The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-31
ODD BOOTY OF THIEVES
Police Often at Loss for Motives IN
Larceny Gases.

Every man has MS price. accord
ing to an old saying. That there = at
least a grain OF truth N IL must be aa-
United by any one who studies the re-
cords OF crime" said one Of the head
quarters Detectives. Il never wcndeF
much when l hear OF bank roooeTes,
bu~rgaries. or any big theftS. but L
am puzzled often to fix n reason for
some particular larceny.
Regular thieves take pride in their
work and shy at anything not easily
handled OF quickly sold. But there
are many who have but one impulse.
not so much to steal. perhaps. as 10
obtain the OF gratifying their
appetites. This class Is made up chief
ly Of 'panhandlers' n their kind
about as low as humanity can get.
Others, too. have h true kleptoma-
MACS instinct and miss no chance or
getting something for nothing There
Is an old story of q man steaIing r
red hot stove, but I've never been able
TO verify IL. II il true. though, that
there are men who will take anything
they can lay their hands on. no matter
how bulky or worthless.
These remarks led TO a search OF the
local files for the past year.
with the result of creating a oeliet
that there is nothing too big 20 steal
or to- insignificant or worthless TO be
overlooked by a thief. Perhaps the
oldest illustration OF this occurred in
October last. when a five story tene~-
ment in Broom street was nearly
made away with. y man represented
TO the ~ianitor that he had bought the
building and was going 10 make altera-
tions. He a s1ld the plate glass win
dows OF the store on the ground noor
and had the purchaser with him IN
der the janttor's eve the glass, worth
$3.50. was remove and carried away
The next day the owner dismissed the
janitor and installed a new one. who
was also VictimiZed by a letter pur-
porting To come from the owner au-
thoriZing its bearer 10 take OUT all ire
ironwork in the house. Soon after, the
thief came back TO tear out the lead
pipe. but his greed proved fatal 10 his
plan. The police were notified and
managed to keep the house free from
further attacks.
almost as strange come
from St. Louis and Boston In the
former city, in March. sorne one stole
a smokestack 160 feet high from a no.
tel. 1t was taken ava in one after
noon, and the thief was never ound.
An electric car was the object If at
tack in Boston. 1t was an impossible
feat. n the woman who attempted
it failed, but escaped arrest.
In November a negro stole a half
ton Of dynamite from a storehouse m
the Bronx. was arrested while selling
part OF it and sent up" it was his
second operation OF the kind. That
weight is no obstacle TO a determined
thief was proved in four instances. In
February a riveting machin weigh
ing seven tons. was stolen in front OF a
shop on Plymouth street, Jersey City.
being broker up and carted away in
three big trucks. The worthless iron
was recovered. but the thieves s-
capped. Three months earlier a man
was arrested in Brooklyn as he was
about to load on a truck a huge steel
pin, Weighing 1900 pounds. intended
for the new East liver bridge. The
third case was of a safe two feet
uare stolen in Bayonne. N. J., and
carried to this city, the police finding
it open on Tompkins street. Only last
week an attempt was made to steal a
GOO pound bronze tablet from the
Washington bridge. but the thief was
caught as he was preparing to place
1t on a wagon.
Coming down to the smaller things.
the records show that one man stole a
valise full of false teetI. Another took
funeral Grape from e. door, and a third.
a "panhandler." lifted one OF the bronze
gates of Calval y church and was look
ing Tor a JUNK dealer when arrested.
After the Dewey celebration three mer
attempted to steal an entire gran0
stand on Riverside drive. On another
occasion telegraph and telephone ca
bles attracted the thieves, and a big
building on lower Broadway wac
stripped Another thief found cuspi-
doris attractive and made the rounds
of the hotels until he was caught in
the act on Broadway. The old Tilden
house in Gramercy park suffered from
the depredations Of a man who de-
scribed himself as an artist" He
took 800 worth of the bronze railing.
Besides these the list of odd thefts in
cludes almost everything imaginable.
from d~oorknobs to lettered signs on
windows.
The very character of the object
stolen defeated the ends of justice in
one case. While a push car peddler
was cutting ice for a customer some
one made off with a good sized piece,
was followed and arrested and taken
to court, the policeman taking the
stolen ice along in a pail as evidence.
There was a delay in calling the case.
The day was a warm one, and the ice
melted so fast that when the Judge
called for the evidence he found only
a pail of water and had to discharge
| the nriSOner -Naw Vark pnSf