The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-12-15
THE BELL TOLLED,
Mrs. lilies ASSallant Caught
Through a Striking
Clock.
WAS THE FOURTH PRECINCT BURGLAR
He Lived on the Heights and
Was Considered a Hard
Working Baker.
When the Police Caught Him His
Neighbors Identified Him as
an Honest Man-StorY Of
His Capture.
WAS THE FOURTH PRECINCT BURGLAR

The mystery which for three months
has enshrouded the burglaries in the
Fourth precinct, on the Heights. and
which subjected Chief Murphy and his
subordinates to the severest criticism,
has been cleared away, and again Chief
Murphy has won the compliment paid to
him by Inspector Byrnes of New York
that he is ''one of the best, most perse-
vering and intelligent chiefs Of police in
this country"
Not only have the burglaries been
cleared up but the perpetrator is in
custody and seventy-five per cent. of the
stolen property is where his victims can
reclaim it.
In addition to all this, the murderous
assailant of pluclly Mrs. Elmer Hile, who
was stabbed while she battled with the
thief in the darkness to prevent his
escape, releasing her hold upon him only
when faint from the loss OF blood. has
been caught.
The burglaries. thirty in number, were
committed by one man. His vocation,
general responsibility and shrewdness
are the factors which threw the police
off the track. Twice he was in custody,
but each time released. although at the
time he had concealed on his person
plunder gathered in that very night.
His brazen effrontery may be con-
ceived to some extent when it is known
that in one instance he communicated
with his victim with a view to selling
back TO her the property he had stolen
The prisoner is confined in the Tombs,
New York. To the police of that city
he is known as John Doe, no home. To
Chief Murphy ne is Albert Alberts,
German, baker by trade, with wife and
one child, a boy one year old, and
home at No. 4S Ege avenue
CAUGHT IN NEW YORK.
His arrest was made in New York, and
the circumstances of it are as peculiar
as his conduct while burglarizing houses
on the Heights is sensational While
thefts were of almost nightly occurrence
in this city, occasionally houses lying
in that section of New York between
One Hundred and Second and One Hun
dred and Twenty-sixth streets and Sec
ond and Third avenues were entered in
the same way as the houses in this city.
That section of the city is in the Twenty
ninth precinct, and is presided over by
Captain Brooks All efforts of the
police of the precinct and special detec-
tives from Inspector Byrnes' staff to
catch the burglar were of no avail.
On December Policeman Shay was
patrollng East One Hundred and Fourth
street, near Fourth avenue, when he
noticed man acting suspieiously in the
neighborhood of some apartment houses.
He shadowed him. The man entered
hallway, and Shay followed him. Shay
was about to ask him his business when
he was surprised to hear clock striking.
The noise came from rude package
which was held tightly under the sus-
picious mans arm. He could not ex-
plain how he came into possession of
the clock and was accordingly arrested.
He assumed the name of John Doe, and
was committed to the Tombs to await
trial That same day it was learned
that the clock he had in his possession
had been stolen from a house in Second
avenue, which had been burglarized the
night previous.
EVIDENTLY THE SAME MAN.
It was during the months of September,
October and November that all the rob-
berries which terrorized residents of the
Heights were committed. All of the
house breaking was done in the same
manner, by breaking a pane of glass in
a basement window and pushing back
the lock or boring through doors and
slipping the bolts or spring locks. The
value of property stolen was great, and
the failure of the police to even check
the burglaries alarmed everyone. To
nQeet this emergency Chief Murphy in
creased the number of policemen in the
Fourth district from fourteen to thirty
four every night Extra vigilance was
imposed at all the ferries to pick up
suspicious characters. Every trolley car
that left the ferry after midnight had a
policeman in citizens dress for a pas
senger to the end of the route. All of
the city's exits were guarded and the
western slope of the Hill was patrolled
hourly. Everything to check the run of
house breaking was done. In the neigh
borflood where the robberies were of
most frequent occurrence two and three
policemen patrolled every block. Despite
all these precautions the robberies con-
tinued; the police seemed helpless to put
an end to them. Chief Murphy was dunn
founded and for weeks MADE tours of
the Hill all night long.
Policemen made a house to house search
for strangers. Respectable citizens were
stopped by the police at night and put
through an examination. SO many reput-
able citizens were held up and made to
prove their respectability that Chief Muir
pny was finally appealed to to put
STOP to it, He refused, declaring that no
citizen should feel offended at being
asked to give an account of himself when
houses were being entered nightly and
peoples property confiscated.
Detective Colville Smith was put on
the case. He worked like major, but
he was compelled to saclSnowledge that
the burglar or burglars baffied him.
Smith could not get a clew as to what
disposition was being made of all the
property taken from the houses.
MRS. HILE'S ADVENTURE
On the morning of September 20 af-
fairs reached a climax. The home of
Elmer Hile. a stereotyper in the employ
of 1.-The Jersey City News, was entered.
His wife, a we'll built and muscular young
woman, was awakened by a noise in
her room. She arose to light the gas,
and in making her way around by the
footboard, stumbled over a man who was
in a crouching position. Before she had
time to move he seized her by the throat
and hissed in her ear, Scream and I'll
kill you." Mrs. Hile screamed, neyerthe-
less and then began terrible struggle.
Her husband lay in bed and never moved.
He explained subsequently that he had
been cfloroformed.
His wife clung to the burglar and never
released her hold upon him until he bru-
taily plunged dagger into her leg near