The evening times., 1898-10-11
ART OF BURGLAR TRAVIS
Past Master in the Science OF
Housebreaking.
LOVER OF FINE PAINTINGS
Always Carried a Brace of ReyoIx-
crs In Ills Nocturnal Nfssio,s t
hich Mansions, But Never Forced
TO the Necessity of Using Them.
bnnSiinG Fellow-Workmen,

New York, Oct i1.-William E. Travis
the gentleman burglar who was captured
In this city last Saturday, is probably the
last living example of the novel hero of
| chiValrous lawbreakers In his outward
| appearance ne had d near approach to
a gentleman and a scholar. He certain
| ly looked and acted like a gentleman and
II not versed in the classics of college
! cCrricu!ums was a man OF superior edu-
| cation and accompaniment.
| lie delights in good pictures and knows
the work of the great painters He
speaks regretfully of the really COM
mendable works of art. not mere family
! portraits, which he could have stolen but
did not on account of the risk attending
| the disposal of them.
Loved the Fine Arts
These were some of the new thipes
which the police learned yesterday con-
cernins William Z. Travis, who will be
arraigned today on the charge of lootine
the house of Mrs. Juliette c. Summer
OF Hartford, Conn. \ policeman from
Hartford arrived here yesterday, and
Travis offered to go back with him. He
was not permitted to do So however
without the regular process of extradi-
ton.
rms is the man who was described by
DIN Mason, himself a king of crimi-
mails, as standing at the very top of The
profession of burglary. For ten wears
ne has carried on career of systematic
housebreaking, and by cunning and dar-
ing he kept out of the clutches of the
police
Avoided Bad Compsnx
lie succeeded in escaping arrest by not
associating with criminals and preserv-
ing the appearance of ultra-respectability
He wooed and won an estimable Young
woman year ago, and had been living
IN boarding house in ScAermerhorn
Street, Brooklyn. He passed as COM
mercial traveller, and apparently his fam
lly mad no suspicion that he was leading
anything but an honest life He was a
dutlful son and brother. He supported
his sister and aged mother in this CITY
and took care of his wife and her mother
in Brooklyn.
Many of the proceeds of his robbe1ies
were placed on exhibition yesterday at
police headquarters. They were taken
from the two homes which he maintaiIed ed.
They made a glittering store. and many
OF them seemed to have been kept minus
marks of Identification, for tber artistic
beauty. Most of the proceeds of his op-
eratlons went to the melting pot, for pre-
cious metal in ingots tells no tales of
former ownership.
Travis has brought new ideas to the art
of burglary. He told Capt. McClusky YES
terday that he could, no doubt. tell many
things which would prove entertaining,
but that in his position he did not care to
talk much.
Although he seemed to speak with tie
greatest frankness. his statements were
general, and by skillful fencing he avoiled
reference to the crime for which he must
stand trial.
His Quiet and Emphatic Style.
Slow and deliberate of speech is Will
lam E. Travis. He is an athlete, the
largest man brought to police headauar-
ters to be measured by the Bertillon sys-
TEN. yet the voice he uses in conversation
is little above stage whisper. He
speaks as one whose words have passed
several times in mental review before
being finally uttered
Suppose. now suggested Capt. Nc
Clusky, Il am at home and you happen
to pay the house a visit
Il have always made it rule" said
Travis. in low monotone, a voice filter
ed OF all feeling, ''to study the effects of
light and shadow
Capt. McClusky said that he did not un-
derstand
For instance" resumed the prisoner.