The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-03
Authorities Adopt Extreme Measures
10 Put an End to Carnival of
Crime i'm This City.
FIRST HAUL OF HUMAN SHARKS
HARRY BURGEN, BURGLARY EX-
PERT, PLACED BEHIND THE BARS.
Robbing of Lilly & sta1naker's Store
and other Thefts Spur Detectives
in Their Crusade.

Discouraged by their unsuccessful efforts
to break up the wholesale robberies, hold
ups and safe crackings which have been
going in and around Indianapolis for
several weeks, the detectives have been in
structed to arrest any persons found loiter-
ing the streets who cannot give good
account of themselves. This, Ii is thought,
will bring many lawbreakers into the hands
of the police and within a half hour yes
terday afternoon five such characters were
arrested and placed behind the bars at the
police station.
Harry Burger, noted police character
in this city until about year ago, when
he moved to Marshall. ILL.,, was arrested
and charged with burglary. With COM
pani0n he Is supposed to have driven from
Indianapolis to Morristown Monday night
and robbed Hoffman's grocery of s25, 200
cigars, a quantity of tobacco clothing and
large quantity of provisions.
MOTHER STANDS BY HIM.
Burger was found drunk in a South Illi-
nois-street saloon, where he had sold $50
cigars to a stranger for $3.50, by Detectives
Gerber and Trimpe. When arrested he
cried like child and told the officers that
he wouldn't stand for being arrested. When
Johnson and said that he lived in ST. Louis
but letters found in his pocket show that
his home is In Mattoon, H., and that his
brother. Lon" also we'll known to the To-
cal police is at present in Jail at Marshall,
Ill. When the family lived here there were
two boys and the mother, who had been
left widow while the boys were quite
young. She had great deal of trouble
with the boys and they were arrested nu-
merous times, but she always upheld them
through all, and in a recent letter to Harry
G 20 n nrl md hA nnh haxr Urnl n
and we will be all right after while.''
Burger protested absolute ignorance of
the Morristown robbery and stated that he
had stayed all night Monday night at the
Union Station Hotel, where it was found
he had occupied a room a part of the
night. The. cigars he had with him he
swore he knew absolutely nothing about
and that he had been by himself Monday
night.
OF the other men arrested for lettering
| two of them are well-known characters and
| the other two, who are both young, are
| from out of the city 1t Is positively known
that these men are not working and havenot
been doing SO for quite while, as accord
| ing TO their former records they all pre-
ferred lettering and petty thieving to hard
work,
LILLY & STALNAKER ROBBED.
Monday night unknown men entered
| the store of Lilly & Stalnaker at No. ia
| East Washington street, and, passing by
| large cases filed with jewelry and other
valuable articles. robbed a case of sixteen
| fine Smith g. Wesson revolvers. They also
! took quantity of razors, and the work
was all done in about fifteen minutes. Night
| Waterman Thomas left the store about j
| o'clock and returned in about fifteen min
| utes. He found the front door glass broken
| and the revolvers and razors gone. The
police think it was the work of young GRIM
/ inals with holiness and nerve.
| The safe blowing which has been going on
/ still remains mystery, but Captain Kin
| ney says that it is the work of amateurs
who broke into a powder-house about seven
weeks ago and carried away a large guam
| tity of dynamite, which they have used
with little knowledge of the fine art of safe
blowing
| j. NJ. Douglass. commonly known as a
penitentiary bird" was arrested, together
/ with James r. Quafd, q Quack doctor, and
| charged with conspiring to blow open safe
near Marion, Ind, and rob it, The blowing
| had been set for Monday night, but their
arrests hindered the carrying out of their
/ plans. QUAD is a Spanish-American war
/ veteran, receiving pension for injuries re-
/ ceived during the war, and confided his
plans to gambler. who In turn told the
| police. When arrested and closely ques-
| toned each accused the other of originating
| the plan which both admitted had been
| made
l. Dozens of smaller robberies are reported
| every day, and, though the police are work
| ing day and night, the thieves carnival
| goes on.
| BOUND FOR ST. LOUIS.
Last night ten or twelve men were ar
| rested and locked up at the police station
on charges of lettering. From this time
on the police expect to have uphill work
in holding the gangs of young desperadoes
within the bonds of the law, as so many
strange crooks and thieves are daily arriv-
ing in the city it is almost impossible to
keep track of them. The worlds fair at
/ said
| to be flooded with Eastern thieves. Most
of the burglars and crooks who are being
| driven from the Eastern cities will start
for st. Louis, taking freight trains as a
| means of conveyance. Indianapolis being
centrally located will be a stopping off
place for all of them. Many of them will
stop here just long enough to break into a
| few houses, after which they will again
start on their journey toward st. Louis
With the large number of local thieves now
| operating in the city and the incoming
| Eastern criminals the police look forward