The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-22
STOP! ARE YOU A H0SS THIEF?
THE QUESTION or THE DAY AT
THE BRIDGE ENTRANCE.
Somebody's been Getting Away With
BROOKLYN Crooer1 and Butchers' De-
livery Outfits, 50 They're Sieuthins
Mistaken Identities, No Captures.


Some folks who are in the habit of crossing
the Brooklyn Bridge every day have found
much amusement the last week in watch
ing the antics Of various butcher boys
and grocery clerks who have organized
themselves into an amateur detective
force for the purpose Of trying to capture
a gang OF horsethieves which have been
operating in Brooklyn.
No less than thirty horses we're stole n
from Brooklyn tradesmen in September.
and since Oct 1 more than a score have
been taken. In each case the horse has
been stolen while the driver was In a house
delivering goods. The thieves have usually
left the wagon in some side street in Brook
lyn after detaching the horse.
Believing that the stolen horses might
be headed OF at the New York approach
to the Bridge, many grocers and butchers
In Brooklyn have sent their employees out
to watch the Bridge terminal at Manhat-
tan. Almost every day these amateur
detectives stop some innocent driver and
question him about horse which closely
resembles some stolen animal
There were two Of these hold-ups at the
Bridge entrance yesterday. The first &C.
CURED at about 10 o'clock in the morning
when white-haired boy ran into the road
wav and shouted to the driver of a white
horse:
stop! For where you goin' NIT dot
horse2'
The driver, an elderly man with a long
white beard. whose wagon was labelled
Flushing, L. H. pulled UP his horse and
replied:
Sol dern yer, whatyer gittin' in tn road
fur? Yer wanter git ruined overP'
dot looks like my boss's horse. which
are stolen" explained the boy. Il can tell
dot horse when see him ten miles of.
"See here, young man, exclaimed the
Flushingite, III yer accuse me Of bein' q
boss thief, III git down thar and thrash
yer"
AT this juncture Detectives Meehan and
Lauterborn OF the Bridge force appeared
and questioned the boy. He was positive
that the horse was one that had been stolen
from his boss in Brooklyn. The driver got
of his wagon and said he had owned tho
horse for fifteen years.
Den mebbe it amt our horse,' said
the boy Ny horses boz boss, we're pre-. only 5
got no black left leg. Und he got yet more
hair on hims tail. und l tink his back
amt 90 much White"
The detectives were satisfied that the
bow had made mistake and told him to be
more careful in the future.
Half an hour later grocery clerk stopped
a black horse in the roadway and after a
heated argument with the owner declared
that he had made mistake as the stolen
horse in this case was much taller than
the one held up at the Bridge entrance.
This amateur detective was armed with
tape measure and was not convinced that
he had made a mistake until he had meas
ured the horse driven by the stranger.
A man leading a sorrel horse was stopped
at the Bridge on Tuesday. He said the
horse had been consigned to the owner OF
a Brooklyn livery stable:
Herbert Nelson, who held him up, told
the detectives that the horse had been stolen
last Saturday morning and was the prop
erty OF Mrs Fannie Klein, butcher doing
business at Myrtle and Kent avenues,
Brooklyn.
The detectives got Nelson and the other
man to accompany them to the Oak street
police station. Mrs. Klein's foreman was
sent for and he insisted that the horse
was the one that had been stolen. To back
I'D his Identification he sent for Mrs. Klein
and her blacksmith.
Mrs, Klein thought 1t was her horse.
Then the blacksmith picked up one Of
the horses forwa I'd feet and examined
aI'il wager a thousand dollars to bad
cent that this is not Mrs. klein's horse, '
he said.
Apologies followed, and the detectives
went back to the Bridge entrance to see
that no more mistakes were made by Wild
but hOx