Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-12-23
Mrs. Eta Kitchen Detected While
Attempting to Take Furs.
CONfEsSEs AND GIVES UP GOODS
SIS Allowed to Leave the City After
Having Given UP the Stolen Arti-
cIes, Which Are the Rigntful Prop
erty of j. A. Phillips.

From Fridays Daily.
After a career of shoplifting as a
result of which goods to the value OF
q large amount were taken, Mrs. Eta
Kitchen,a young and attractive woman
who has resided in this city for sever
al months, was caught yesterday I'M
the act of purlolning set of valuable
furs at the store of j. A. Phillips, and
a few hours later she turned over to
Chief of Police John Gray and Mr.Phil-
lips, several other articles which she
had stolen, as she confessed from the
same store. Her arrest, it is thought,
will put stop to the frequent thefts
that have taken place in the local dry
goods stores. for although she was al
lowed to leave the city without moles-
tation, she has confessed to repeated
acts of shoplifting as we'll as the theft
of pocketbook from a woman in the
Leader week or more ago. The mon
| ey was recovered by Chief Gray at the
time and turned over to the rightful
owner,but on request of the latter, Mrs.
Kitchen was not prosecuted.
Was An Adept.
According to the story told by Mrs.
Kitchen, she is an adept in the shop
| lifting line, and had made study of
the art" which enabled her to dress
unusually well although she apparently
had no means OF support for herself
and child except what might be sent to
her by her husband, Clay Kitchen, who
1t is said, is working near Agency. The
woman told Chief Gray of many acts
of thieying which she has done and of
| which nothing was known until yester-
day, when Mr.. Phillips detected her
trying to make away with a set of furs
in his store. Upon investigation it de-
veloped that she had been taking nu-
merous articles Of wearing apparel
from time to time at his store, but they
/ had not been missed.
Caught in the Act.
Mrs. Kitchen was in the Phillips
store yesterday afternoon, apparently
for the purpose of looking over the
goods with view to buying. Although
she was not watched with unusual care
she was seen just as she sat down upon
4 a, chair, in which set Of furs was ~
ing. In a few minutes it became evil
dent to Mr.. Phillips, who had noticed
the woman, that she was trying to
steal the goods, and he accused her of
it. She admitted her guilt but was
very anxious regarding the POSSIBLE
ity of her arrest Finally, after having
obtained her name, Mr.. Phillips allow
ed her to go home, and Immediately
telephoned to Jthe police station for
Chief Gray, ns1
When the merchant and the officer
had compared notes, the latter remem-
bered that the woman suspected of
theft was the same one from whom he
secured a pocketbook which she adj
mitted having stolen from woman a
! few days ago at he. Leader, and which
/ contained about S12 This matter was
kept quiet at the time, at the request
| of the woman who had been, for the
time being. the loser
j More Goods Found.
/ Immediately after his talk with Mr..
/ Phillips, Chief Gray started to the
woman's home. She had been resid-
ing at 507 West Second street. but
before the officer arriver there he
i learned that she intended to leave the
city last night, and SO went,to the de-
pot with Mr. Phillips, where he found
Mrs. Kitchen checking her baggage.
A search of her trunk and valise
brought to light black silk skirt val
ued at about $15, a pink silk petticoat
valued at 50. a chiffon boa and an eb-
ony toilet set. Another black silk
skirt was also found, but the woman
was allowed to keep it as she had
worn 1t and it was not fit to be return
ed to the stock in the store.
Mr.. Phillips identified all the articles
as his property, although he had not
known until yesterday that they were
stolen. The woman seeing that 1t was
useless to declare herself innocent aft
er such a discovery, made a clean
breast OF the whole affair, even tel
ling how she operated her little game
SO as to escape detection. Incidental
1 ly she made plea for her release
from arrest on the ground that her
little 2-yearold child must not be turn
ed out on the world without protection.
Eventually she was allowed her Hber-
ty on her promise to leave the city
never to return. She went to Agency
last night on Burlington No. and said
she and her husband would leave the
state in few days.
hcr Plan.
! Mrs. Kitchen either has a mania for
shoplifting or else she found that it is
profitable and after the first success
full attempt continued until her dis
covery. Her plan was simple but eff
fective. She would go to a store one
day and look over the stock until she
found just what she wanted, then
she would leave on some excuse with
out buying. The next day she would
come back, wearing long black silk
raglan. She was well dressed and was
not suspected of criminal intent, con-
sequently she was allowed consider
able liberty and 1t was not at all diff
cult for her to quietly slip under her
coat the article she had previously
selected and walk out of the store
without attracting attention. Accord
ing to her story she has operated in
other cities besides Ottumwa and has
been in the shoplifting business for
some years.
i Clinton authorities have notified the
gamblers of that city to close their