Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-03

ing the homeless and consequently more or
less irresponsible wanderers of the streets.
at a season of the year when things look
pretty blue and hopeless to outcasts. with
their extraordinarily lavish displays of gems
in their windows. On Broadway alone there
are perhaps twenty jewelry establishments
the windows of which contain exhibits of
diamonds ranging In value from sl0o.0D TO
screens placed around these windows on
the outside. and the temptation TO the habit
ual criminal to take chance cannot but
be great, as the wise ex-chief of police Bill
subject the other day.
Schemes to Foil Robbers.
The jewelers. and pawnbrokers have all
sorts of schemes and appliances, including
time-lock safes, burglar alarms and such. TO
guard against the robbery of their jewels
when the gems are taken out Of the show
windows and counters and put away for
the night. but they never seem to appre-
ciate what long chances they take in eN-
hibiting the finest articles in their collec-
lions in their front windows. without any
other protection than that afforded by
piece of plate glass. Ex-Chief DeVery
pointed out on the day after this unsuc-
cessful attempt of the bell boy on 42d street
that a desperate provided with good,
swift automobile, and experienced as
chauffeur, could accomplish these window
smashing robberies of jewelers. windows
with first-rate chance of getting away.
With the automobile anchored at the curp
the proficient autosteersman could hop INTO
the machine with his suddenly acquired
loot and be swiftly on his way before the
jewelers. assistants or any of the people
on the street could become aware OF what
was going on. His views, being those of an
experienced policeman who has been deal
ing with criminals and studying their
methods for the major part of his life, nave
served to alarm the jewelers. who make
big window displays, and it may be that
their exhibits of precious stones VIII pe
curtailed in the future. Only last year
there was a window robbery here tnat
showed how determined thieves are when
they make up their minds to get hold OF
gems that they see displayed with such
lavishness in the jewelers. windows. This
window was protected on the outside by
heavy wire netting at the front and on the
sides. The thief stood in the doorway OF a
hall at one Of the sides Of the window, and
he had no trouble in cutting away the wire
netting-a section of 1t about two feet
square-with his nippers. 1t was in the
middle of the day, but passersby figured
that the thief was workman engaged in
making some repairs or other. The wire
screen hole made. the thief blocked out
large square hole in the thin plate glass
with a glaciers diamond. Then he applied
some sort of a suction apparatus that he
had invented himself to this block of glass
and quietly pulled the square of diamond
cut glass out of the window. Then he
watched his chance and reached In and
picked out $4,000 or $4,000 worth of fine
diamonds and got clean away, nor has he
ever been caught. His mode of procedure
was seen through when the piece of wire
screen that he had nipped away and the
square piece of plate glass were found
neatly stacked up in the hall after the rob-
berry was discovered -
Cornelius Vanderbilt's Popularity.
The solicitude with which the case of
Cornelius Vanderbilt was watched by the
people of New York when the young man
was in danger of death from typhoid fever
is an instance Of how millonaires son
may endear himself even to the plain peo-
pie of very much mixed community by
the exhibition of manly qualities. Young
Vanderbilt has grown in the estimation of
New York ever since he sacrificed the
enormous fortune that was coming to him
as the eldest of his father and married
the woman of his choice against all opposi-
ton. He made no bluster about it, as
sumed none of the postureS Of hero or
martyr, nor has he shown the slightest
tendency to put ON an aggrieyed expression
since he made up his mind on that point
as, indeed, he has little occasion to do,
since his wife has developed into the most
clever and charming hostess in New York
!, The people of New York were delighted
when Prince Henry, with pointed and GER
tdlHiy INTENDED consplcuouSneSS, chose the
home of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt as the
only private one in which he would consent
to take dinner during his visit in New York
city. With the approval and the praise
Of New York in his ears now for several
years past, Cornelius Vanderbilt is just as
far from exhibiting indications of the pos
session of swelled head as he ever was.
He doesn't shirk his duties a citizen,
either, as so many of the millionaires and
the millionaires' sons of New York persist
emily do. When he is called for jury duty,
he doesn't stay away and send his lawyer
to pay his fine for contempt of court. He
hasn't side stepped jury duty on a single
occasion, and he has been called to serve
on juries listening to wearisome cases
many times. He offered his services as a
civil service commissioner-positions diff
cult to fill over here because there is no
compensation for the commissioners. He
has been doing the bulk Of the work Of
the commission for several years. He goes
to his office every morning at nine o'clock