The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-11
A PENCHANT FOR JEWELRY.
A HOUSEKEEPER WHO TOOK VAL
TABLE ARTICLES AND KEPT
THEM.

She Left Some of the Articles with
n Dressmnker, Who Happened 20
Mention IL 10 One of the Ladies
From Whom They Were stolen.
Detective WetherhOrn Found Her
in Charge of Mr.. }. +. Minis Resi-
dence and Recovered Nearly All
the Property-she VIII Not BE
Prosecuted.
A rather strange story Of the operations
Of a woman who has been taken into the
confidence Of several well known families
has just come TO light.
About a year and a half or two years ago
a comely English woman of 50 or 40 years
came TO Savannah and entered the en-
ploy Of Mai. L. NJ Warneld, on Abercorn
street. as housekeeper. After she had been
with him for some months an old family
relic, double case gold watch, was miss
ed. Shortly afterward long gold neck
chain, which was valued very highly. also
disappeared. 1t was suspected at the time
that some of the servants in the house
had stolen the articles, but they could not
be traced. The matter was reported 10 the
city detectives at that time. but nothing
was ever done with it.
Some time after this Miss Hartridge,
daughter Of Maj. A. L. Hartridge, visited
at Mai. Wariields for a while. and during
her stay there she lost three handsome
rings. all Of which she valued very high
~. Their disappearance could not be &C
counted for though il was believed, as IN
the first instance, that they had been taken
by some Of the servants in the house The
woman In question, who gave her name as
Fannie Harper, was never suspected OF
having taken them.
Several months ago she left the employ
of Mai. Warfield and was employed for a
while by Mr.. John II. Cavanaugh. While
she was there Mrs Cavanaugh missed
gold comb, a silk dress pattern, diamond
stud and a ring belonging to her daugh-
ter. Miss Harper, after leaving Mr.. Cav
anaugh's employ, carried the dress pat
tern and the comb to dressmaker TO keep
for her This was what accidentally
caused her detection. The dressmaker in
question happened to mention TO Mrs. Cav
anaugh the fact that certain articles were
left with her by Miss Harper and described
them. They were at once recognized, and
an investigation of the matter was begun
at once.
Both Mr.. Cavanaugh and Maj Warfield
placed the matter in the hands of Detec-
tive Wetherhorn, who found that Miss
Harper was then in charge of the resi-
dence Of Mr., j. f. Minis, at Whitaker and
CASTOR street, during his absence in Eu-
rope. He went there with a search war
rant and told her his mission. He showed
his authority and stated he would have TO
search her room. She appeared somewhat
excited, but got some keys and took him
in one of the rooms of the house, which
he at once realized was hardly such as
would be occupied by the housekeeper.
He found he could get little out of her and
finally told her she would have to go to
the barracks. She said she was willing to
go with him, and went into a small room
for a few minutes, locking herself in.
When she came out she told him she had
found the keys to her trunk and sachel
and handed them to him.
After making thorough search of the
room he found none Of the articles except
Mrs. Cavanaugh's comb. This the woman
claimed was her own, stating it had been
given her by a drummer from Boston
some years ago. She was told that she
would have to go to the barracks unless
she produced the aticles wanted, but that
if she gave them up. in accordance with
the instructions of those from whom they
had been taken, she would not be ar
rested. When she was satisfied on that
point she said she would produce the ar
ticles. She then brought out the gold
watch, the chain, two of Miss Hartridge's
rings and the silk dress pattern belong
ing to Mrs. Cavanaugh. All of these ar
ticles were identified by their owners, but
she had not given up all the articles that
were missing.
Detective Wetherhorn made another
visit to the house and told her that there
were still some articles which she had not
returned. She protested that she had CIV
en- back everything she had taken, but he
told her he would have to make another
search. He went through her room again
and noticed her trying to hide her pocket
book. He told he he could make the
search unaided, and securing the pocket
book found in ii all of the other missing
articles with the exception of one heavy
gold ring belonging to Miss Hartridge.
She claimed that all the articles taken the
second time belonged to her
Several other articles of jewelry, some
OF which was quite valuable, We're found
in the pocket book. Among them were a
pearl wreath, fob chain with q gold dol
lar marked Fannie" a scarf pin, a dia-
mond stud, two gold rings and fountain
pen. She claims that these are all her
own, and unless some of them are identi-
fed by other parties in a reasonable time
they will be returned to her Another
housekeeper has been put in her place by
Mr.. Minis agent.
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