New-York tribune., 1902-05-22
RINGWALT'S SAFE OPENED.
LEGAL AID SOCIETY LAWYER THINKS
SHARKS TRIED TO ROB HIM

new evidence Of the desperation To which
the nstalment dealers and their allies the city
marshals have been driven by the attacks Of
The Tribune and the Legal Aid Society has come
10 light in the announcement by r. {. RingwaIt.
of the East Side Branch OF the Legal Aid So
ciety. yesterday. that an attempt had been made
to rifle his desk and get possession of the papers
relating to the cases which his branch has had
Mr. Ringwat. who seen by a Tribune re-
porter made the following statement:
one morning late last week l found on coming
10 my Office that the papers books and other
things i'm my desk had been scattered over the
floor. The safe also was open. and the pa pers
lH the cufer compartment were scattered The
inner compartment had not been broken open
AS there was some money available. and have
known Of several times when similar robberies
nave been committed simply To steal. [
convinced that the burglars must have been
after papers. since they left everything else
The interesting thing to note is that the pa
perS containing the charges We are filing with
the Mayor against certain Of the city maTshals
had been in the safe. Only the day before Miss
Lce~ had sent for them. and they now
some Of them at least-safey filed with the
Mayor But 1t was narrow escape. for all the
evidence We had gathered was until the pre-
vious day, right in the safe.
My own theory is that access was secured to
The room during the evening, when il is occu-
pied 10y different bodies a meeting hall Pos
sibly the fact that there is considerable SYM
pathy expressed for the nstalment dealers on
the East Side-eVen one OF the Jewish papers
is championiug them-Inay tend to show how
easy 1t would have been for them to have been
helped by some Of those attending the meetings
there While persons were engaged in exam
lining the papers. some one probably came in the
rear entrance to the Settlement and scared them
away before they had chance to break into
the inner part OF the safe.
did not report the matter to the Eldrdge-st.
police station because on the last occasion
had 20 ask their assistance they did nothing.
| have conducted a little investigation of my
own, and have my own opinion as TO the origin
Of the attempt.
That the Legal Aid Society is still engaged in
examining the court records and investigating
interesting cases Mr.. Ringwalt demonstrated
by citing the following case concerning which
he said:
Philip Stromberg. brother of Isaac and Sam
uel StrOmberg. has been concerned in an inter-
esting case which came into our hands yester
day. The was brought in by Vincent
Bucchiere n barber of No $50 Second ave
Last September Bucchere bought watch from
Philip Stromberg, agreeing to pay him S4J In
weekly instalments of 81. When BuCchiere got
the watch he took 1t to jeweler who told him
that it had a little gold on the outside and none
the inside, he went back TO Stromberg
with witness and offered to return the watch
fused to take it, so Bucchiere went before
commissioner c. W. Amato. and made an aff-
davit.
Some time afterward man representing him
self TO be marshal called on Bucchiere telling
him that he had a judgment against him for
SO 30 and unless he paid it he would be
Obliged to go to Jail Bucchiere wanted to know
what for. but consented to go to the police sta
ton, where the case was placed before the ser
geant The latter told him that he would either
have to pay the amount and get lawyer, or
go TO Jail. Bucchiere paid in full and then went
to a lawyer. who wished $50 to take the case.
The barber says he never served with a
return tn Stromberg the watch. but that the
latter refused to take IT, The case seems
excellent to the society. and propose to
take immediate steps to have the Judgment set
aside.