The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-06
CATCH FOUR THIEVES
Had Stolen Seventy Chickens
and Two Turkeys.
WERE OUT ALL NIGHT
They are all Home Talent
Robbers.

Detectives Cairns and Carroll yesterday
afternoon made another quick and clever
catch of four thieves who have been max
ing Wichita their headquarters and do
ing their operations in the adjoining
country. The four men captured were Al
Calvert, Chas. Van Valkenburg, Tom
Diffenderfer and Harvey Anderson. None
combining themselves to petty larceny
| thievery.
| On Friday night Calvert and Offender
fer stole a wagon from Charley Davis on
Water street which they found in the al
/ ley. They had their own horse. They
started about 9 o'clock in the evening and
returned about o'clock yesterday morn
| ing after spending the whole night in
robbing farmers hen roosts and stables
They returned with seventy-one chick
ems, two turkeys and a set of harness.
The hens weighed 295 pounds and the two
turkeys q pounds. They disposed of
them TO the Coulter Poultry company, on
North Wichita street. They were given
a check on the Commercial bank for
S14.30. This they got cashed and divided
among the four.
Although they have been dividing the
results of their midnight adventures
! equally among each other, they are in
reality two different parties. It has been
| the custom for them to so in pairs. Cal
/ vert and Diffenderfer forming one and
! Van Valkenburg and Anderson the other.
! When Calvert was caught he told on the
| n he 6o oIIa
| go unpublished if he would leave town.
/ He said that he did not know from whom
| he stole the poultry as they would stop
at any farm house where they thought
! they could make a haul. They would
have returned earlier yesterday morning
| but they met with an accident. The stol-
en- wagon broke and they had considera-
bic trouble in getting back to town.
All of them are bad outfit. Calvert
was released from the county Jail early
in the fan. where he had been serving a
! ten months sentence for burglarizing a
house with his father-in-law. Old man
Van Valkenburg, Calvert's father-in-law,
! is now serving a term in the penitentiary
! for the same crime that Calvert served
/ his sentence in the county Jail. Calvert
lives at 217 North Water street, where he
was caught yesterday. At first he denied
/ all knowledge of the affair but later told
all about it and gave away his pals be-
sides. Tom Diffenderfer. alias zig Tom"
/ has for the past few months been room
/ ing at 254 North Main street. He has
been in jail innumerable times. He is
| usually locked up on the charge of drunk
enness and wife beating. Last Thanks
/ giving he caused his wife to write 70
| Chief Campbell, as he threatened to kill
her. The letter was gem. and was at
at the time published in the Eagle. Mrs.
/ Diffenderfer resides on South Fourth av-
enue. Charley Van Valkenburg is a
/ brother-in-law to Calvert and a son OF
| the man doing a term in the penitentiary.
/ He has no record but has always been
watched by the police as he was always
associating with those who were known
! to be petty thieves.
Anderson and Van Vaikenburg both re-
side on College Hill. Anderson has no
| previous record with the police. All OF
them will be turned over TO the state.