New-York tribune., 1896-11-22
THE PROPERTY CLERK
HIS VALUABLE COLLECTION OF STOLEN
GOODS-SOME PECULIARITIEs
OF THE LAW

GOODS-SOME PECULIARITIES
OF THE LAW.
On the first floor as you enter Police Headou.,
ters, at No 500 Muberry-st. .at the extreme es..
end of the hall Is a doorway guarded by an ,ro~
door A short flight Of three stairs leads up int.
the room beyond and the first object to attract th
eye as one enters for the first time Is huge SAL.
which stands directly opposite the entrance ANA
which bears on its massive door the sign PROPERTY
Clerk. Police Department Of the City of Nev.
York" Just at the right Of the safe another doo,
opens into a large room arranged with wooden com.
partments on all four sides of the walls filled with
articles of every description. which resemble.
down to the smallest detail. a regular junkshon
AT times the value OF the property stored In mi.
room and in the safe amounts up into the hundred.
OF thousands of dollars, including, it does m.
property of all kinds which In the course OF daiv
routine. falls into the hands of the Police Depart
ment. John +. Harriet. the property clerk and hi,
assistants kept busy classifying and storny
away the property which is constantly being placed
in their charge and SO rapidly does 1t accumulate
that 1t is necessary every now and then TO have an
auction sale OF old and unclaimed stuff in order IA
get it out of the way. These sales we'll worth
attending for by the nature OF the goods sold and
the character Of the buyers. who are generally
Polish Jews from the East Side. end Of amuss
ment is afforded
Every now and then the property clerk jumps into
notoriety by reason of the circumstances which
place in his charge property Of value which must
be held awaiting the decision Of the Grand Jury or
the courts The most recent case is that OF Jobn
f. Gates president Of the Illinois Steel Companv
who while stopping at the Waldorf, lost pocket.
book containing a large sum OF money. together
with several annual railroad passes detective Was
put on the case. and was successful in catching the
thieves who proved to be two walters employed
at the hotel They had taken the money and hidden
it, The walters confessed their guilt when brought
up before Magistrate Mott. and the money was
found.
The peculiar feature Of the affair was that the
Magistrate ordered that the purse and its contents
be placed according to the usual legal process In
the hands Of the property clerk until the Grand
Jury had taken action on the case In view Of the
fact that the walters had confessed their wrong
doing and also that Mr.. Gates was in urgent need
OF the money TO enable him to return to his home
in the West this disposition Of the property ap-
peared a little unusual But there was nothing for
Mr.. Gates to do but submit with the best grace he
could summon up and look TO another source for
redress This he did by securing from the District
Attorney after much labor and red tape. an order
for the release of the property held by the property
clerk. The loss OF the purse occurred on Friday
night and the order for the release OF the prop
ertv was obtained on the following Wednesday,
being given in order to permit Mr.. Gates 10 leave
town to attend TO important business
This case is only OF many which have hap
pened in this and the other large cities OF the United
States and TO the casual reader there appears little
reason for such action on the part OF magistrates
In thus tying up property. TO the great annoyance
and inconvenience OF the owner. when there is left
no question as 70 the guilt Of the thieves But the
Magistrate has his side Of the story. and 1t was tod
TO a Tribune reporter who was making inquiry Into
the matter.
1t appears that the law requires that all properly
which falls into the hands OF the police under such
circumstances shall be placed in the hands OF the
property clerk be brought out as evidence against
the prisoners when their cases shall come up for
trial All property In the property clerks hands Is
held subject TO the order of the DisrictAorney on
subpoena II the properly were at once returned
to the owner 1t is said that in large majority Of
cases the owners would fail TO appear against the
prisoners when the up for trial, and thus
those who were really guilty would be discharged
and escape the punishment due them. II Is not
however necessary for the owner to wait until the
case comes before the Grand Jury or is tried. for
can go to the District-Attorney and get from him
an order releasing the property upon giving surrey
that he will be responsible for being present to I'D
in prosecuting the case or producing the goods tor
evidence.
Mr.. Harriet now has a suit on his hands brought
by a pawnbroker for delivering certain goods BY
order Of the DisrictAttorney. 1t is connected win
the Kaufman case. Kaufmanr a Jeweller sold unoe!
some peculiar circumstances a lot OF Jewels vaiuea
al several thousand dollars. These were taken 70
pawnbrokers, and repevin action were taken
from the latter and placed In the care OF MI hatrlo.
10 await decision In the case. on an order irom
the District Attorney all the property excepting one
diamond sunburst was delivered over to hautmsain IMAM
on the acceptance Of the surety or oond onerel
The property first found its way into the properly
clerks hands In 1872 and was given over as ABOVE
stated in 1894 The sunburst is still in the nands o.
the clerk and here. two years after. he Is being
sued the case being In the Supreme Court. 70,
tie recovery OF about 600 worth OF unreueemeo
pledges. $3.50 ,< ....
Mr. Harriet has been In Office about fifteen years
and during that time has been the defendant IN over
one hundred and twenty lawsuits, coming out vcto
rlous in every instance.
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