangers to each other.
And so the officers have about concluded
that the perpetrator of the crimes is a des-
perate criminal and his motive is robbery.
II is true, that not much valuable property
mas peen taken away, but that is, perhaps,
because the robber has not come across
much of the kind he wants. jewelry and
money. be evidently will not take any
tnlng bulky for fear OF being oyerhauled
on the street ana caught because he IL
trying to take OF something that will Only
sell TOR few dollars ana which might be
the means OF getting him sent TO prison for
the remainder of his natural life. At the
residence of Judge Miller he took a pair OF
cum buttons. while at the house OF Nick
Young he carried on some small silver or
narnents. Then at the house OF MIR. Harb'a
last Saturday night a watch and a small
amount of money disappeared. The sob
berry OF the store Of Smith d HELEN was
the most daring job of all and Il is thOlgnl
that this was perpetrated by the same bur-
glars, VINO nave visited the other houses, az
the molasses and vinegar was let loose
from the barrels and other property was
destroyed In front Of the store there In
an electric light and the store was also
brightly lighted In this case IL was GER
tainly not the work of an avenger. TIE
proprietors have not served on 1uries where
they might have incurred the enmity OF
burglars and in their neighborhood they
enjoy the reputation of being extremely
charitable as they are constantly contrib
uttng to the poor families.
In conducting the Investigation In two Of
the cases, where the house was entered by
putting the hand through a hole made with
a brace and bit, the officers discovered that
the holes were of unusually small size for
such purpose and nothing larger than the
/ hand OF child could get through them.
The burglar1es are evidently well planned
and the work Of elaboration, and the oper-
ators are never in a great hurry. That they
remain in a house long time is evident
from the damage they do. At the house OF
Mr.. Hardin, for instance, a thorough search
was made. Furniture and lace curtains were
destroyed and even the table linen did not
escape them. The napkins were found and
the vandals spent time enough to cut Q
hole in each one Of them, rendering them
valueless.
Maj. Moore has discussed the affair with
his heutenants several times. and yesterday
it was decided to change the hour OF the
midnight relief Heretofore the men have
changed at II O'Clock and during the half
hour or more some parts of the precincts
were left uncovered. Monday night the hour
was changed and the officers went out In
citizens clothes.
While the "slasher" and cutter" was not
caught, the change worked well, and Ser
geant McTaggart and Policeman Carson,
who looked like any ordinary private citi-
zens, captured two young negro burglsrs-
They were on New Jersey avenue north
west between L and NJ streets when they
came across the two negroes. 1t was after
/ O'Clock in the morning. and suspecting
something wrong the officers placed them
under arrest Their pockets were filed WIN
cigars. tobacco and numerous articles such
as are found in any ordinary grocery store.
and of to the police station they went
There the prisoners confessed that they had
entered and robbed the store OF Jesse Z.
Gladmon, corner OF New Jersey avenue and
Pierce street. They had pried open the door
with Jimmy and had removed more than
500 worth of groceries to a vacant lot near
by, from where they had expected to take
them later in the morning. The patrol
wagon was sent to the not and the goods
were taken 10 the police station. Yesterday
morning the prisoners were measured ana
photographed for the rogues' gallery. Their
names were given as James Washington,
alias Tony Branson. and Buddie Smith.
Later in the day they were taken into the
Police Court and Judge Miller committed
them to Jail in default of 81 900 bail to await
the action of the grand jury.
Now that the change among the oS1ceU
has worked so well, Maj. Moore has under
Amusement the question of putting a por-
ton of the detective corps on night duty.