Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-09
CACHE OF PLUMBER FOUNT
Alexanders Cellar Half Filled with stoler
Freight.
CAUGHT WHILE OPENING A BOX CA
Proceeds of Numerous Robbcries Lo'
Gated I'm Residence After an
Extended search by Special
Officers.

The arrest Of ]. d. Alexander by Special
| Officer Mcintyre Friday night proves to have
been one Of the most important police catches
of the season.
Alexander was caught in the act Of br,aking
| the seal on one of the freight cars in the
| yards of the Rock Island railroad, and was
| sent to the police station charged with break
| ing into freight car. The arrest developed
the fact that there has been some wholesale
| stealing going on for long time In the Rock
Island yards and that the company's officers
have said nothing about it until a tangible
| clew was obtained. 1t was scarcely thought
the arrest of Alexander afforded the clew, for
| the man was well known to the railway men
and has always been regarded as honest.
| Yesterday morning, however the officers de-
| termned to take look at the house where
Alexander lived. Enough observed
| around the premises to indicate the advisa-
bility OF a more systematic search. While
officers guarded the house to prevent any
| thing being carried away a messenger was
| sent up town for a search warrant. The
warrant was issued from Justice Cooks court
and placed in the hands of Constable Alberti.
| a provision of the Iowa statute making 1t
| unlawful for a municipal or special police
| officer to execute such warrant. The house
| Is at 1410 South Seventh street. When the
| officers entered they found only child in
possession. A search of the house revealed
| nothing but an examination of the cellar
| showed rich cache of goods, all stolen from
| the railroad company.
| One end of the cellar was parttioned OF
| and there was no door in the partition wall.
| A board was pulled off by Constable Alberti
and match being lighted revealed large
| quantity of goods. Flee wall was then pulled
| down and an express load of boxes were
| taken out of this place The premises were
then given thorough searching. In box
used as stand lot Of soap was found,
| under a barrel was found frkin of but
ter, and in other parts Of the dwelling other
| goods were found.
The foreman of the Rock Island freight
house identified the following as property
| missing from cars of that line:
Seven hammocks, bundle Of hammock
sticks eleven cans of condensed cream; one
| tub of butter, one box containing gross
| of packages of cinnamon, twenty bars of
| White Star soap, thirty-four bars of CASTLE
SOAP chest of tea, half firkin of butter,
| : box Of staples, box OF harness hard
ware, hoop Of cheese.
These articles, and many more, have been
missed by the company. In addition there
we're unearthed lot of goods, which are
believed to have been stolen, but which did
not belong to the Rock Island company.
Among these are bundle of axhandles, a
lot of new dishes, roll of rag carpet and
other articles. The goods were placed in
an express wagon and conveyed to the Of
flee of Justice Cook
The evidence against Alexander is over
whelming. The foreman Of the freight house
promptly identified the bundle of hammocks
They were going to Texas house, and the
marks and tags are still on the bundle.
Another bit Of evidence is a box of spices
shipped by Stewart Bros. of this city to
Anita. The box contains the firms label
as we'll as the marking. SO there will be no
difficulty in identification of this item Of
the goods recovered.
OF the cheese there were thirty hoops, and
| fc
marked "W' in a diamond, and is identical
, to the hoop missing.
The cans of condensed milk are from the
same firm as the case of missing goods was
from. Identification Of most of the articles
can easily be made, at least that is what
is claimed by Agent Denton. There will be
a half dozen informations against Alexan-
der, which will be filed during the day.
Agent Denton took deep interest in the
mine and was about delighted an indi-
dual as was Mcintyre, who has been working
under a fear that he would lose his job II
, he did not succeed in running down the rob-
bers who have been operating very sue
cessfully for a month or more Denton says
that the robberies began shortly before
Christmas, and since then complaints OF
shippers have been frequent.
On December "a, car 1895, Rock Island
was entered and tub of butter taken.
On January Z, case of condensed cream
was stolen from Rock Island car No. 5O65S
A box of common soap was abstracted
from Rock Island car 523S on January s.
On the 18th, hoop of cheese was taker
. from Rock Island car 1899.
A bundle of hammocks was taken from
car 5O342, Rock Island. on the 23d Of Jan
uary.
In fact every article recovered talles witt
goods missing since Christmas.
The goods were brought up and placed ir
. the possession of Justice Cook and were
bulky enough to almost fill the back room
of his office. The fact that the goods re-
covered were all identified as having beer
stolen from Rock Island cars does not con
vince the officers that Alexander was alon'
in his raids. The Milwaukee, Northwestern
= and Union Pacific companies have beer
r losers from freight car robberies, and thu
, belief is that further Investigations viii
: connect Alexander with gang who have
j been operating together. The belief is alst
entertained that some railroad employees viii
be implicated in the thefts, for 1t Is argued
that such raids are not possible unless thu
r thieves get some kind of assistance from thu
e trainmen.