The morning call., 1894-09-10
ROBBED IN DIVES.
Crime Is Rampant on the
Barbary Coast.
Revival of the Panel SeaIers
Fall Among Thieves at Big
Bertha'S Resort.

The return Of the sealers from the Arctic
Ocean has caused a marked revival of
"business" on the Barbary Coast and the
careworn faces of the divekeepers are
Frightening with hope. The busy season
on the coast Is also a busy season for the
police, who, while it lasts, are required to
investigate unnumbered cases of robbery
committed by the owners or attaches of
the deadfalls. Few of these cases ever
reach the the Police courts or are heard of
outside of police headquarters, as the
victims have excellent reasons cloaking
their misfortun es and little or nothing is
gained by causing the arrest Of the
offenders.
Several rObberies were committed dur
ing the past week, but in every case the
police were unable to do anything for the
vic i'm. The first of these occurred last
Monday, when 70 oil and his money were
part d in a box at the Bella Union. The
young man, who sail his name was VIII
liam Miller-and perhaps 1t was-came in
from the country with an urgent desire to
blow himself" He mingled with the
glddy throng that gathered in the thealer
aud was conducted to n box. where the
hours gathered around i'm.
| They were suffering acutely for cham
payne. ana he being TOO chIvalrous to see
the sweet young things in distress, opened
MS heart and purse and made merry with
them. He does not know how it happened,
but he fell asleep, and when be awoke
two hours after he entered the theater
there were eighteen empty champagne
bottles each 0f which had held quart,
at his feet. He rubbed his eyes and ex-
amined his purse, finding 30 his eOnSterna-
tion hat he was minus $500.
They told him that he had spent the
money for wine and that he was real
nj ,hryN h.
welcome there. The nice young man re-
lated MS experience in the box to police
man, but was told that nothing could be
done as the people at the theater wou
swear that he spent his lost cash for wine.
Big Bertha, the notorious confidence
queen, has a "theater" Oh Montgomery
avenue near Pacific. The place is licensed
by the Police Commissioners, who are
supposed 10 know what kind of people
frequent ii, but this is what happened
there last Friday night Two young
sealers, each with 5000 in his pocket, the
result of his summers labor in The Arctic,
entered the place and we're quickly joined
by two of the ladies in waiting" They
drank beer for which they paid one dollar
bottle and chattad with the "ladies."
Their experience cost them $780,
After emerging from the place they ac-
costed a policeman and told him they had
been robbed. He returned with them 10
the theater, but they were unable To find
the women who had made themselves so
agreeabls during the evening.
The ''paner game was played at seal
er's expense in one of the houses of Ill
fame on kearny street, near Broadway,
Saturday night He lost S25 in tha den,
and when he went back with a policeman
the place was in darkness and the den was
fastened with a paddock. Many similar
cases have been reported, but in no case
has the luckless adventurer on the coast of
vice been able to recover his lost property.