The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-02-25
MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY.
Tailor Shop Carefully Watched
Broken Into and Valuable
Goods Carried Away.

Detectives LarRinS and Prescott of the
Gregory street station, are Investigating {
peculiar robbery which is said to have
occurred early this morning. At si1
o'clock Harry Jacobs, better known a.
Harry the Tailor reported at the
Gregory street station that his store a.
NO. rs Newark avenue had been robbed
during the night. He had arrived at the
store unusually early this morning and
had discovered the robbery. The thieves
he informed the police, had entered by
forcing the rear door. He reported the
Following goods as missing :1Twenty-on
suits of clothes. valued at s241.5O; three
overcoats, $685. thirty-one pairs of trousers
$lOS; four coats and vests, $24 and one
pair of trousers, s.. The total value OF
the goods stolen. he claimed, was s412 He
is fully insured against burglars.
Captain Cox at once sent Detectives
Larkins and Prescott on the case They
examined the premises and found that the
rear door had been forced open The door
is battened. that is, it is held by two
beams, one at the top and the other at
the bottom. These beams are fastened OH
the right hand side of the door and fall
into notched block of wood on the other
side, fastening the door more securely
than could any lock. The detectives lound
that the blocks holding the bars had been
forced off. They reported to Captain Cox
and to Chief Murphy. The Chief imme-
diately took charge of the case and sent
the department carpenter, Albert Shell
worth, to the store with the detectives to
examine the door. Shelworth found that
ha h1d x1rith ~,
axe (Which was found near the door. The
person who entered the store had evil
IDENTIFY struck the door hard blow from
without, at the exact point where the
beam was. This blow forced the door
sufficiently to permit of the insertion of
the blade of the axe, which was then used
as lever to force out the screws which
held the blocks. The peculiar part of the
affair is that the thief left no marks of
the axe on the door except at the precise
point where the bar was located.
Shelworth says that had the spot where
the blow was struck been measured in
advance it could not have been more ac-
curately calculated. After receiving tire
report of Shelworth and the detectives
Chief Murphy questioned Patrolman Will
lam Heath, who was on the Newark ave-
nue. post from midnight until after seven
o'clock this morning. Heath has been
on that post for a number of years, and
is familiar with every detail of the work
required on it. A few months ago
Chief Murphy. offered Heath place as
detective for some special work at Police
Headquarters, but declined saying that
he preferred to remain on his post as he
had come to know all of the people ard
liked the work.
The post is an important one, as In one
block there are nearly a dozen clothing
stores which run through to Railroad
avenue 1t is necessary for the patrolman
of the buildings, but the rear as well. This
Heath does many times at night. Last
night he examined an the rear Of Jacobs,
is a storm door which is not
kept fastened. At one o'clock Heath
went through Symes restaurant, and
from a stoop in the rear examined all the
yards in either direction. He saw moth
ing suspicious. At $3.50 o'clock he went
to the roof of Bernstein's clothing store.
from which he could view the rear of all
the other stores, and looked the entire
block over. At $40 o'clock he went
again through Symes' restaurant, this
time in company with watchman nam
ed Lenahan. who is employed by sew
eral merchants in that vicinity. Neither
man saw anything to arouse his sus-
picions.
1t must have taken some time to get
the quantity of stuff which Davis re-
ported stolen out of the store, and it
could only have been removed with the
aid of a wagon.
Chief Murphy does not attempt to ex-
plain how the robbery was committed
without the knowledge of Heath. He
complained Heath on his ability when
speaking of the robbery to the report