Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-05-10
A MAN liz THE SOFA.

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new but clever scheme for robbing
house in broad daylight was d scov-
cred yesterday among those who reside
in the fashionable part of east Seventy
sixth street. They learned that three
or four days ago furniture wagon
bearing no name was driven up to The
residence of Nathan Hoff'heimer. II
was early in the day, bur nearly all the
members of the household were absent.
The wagon remained in front Of the
door for some time aud then two men
alighted. One of them gave the door
bell vigorous pull. There were two
servants in the house at the time and
they had been watching the wagon
from the front wi. dow. One Of them
opened the door in response to the
mans ring and inquired his errand.
rs Mrs. Hotfheimer at home?" he
inquired.
No." replied the servant, "she has
gone out and will not return until late
in the afternoon.
"Well, I've got sofa which | was
ordered to leave upstairs in the front
room," the man said. Then he ex-
planned that Mrs. Hoffoeimer had or
dered the sofa from furniture house
and he had been instructed to de-
liver it.
The servant said there must be mis-
take, but the man suggested that her
employer might be displeased if he was
not allowed to leave the sofa. Then
the servant asked the man to remain at
the door few minutes while she con-
suited with the other servant about the
matter. Both servants agreed that the
circumstance was somewhat strange,
but, not knowing that Mrs. Holfneim-
er did not order sofa, they decided to
accept it. At the same time they con-
cluded to watch the men closely.
One servant went up stairs aud pre-
pared the room for the reception of the
piece of furniture. The other servants
followed, and both remained in the
room while the men accomplished their
task. The furniture van was driven
away aud the servants paidno more at
tention to the occurrence.
Later in the day the same men and the
same furniture wagon came back. The
men explained that mistake had been
made; that the sofa was not ordered by
Mrs. Hoffheimer, but by another per-
son. They offered many apologies to
the servant for the stupid blunder"
which they said had been made by one
of the shipping clerks of the furniture
store, and were permitted to take the
sofa away.
When the family returned the occur
renee was reported. Little was thought
of it until later in the evening. Ac-
cording to the story discussed among
the neighbors q search of the room de-
veloped the fact that some valuable
silver ware was missing, as well as one
or two articles of iewelry. The girls
were positive that the men could have
taken nothing, as they were closely
watched all the time they were in the
house. The family pondered over the
problem and evolved the theory that
there was third man in the case and
that he had been secreted in the lnte-
rior of the sofa.
When l called at Mr.. Hoffheimer's
residence the other night his daughter
told me nothing had been stolen from
the house. "Many persons" she said,
'including detectives, have been asking
all sorts OF questions about it.
"Now, I'll tell you how it all occur
red. A lady called at the house the
other day and told mamma a most pc
culiar story, which she had read in
book 1t was about two men who took
sofa to the house, and they had g man
hidden in it. Then they came back
and took it away, and the man mean
time had stolen lot of silver and jew
elry. Just as the lady had told mamma
this story a wagon drove up to the
door, and two men asked permission to
leave sofa here, which they said had
been ordered by her. Mamma told
them she had ordered no sofa, and they
want su,oy IN Y HernJ1