The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-06
A FAMOUS PORTRAIT
RECOVERED AFTER A QUARTER OF
A CENTURY.
STOLEN IN LONDON IN 1876.
RETURNED To ITS OWNERS IN CHI
CAGO RECENTLY.

Thieves Received "A Large Reward
and VIII Not BE Prosecuted-They
ApDear to Have Been Artists in
Their Line-The Picture the Fa-
nous GainsbOrOugh Portrait of the
Duchess of DevOnshire-Wiu BE
RepIaced in Agnew Brothers Gal
Iery in London.
Chicago, April 5.-After travelling
through England, America and the Euro
mean continent for twenty-five years, the
famous Gainsborough portrait of the
Duchess of Devonshire, which was stolen
from the art gallery of the Agnew Broth
ers in London, May 16, 1876, is reported
TO have been returned TO it's owners. The
painting is valued at $4,000 A Chicago
detective agency claims to have been in
strumental in recovering the picture. The
holder of the picture, who it is said, was
one of the band of thieves who stole it
from the gallery, is said TO have receiv-
ed a large reward for it's return and ex-
acted an agreement to drop the prosecu-
ton According to the detectives he had
carried it with him for years carefully
nounced, will arrive in London tomorrow.
Remarkable Theft.
The theft of the portrait was remarka
Bile in many ways. The doors of the gall
lery were found locked and bolted on the
inside. The policeman on the beat, the
Waterman of the block and the Janitor
of the building had heard no suspicious
noise, and they had noticed no suspicious
strangers. There appeared to be no clue,
until in 1886, certain Joseph Elliott, then
under arrest for a large forgery, asserted
that the Gainsborough picture was still
in existence, and could be recovered pro-
vided his liberty was granted. Elliott
said the picture had been stolen by pro-
fessional porch climbers" who had en-
tered one of the gallery windows and cut
the canvass from the frame. The picture
had been taken, Elliott said, not for the
reward that would be offered for it, nor
for the proceeds of it's sale, but as the
means to secure BAH for a member of a
band of forgers, who had been arrested
in France for a forgery on the Bank of
England. The forger had been extradited
and the Agnew Bros. were to be asked to
sign his bond on condition that the paint
ing be returned. Before the plan could
be completed, however, the forger was
given his liberty on a technicality.
Thieves Demanded Large sum.
Negotiations were later made with the
thieves to return the painting for large
reward. The sum offered was too small
in the opinion of the burglars, and the
negotiations fell through Recently trace
was again found of the thieves and ne
gotiations reopened. A larger reward was
offered, which resulted in the return of
the picture in Chicago.
When returned the picture was hermeti-
cay sealed in a box made specially for
its RECEPTION, and was pronounced in per-
feet condition. 1t was carefully packed
in cotton batting. The casket was
brought from England to this country fif-
teen years ago and has remained in stor-
age warehouses and safety deposit vaults
in various cities.
The person who secured the Informal
ton which led to the return of the por-
trait is said by the detectives to be a
sporting man, but they decline to make
his name public. The crime itself has
long since been outlawed
c. Morland Agnew, son Of the original
purchaser of the portrait has been in
Chicago in connection with the recovery
of the picture. He brought with him
pieces of canvas taken from the frame
and also steel engraving of the por-
trait with exact measurements of the
original The picture, when taken from
the casket, was easily identified by Mr..
Agnew. The box had apparently never
been opened since it was sealed many
years ago