The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-21
CLEVER DEFECTIVE WORK
PAIR OF BURGLARS ROUNDED Up
 BY DETEOTIVE DONNELLY.

0. l.. Smith, a Passenger Conductor, Fol
 lowed Home by Thugs on Night of Pay
 Day-They Afterwards Entered the
 House and Stole Valuable Watch
 Caught After Three Weeks Hunt.
 James H. McCann of 125 Munroe street and James J. Brown were ar- rested yesterday by Detective Donnelly for burglary committed June 2S at the residence of Cornelius L. Smith at No. 27 Lombard street. Detective Donnelly has been working on the case since the day after the burglary occurred and the rounding up of the burglars Is as neat a piece of detective work as has been done in New Haven for some time.
 MT. Smith is a passenger conductor on the Shore line of the Consolidated road. His run Is to New London, and he returns to New Haven by freight train which reaches this city about midnight June 2S was pay day and that night as MT. Smith was walking home from the Cedar Hill freight yards where he had alighted from the train on which he returned from his run, he mo- ticed that he was being followed. He reached home, however, without having any difficulty and went to bed thinking no more of the matter.
 On arising next morning, however, he discovered that his vest, which on re- tiring he had thrown over the head Of the bed had been moved and that his $50 gold watch and a small sum Of money had been stolen from the pock- cts. He fortunately had not called for his pay on the previous day, and the thieves who had evidently been expect ing to make good haul of money were baked in this particular.
 After looking around the room, MT. Smith found the marks of knife on the blind shutters, where the burglars had inserted a knife or chisel between the shutters, and then entered the room while MT. Smith was asleep. Outside the window were numerous footprints, showing that the burglars had probably waited there and watched MT. Smith as he undressed and seen where he placed his vest. Then waiting until he was asleep they entered the room and stole his watch and money, the job being done sometime between 10 o'clock and daybreak.
 The robbery was at once reported to Detective Captain Cowles and he as- signed Detective Donnelly to the case. Mir. Donnelly at once began to work from the supposition that the burglary had been committed by person or persons who were then or had previous ly been employed by the railroad, as they evidently knew when pay day was and the way by which Mir. Smith re- turned home after his daily trip.
 Acting on this supposition Detective Donnelly disguised himself as rail- roader and frequented the railroad yards. He had recovered the watch from a party to whom it had been sold and had received from that party 8 description of the man from whom he bought the watch. Donnelly searched the railroad yards in vain looking for a man to answer the description. Not daunted by this failure to find his man, the detective still kept on a still hunt and was ever on the lookout for man answering the description which he had. Yesterday he found his man. He was just entering a store on Grand avenue when he met man coming out who answered perfectly the description
 Donnelly followed the fellow into a saloon at the corner of St. John and Artisan streets. He questioned the man, who denied all knowledge of the burglary He finally however, as- knowledged that he had had the watch but said that another man had given it to him to dispose of. He was placed under arrest and taken to police head quarters, where he gave his name as James J. Brown. He gave Detective Donnelly a description of the man from whom he claimed to have received the watch.
 Armed with this description Donnelly started down Grand avenue, ostensibly going to Fair Haven to look for that one of the assailants of Officer John B. Roche who escaped arrest Monday night At the Grand avenue bridge across Quinnipiac river he found 8 crowd of tramps and hangers-on, and in the crowd he espied a man who at once struck him as answering his de- scription. The fellow was placed under arrest, but denied having stolen the watch. He claimed to have gotten the watch for S4 from man on Ferry street bridge about July 4. As the watch was sold to the parties from whom the detective secured it before July the story was not believed. At the central police station the man gave his name as James H. McCann of 125 Munroe street, this city. He formerly worked as a lineman on the tower wagon of the New Haven Street Rail- way company. It is thought that Mo- Cam committed the burglary and that Browns part in the affair is simply in having disposed of the watch.
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