El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-21
A STORY OF SOME Thieves.
That Merry Priest With the Chest of
Gold.

That Merry Priest With the Chest of
Gold.
There is q continuation to the story
that was published in the HERALD yes
terday headed ga Parcel of Thieves"
The story learned by the HERALD'S
man goes like this: Many years ago
there was built in Chihuahua one of
the finest Catholic churches on this
continent. This church was fitted up
with the best of everything. All the
cloths were of the finest material that
could be obtained, and the service sets
were all of solid gold.
A few years ago a young priest was
sent there to help the father in the
services OF the church, as it needs
m ore than one priest to look after the
duties of that particular church.
This young priest was a man of
worldly ideas, and he soon saw that
there was a good chance to rob- the
altar of the church and become rich;
Not being able to carry out the full
plans of his design he wrote to his
brother and had him come to Chihua-
hua to help MIN carry the designs into
effect.
The church was robbed in due time
and the amount stolen was somewhere
near thirty thousand dollars, as well as
the priest and his brother can cal
culate, but it may be more, for all the
purity.
The Mexican government tried ev-
cry way in the world to catch the
thieves, but to no success. The church
then put its efforts with those of the
government, and it was found that
these two men had skipped to the
United States, where they had emit re-
~ lost themselves to the officers of the
law that were on the lookout for
them.
Now the arresting of the two men, An
drews and Heidleberger, for the theft
of some silk curtains from Mrs. Tony
Clark, of Deming.N. M, has brought
to light some developments in this
other case that were not looked for.
An officer from Deming came in yes
terday after the two men and carried
them back to Deming, where they will
be tried for theft.
On information gained by the HER
AID reporter it was found that An
drews is a new man with the gang, and
as far as he is In the matter, it is only
in connection with the curtains and q
few other small articles that were tax
en- in Deming and in Ell Paso. Heidle-
berger is the brother of the priest,
who gave his name as Berger to Mrs.
Clark at Deming when the three men,
Heidleberger, Andrews, and the priest,
were at her house in February last.
It has beeen found to a certainty
that the priest Berger, the main bird
of the covey, was in Ell PasO three days
ago, and not only that, but he had
good deal of the stolen property with
him. Priest Berger has flown, and to
ticles with him. One of the things that
he had with him was q solid gold cha
lice that was estimated to be worth
somewhere in the neighborhood of
$500; this estimate was made by q man
who is in the jewelry business and
knows what he is talking about.
Among other things in the possession
of the priest are golden communion
service. golden crucitix which
stands nearly nine inches tall,
and a golden box in which priests keep
the loaf supposed to be blessed by the
pope, that is given to higher priests
at the last sacrament. There are great
rolls of altar cloths, all worked in pure
gold thread some of them for the East
er services and other special services
of the Catholic church.
Now it turns out that this man Hell
dleberger was the brother of the afore-
said priest, and he says that good
deal more of the church property is
still In chihuahua, and the amount
that is still there is somewhere in the
neighborhood of fifteen thousand dol
lars.
It was learned that when they robbed
the church, they rented q house in
chihuahua and buried all the stolen
property in the cellar of the house,
and made trips to the place of the con-
cealment at different times. At each
trip they have brought out Of Mexico
different things. This fellow Heidle-
berger knows where the house is, and
when he wants to he Gun go there and
get more, but there is no diagram to
show where these things are hid, and
furthermore, he doesn't intend to tell. |
Now the inside inform alton that the |
HERALD reporter has is that Herman |
Heidleberger, he man in custody, has |
nothing whatever to do with the steal |
ing of the curtains, and it is thought |
that he will come clear on his own tes-
timony.
So it seems that the local police force |
could have caught the leader of the |
gang and recovered all the stolen pro-
perty the gang had with them right |
here in Ell Paso, but now the priest is
of in the dark laughing at the way
that he slipped away from the city's
police force with his fifteen thous and |
dollars 'eworth of good solid gold.
OF course there is no telling where |
he has gone, and the chief is looking
hard for him, but with little success.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF Ell PASO.
l. ROBERT SILBERBERG, do solemn
lA u