The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-30
SUPPOSED JEWEL THIEF CAUGHT.
Ellen Wiring and Her Husband In
Jail In jacksonville.


Valuable Jewels have been found In the
possession of a colored woman in Jack
sonville. 1t is believed they were stolen
some time ago in Savannah.
Chief of Police McDermott received a
letter yesterday from Chief Keefe of Jack
sonville. notifying him Of the woman's ar
rest. The Jacksonville chief wrote that
the woman gave her name as Ellen Wiring.
She claimed that she found the jewelry
three years ago on Broad street in this
city. She protested to be a washerwoman,
and said that formerly she was employed
in Savannah. She told the chief she had
been in the service of Mrs. Guckenheimer,
Mrs. Epstein and others, and gave her
age about so years.
Chief McDermott visited some of the
people named in Chief Keefe's letter and
verified the woman's statements that she
had been employed by them. From the
description given by chief Keefe of the
jewelry, which consists principally OF
rings, it should be very valuable, and
Chief McDermott is anxious to learn from
whom it was stolen lie has endeavored
to find out If any such jewels as answer
the description have been lost but so far
has been unsuccessful He thinks it pos
sible that, if they are jewels that were
stolen here, they may have been stolen
some two or three years ago from a Pull
man car.
The woman told Chief Keefe that her
husband, Peter Wiring had been employed
here by the Savannah Florida and West
ern railway, and that fact, with subse-
quent developments at Jacksonville,
would seem to indicate that Chief McDer-
mott is correct in his theory.
The woman broke down after sticking to
her treasure-trove story for a time, and
confessed that she had received the val
uables from her husband. That put a new
aspect on affairs, and the Jacksonville
officers Immediately began a hunt for
Peter. He was found a one of the rail-
road wash-racks, where he was employed,
and was put under arrest. 1t is said that
Peter was doing this car cleaning here
at the time of the Pullman robbery, and
it is supposed that he may have had a
hand in the affair. The Pullman COM
pany was sued for the loss of the jewelry
Chief McDermott sent Detective Scully
down to Jacksonville in the afternoon to
investigate the matter. He will return to-
day. In the meantime any light on the
ownership of the jewels will be gladly re-
ceived by Chief McDermott, as the man
and woman at Jacksonville, cannot be held
as suspects. If the ownership of the jew
elry is proven or shown with any degree
of certainty they can be brought to Sa-
vannah. Chief Keefe described the jewelry
as follows: zone solitaire Tiffanys set
ting, IL to IL carats; one half round dia-
mond ring, five stones around the ring
from IA to ~ carats each; one half round
sapphire ring, with five stones around it
about the size of those in the foregoing
rings description; one half round ring
with II small diamonds set around an opal;
and one pair of screw earrings, from y to
carat stones in each.
1t was the last ring that in case the jew
elry was stolen, was Ellen's undoing. She
took it into a Jacksonville jewelry store to
have it enlarged as 1t was evident that the
finger for which it had been made was
smaller one than hers. The clerk waiting
on her sized the situation up and decided
that the best thing he could do would be
to have the unlikely looking owner of the
ring arrested. This was done, and both
she and her husband are now awaiting
possible claimants to the property found
in her possession