Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-12
STEAL QUEER THINGS
NOTHING SEEMS TO BE SAFE FROM
CHICAGO THIEVES.
Little Things Like Red Hot Stoves and
Kettles Of Boiling Water No
Trouble at All.


From the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago police doubt If there is anything
in the limitless universe which it is physi-
cally, mentally, or otherwise impossible to
steal The police records show that every
thing under the sun is coveted of men.
From the tallest building to the tnmiest
fancy of poets dream nothing seems to
be immune from the designing ingenuity
OF thleVes. They steal mountains and
matches, oceans and orchids, entire rail-
roads, electricity, thought and love. Not
necessarily are the gold and diamonds and
sapphires of earth first in the sight of the
inscriptions person, for water and air,
eommonest of all things. are to many so
expensive and scarce that they must needs
be stolen.
Inc marrow confines of this terrestrial
planet are calling to the thief with mas
teflul ambition, and the example in the
matter OF breaking away from merely mum
dane robbery already has been set. 1t re-
manned FOR a Chicago thief to steal a Sec
tlon OF the solar system He broke into
aiker Museum at the University of Chi
caSo one night, not year ago, and carried
on a mass OF meteoric iron Weighing nearly
nifty pounds. One of the members of the
department of geology, who was intimately
acquainted with the meteor's history, OBJ
served with some heat that the burglar
would have to confess on the Judgment day
that he had purloined one OF the creator S
comets"
From Grand Island, Neb., comes the story
OIL the theft OF an entire railroad-rails ties
and rolling stock. 1t happened that two
lines controlled hy different companies ran
for some distance SIDE by side. One of the
magnates. desiring to build spur to his
me. but feeling deferred by the high price
OF steel, inaugurated bold policy in the
lalr name OF expansion. His men ran an
engine on to the enemys track in the dead
OF night and slowly drew away the entire
number OF cars owned by the road. In the
wake of the train the laborers stealthily
removed the rails and ties, and when day
dawned work had begun on the spur ten
miles away. Owing to the difficulty in
convincing the judge that it was possible
to steal railroad in single night, the
president of the unfortunate line was al
most refused writ of replevin for his
property.
Whatever future discoveries in the psy
chology OF kleptomania may bring forth,
the freaksh manifestations of that form
or degeneracy must always remain amusing
If not mysterious, to those unprecedented
individuals whose property has not been
sacrificed to this insanity. Persons whose
morality in other respects is mostly rigidly
patterned after the decalogue find them
selves in the hands of the police all be-
cause they had no sense of the difference
between meum and teum. No matter how
commonplace or worthless the object the
mere ownership by another person is suffi
cient reason to the kleptomaniac for steal
Ing it.
The department and other big stores are
the principal victims of irresponsible per-
sons with thieving propensities. Nearly
two-thirds of the cases of larceny recorded
at the Harrison street police station are
estimated to be the tranSgressiOns of other
wise respectable citizens whose palms itch
with coVetousnesS. The cases are generally
settled out of court by the relatives of the
unfortunate culprits. A former member of
the worlds fair board of women managers
hoc ia5 coll m
last year as result of her penchant for
stealing silks in State street stores.
Buttonhooks and the unlawful appropria-
ton thereof landed Mary McKinsley in the
Harrison street annex month ago. De-
tectves who searched her lodgings found a
trunk filled to the brim with buttonhoOks
of every size and description. No two were
alike and the collection ran the gamut from
the daintiest of feminine glove fasteners to
the most massive of masculine shCehooks.
The woman was we'll known to the detec-
tives of several stores as a mysterious fire.
quenter of the toilet article counters, but
so deft was she in sliding buttonhook up
her sleeve that discovery was almost baf-
fed. In like manner Ella Marish came to
grief from stealing perfumery Just for the
excitement of it, as she told the police
The late "Old Hoss'' Hoey made himself
ia nous by stealing a red hot stove nightly
in "A Parlor Match and other plays, but
Lieutenant Andrew Rohan of central de-
tective headquarters says that Chicago fur
Several years ago. said the policeman.
some thieves took red hot stove out of
fiat at West Harrison and Robey streets. A
family was moving out of the same build
ing and the head of the house decided that
the stove was too old to be worth taking
to the new home He happened to notice
a new cook stove in the next flat. There
was TO one in the kitchen, and the heat of
the stove proved no guardian of its safety.
The movers picked it up and put it on the
wagon with the remainder of the furniture.
All would have gone well had not the hot
stove set fire to the wagon two blocks
away. The fire department had to be
called, and the investigation which followed
caused the stove to be returned to its
owner
Thomas Seeley reported to the Ensle
wood police that junk man had stolen
large kettle full Of boiling water from
his premises. The rags and old iron"
man had espied the water being heated In
a kettle in Seeleys back yard, and. when
the owners back was turned had secured
and made away with kettle. water and
Two months ago the Masonic Temple mar
rowly escaped being flooded with water.
AS it was several suites of rooms on two
floors were ruined. 1t was discovered that
a thief had unscrewed faucet in pipe
on the eighth floor, thus giving the water
tWo-inch outlet. Frank Cooper was ar
rested and the faucet found in his posses
sion He gave no reason for stealing 1t.
A man who gave his name as John CHM
was brought to the West Lake street po-
lice station with his pockets filled with
the enameled letters used signs on win
dows He had over fifty of the letters and
all were 'Cs." 1t turned out that CHM
had been calling on his sweetheart that
evening. He had made her a proposal of
marriage and been rejected. apparently
with some humiliation to himself. he
drowned his sorrows in the flowing bowl,
and having arrived at the requisite degree
of inspiration he apostrophized the heart
less ones name which was Clara, and then
spent the night in prying "C's" from the
windows of stores.
The Chicago police are searching for a
man who steals board sidewalks. His depre-
dations already cover large part Of the
city and are conducted with the openness
that a team and wagon require. He steals
the sidewalks from unsettled portions Of the
city and then persuades or forces people to
buy them. Driving up to house which Is
edged only by the naked street the man
asks the owner If he wishes to buy a side
walk If he meets with refusal the thief
replies that he is a city inspector. that the
property Is condemned and that the occu-
pant will be arrested unless the sidewalk
is purchased The scheme has been lucra-
tive and its author elusive so far.
Thousands of queer things are stolen by
burglars. who show, possibly, the most &C.
centric taste Of any class of individuals
One nocturnal marauder took a number of
wax models clothed in the latest fashion
,l,,a gowpa from a dreSSmaking establish