The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-08-18
RObber of Mrs. Cornelius Van
derbilt, Jr.'s Father
Has Been Discovered and is
Now Under Arrest.
LETTERS FOUNDONHIM
May Lead to the Tracing of the
Mysterious Author
OF the ScurrilOus Letters At
tacking Wilson's Daughter.

New York, Aug. 1S.-Richard T. Will
son, Sr., June "a, last, reported at
police headquarters that his mansion
on Fifth avenue had been robbed the
night previous and that an entrance
had been effected without the breaking
of any door or window. The detectives
assigned to the investigation of the
burglary learned that Albert Sugden,
a former valet of Mr.. Wilson had been
in Mr.. Wilson's house on two occasions
after he had left the latter'S employ
and that no one know how he had gain
ed an entrance. This information was
the basis of the suspicion that caused
the former valet to be watched by the
authorities. Finally a detective stool
pigeon" whose name is also Albert
Sugden, gained the confidence of the
suspected young man and finally secur-
ed from the latter the details of the
robbery and the inside particulars of
suit which the valet had brought
against Mr.. Wilson for alleged detec-
tive service in seeking to discover the
author of ScurrilOuS letters attacking
Mr.. Wilson's daughter, now Mrs Cor
neliuS Vanderbilt, Jr.
These letters which appeared about
the time of the marriage, where written
the letter paper of two of the most
aristocratic New York clubs and crea-
ted a great sensation. Decoy Sugden
wrote to the young EngliShman that on
account of the similarity and oddness
of their names they must be relatives.
The valet replied to the note and soon
an apparently strong friendship sprang
up between the pair. Young Sugden
gave his namesake a sealed envelope
containing receipt for Mr. Wilson's
jewelry which had been placed the day
after the robbery in the vaults of the
New Jersey Title and Guarantee COM
pany, Jersey City. The suspect while
being 'shadowed' was found to be
consorting with an eX-convict who had
just been released from the Kings
county penitentiary.
In the face of the evidence the ac-
cused broke down and confessed the
crime and the jewelry was recovered.
Young Sugden in his confession says
that he worked for Wilson for fifteen
months, but left on February last.
When he was employed by Wilson to
discover the author of the mysterious
letters but failed. Afterwards he ap-
them because his former employer
would not give him a recommendation.
Still later on Mr.. Wilson got him
position as ''spotter" on a Brooklyn
electric road, from which position after
a few weeks he was discharged. Then
he brought suit against Mr.. Wilson for
the money alleged to be due him, $1,000
for detective work. On the night of
June %, Sugden says he found the
basement door of the Wilson mansion
open and entering he went to the third
Richard T. Wilson, Jr., and Robert
Goelot, Jr., he admits taking the money
and jewelry and got out of the house
without being seen by any one.
On Sugden, who is under arrest, two
letters, written by convict in the Col
umbus, Ohio, penitentiary, were found.
The writer is a 17-year-old boy, named
Richard Francis Paul Kent, whose
prison number is 27,8S1 and his prison
name is Richard Proctor The latter in
of them says that he knows the
author of the scurrilous Wilson missives
and he is a rich club man who is an
enemy of the Vanderbilt and Wilson
families and that he has offered the
convict $4,000 through a cousin for his
silence.
The second letter from the Ohio pris-
Oner reads:
Il. Richard Paul Kent, do swear in
the name of Our Almighty God in
Heaven that the slanderer of Mrs c.
Vanderbilt, Jr., shall confess his sins
before those whom he has slandered
and injured so unjustly. Let justice
be done unto all humanity by Richard
F. Kent
In addition, the convict says that he
will be released on June 5, 1898, and that
he will be independent after July 8,
1901.