The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-03-07
MOTHER MANDELBAUM.

Observation-Disclosures
On this side of the continent the name
of Mother MaHdelbaum is known to few /;
on the other side it was few years ago a
household word. For Mother MaDdelbaum
was the most successful 'fence" in the
United States. Now she is dead, leaving
history that VIII class with the biog-
raphies of Jack Sheppard and Cartouche.
The woman was German. who. some
forty years ago, started a small thread and
needle store in an obscure quarter of New
York City. She was shrewd, made money
and saved 1t, and established an excellent
credit among the wholesale dry-goods
dealers. Her store was we'll stocked; she
sold at moderate prices; her goods were
what she represented them to be; she got
quite run of customers. But the woman
was not content with the small gains of a
retail dealer. One day, stranger offered
her for sale some parcels Of fine goods. His
unwillingness to answer questions revealed
his story TO the woman; she bought the
goods at the thiei's price. and significantly
observed that she would take more of
them. 1t soon became known that Mother
Mandelbaum stood ready TO buy goods at
fair price for cash without inquiring too
closely into the vendors title. Numerous
thieves in New York soon flOcked to her
with theft booty. She offered solution of
the most difficult problem IN their calling.
For thief's work Is only half done when
he has committed his theft; he cannot live
on spoons or earrings; he must convert
them into cash; and if he offers them at
any reputable dealers store be is apt to be
QallQd fnr a IL
and to see the proceeds of his theft con-
fiscated. He generally resorts to the pawn
shops, but the pawnbrokers, easily reck-
oniDg up their man. offer him one-fifth or
one-sxth the value of the goods, and sig
nificantly hint that he had better take the
offer. What is worse. when the police
come round they readily exhibit the goods
and describe the appearance Of the man
who pledged them. a safe Fence" who
will pay something like half the value of
the goods and will be dumb as an oyster
when the police come round, is an indis-
pensable annex to a community of thieves
Such a fence Mother Mandelbaum
proved. Her capital was apparently in
exhaustible. She was always prepared to
buy. She rarely sold her goods in New
York. They were shipped TO her cor
respondents in Boston, Albany, Philadel-
phla. Baltimore and Chicago, and sold
often at auction. Thus she was never out
of funds. The police vainly endeavored to
induce her to betray her customers. They
arrested her time and again and worried
her with search warrants. But her lips
were set like iron, and she could neither
be convicted herself nor could evidence be
got out of Der to convict her dealers.
There came time when it looked as
though Mother Mandelbaum was a match
for all the police and district attorneys
and justices in the city.
Some eleven years ago the great dry
goods houses began to miss valuable silks
and laces Suspicion as usual fell on
Mother Maudelbaum. The case was
placed In the hands OF the Pinkertons. A
smart young detective In their employ was
engaged by a Broadway dry-goods store,
and set to work in the silk department.
Several pieces of silk. which bore secret
mark on Them by the proprietor Of the
store, were distracted by the clerk de-
tectiVe and sold by him TO Mother Mandel-
baum. Within an hour the police were at
her place with search warrant and the
goods were seized. She was arrested and
released on $4,000 bail. The Pinkertons,
we'll knowing their woman, never lost
sight of her. One of their men camped in
view Of her door. One morning a woman
with bent back and corpulent figure,
which was easily identified as Mother
Mandelbaum, and wearing the Mothers
well-known hat and shawl, issued from
the house. took a cab and drove all over
the city. Pinkerton's man, also in a cab,
never lost sight of her. But when the day
drew to a close and the cab returned to the
Mandelbaum dwelling he perceived to his
disgust that the woman he had been chas-
ing was not the Mother, but her maid
Mother NJ andelbaum herself was on her
way to Canada by way of New England.
She settled at Hamilton. Ontario. Efforts
were made to extradite her. but she en-
gagged the ablest lawyers in Canada and
the requisition papers were returned to
New York without her. She lived ten
years in her new home, quietly and I'M
obtrusveiy. She was reputed to be worth
half a million, and woman with so much
money never wants friends. She once
paid flying visit to New York to attend
her daughters funeral. but before the
police walked up to her presence she was
back in Canada again. Last week she
was arrested on warrant which cannot
be disobeyed. 1t was issued from the
Court of Death, and to it the wicked old
woman bowed