The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-10-16
HE CAUGHT A BURGLAR
Stephen Seeberg Turns Detective to
Some Purpose.
Thief Captured in His House While
Taking a Purse.
The Boy contesses to Number of
Other Robberies.
Other Lads Are implicated in Recent
Wrong 0oings.
From Tuesdays Daily.

From Tuesdays Daily.
Stephen Seeberg, who resides at the
corner of Fourth and Cherry streets
and is employed in Rosenberger & Cur
rier's candy factory, trapped young
thief very neatly Sunday afternoon in
his house For three or four weeks past
his wife had been missing money at
intervals, and her total loss was about
Sll, and a young lady who rooms there
also lost 81. The money disappeared
very mysteriously and there was no
clue to what became of it. 1t was sus-
pected that boys were the thieves, and
Mr.. Seeberg' determined to do little de-
tective work and try to put stop to
the thieving.
Sunday afternoon the family all went
out for walk except Mr. Seeberg, who
concealed himself under a table in the
dining room, by means of having the
cloth hang down to the floor on all sides
Presently, about thSee o'clock, he heard
some one tiptoeing along the porch and
soon window sash was raised and he
heard someone climb into the house
through the window The person hastily
went through the house to see whether
anyone was at home, and then APP
preached the sideboard and opened a
drawer and took purse containing So.
Just then Mr.. Seeberg raised the table
cloth, reached out and seized the thief
by the ankle and held him prisoner un-
til he could come out from under the
table Then he recognized his captive to
be a twelve year old boy living in the
neighborhood.
The boy pleaded for mercy, and con-
fessed that he and several other boys
whose names he gave had done the pre-
vious thieving. They had gone to the
house from time to- time while the family
were out and had gone through the same
window each time, because the catch did
not fasten the sash down, although the
family did not know this until the last
burglary, when the boys left the sash
open, thus giving the family clue.
The money had generally been taken
from the sideboard drawer, because Mrs.
Seeberg had been in the habit of leav-
ing the purse there.
The boys generally did not take all
of the money that was in the purse, for
SONG reason. One time they found 81
there and took half of it. The boy
confessed that the last time that he had
stolen money in the house, which was
only few days before, he had spent
part of it in buying a present for a
young girl friend who gave birthday
party. With the balance of the money
ne had played a slot machine and had
bought ice cream.
From the boys confession it was learn
ed that there is a gang, the members of
which are not all confined in the neigh
borhood, and some of whom belong to
good families some blocks away, who
have been in, the habit of burglarizing
houses. They went into Mr.. Seeberg's
house five or six times, and each time
cook some money. Sometimes two of the
boys would go into the house and prowl
about, while third would stay ON the
outside and watch, giving notification
when any danger was scented. The time
that the young thieves left the window
sash open, the young lady who rooms
there returned while one of the boys was
still in the house, and in his hasty
exit he had no time to close the sash.
The young lady did not detect his
presence.
The same gang broke into Fred Fisch-
er's house on South Broad street few
days ago and took sum of money.
Money and eatables have been stolen
from f. j. Lorenz's grocery store, and
only the other evening some things were
taken from in front of his store while
his back was turned. Some time ago
$l2 was stolen from his money drawer,
but he ascertained who had committed
the theft and secured the return OF Inc
money.
The same gang, it is thought, at
, tempted recently to break into the resi-
dence of city official living in that
neighborhood, by prying off the serene
of his front window.
1t may be that arrests will follow,
but Mr. Seeberg has made the parents
of the boy whom he caught in the act
of robbing his house an opportunity to