The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-22
WORK OF BOLD THIEF
PENSACOLA IS INFESTED WITH
 EXPERIENCED GANG.
Hotel Room Robbed of Money and Diamonds Valued at Over al 1000,
 While Special OfRcers Pat-
 rolled Beat

I--For the past two weeks one of the
 slickest thieves with whom the police
 have had to contend has been success l fully working in this city. obtaining l from residences tn various parts of
 the city various sums, ranging from
 value in the shape of watches and pins.
 This morning, however, the police | were shocked to learn of the work of l the thief, for 1t became known that during the night the room of Dr. J. | A. Mcdonald at the Park Hotel, was entered and money and diamonds to the value of sl.050 was stolen. 4 valuable gold watch, which rested In the pocket of the doctors vest on the | center table, remained untouched. but a ring, valued at $350. in the pocket of his trousers, was taken. A stud button. valued at s450. was also stol- en. and to cap the climax of the loss l . sum of more than $500 was extract l ed from various pockets of his cloth- | ing.
 Dr. Mcdonald said he had returned from New Orleans yesterday and was | naturally very tired after his trip Last night at 10 o'clock he started to | retire and removed his overcoat. In doing SO he bethought himself of g few letters he had in his pockets and then he hurried to the postoffice to place them in the outgoing mail. Du- ring yesterday he had done some trad ing at some of the stores but had ex- hibited no great amount of cash, and therefore was not conscious that he had been shadowed. He went direct to his room after leaving the postof- flee and retired. and was not disturbed at all. He was awake early this morning and looked at his watch. Then he noted that his clothing was somewhat disarranged. A suspicion that he had been visited by the rob- Der of whom he had heard flashed over him and he himself went to searching. Then his loss was discovered. He immediately made a report of the mat ter.
 An interesting discovery was made in looking over the room and its sur roundings. On the window sill lay, freshly plucked rose bud, and it Is the opinion now that the thief Is not g. negro as had been originally sup posed, and it is thought that if the thief is ever caught 1t would be sur prising. so far as the Identity was concerned
 The act of the thief in this respect was very bold. Under the bright ( lare of an arc light the thief as- cended to the second story of the ho- tel possibly by means of one of the supports, where the doctors room | faced. The support which it is thought he ascended was on a line | street and one block from the police | station. The person worked appar- ently in sight of the station and emerged in the same manner with his | booty.
 | The act has mystified the officers more than ever. Especial protection
 in the way of extra . officers was | thrown out during the night and these l officers patrolled various portions of the city. The chief and his assistants
 were out through the entire night and
 worked in a manner they thought | which would thwart the plans of the | burglar.
 They were chagrined this morning
 to receive the reports of at least three
 burglaries during the night, two of
 which were in a neighborhood in which
 a special guard had been thrown.
 The home of Henry Pfeiffer was en-
 tered and ransacked from one end to the other. Very little was obtained
 here. The home of Mrs. J. Schellen- ger. 37 East Romano Street was en- | tered between 12 and 1 o'clock, and l the prowling man about the premises | caused Mrs. Scheilenger to wake up She made a noise and the thief, who
 was then in the house. readily left af-
 ter getting a few dollars and a watch Mrs. Schellenger watched the burglar
 as he slowly crossed the garden and
 lesurely walked down the street. She
 was afraid to scream. but the first
 thing this morning made report of the | matter to the police station.
 | The police are badly worried over the gangs work here. Two very mil
 mute descriptions of one of the thieves
 has been obtained, one in particular
 from Dr. c. Ray Mitchell, who re-
 sides at the corner of Rcus and In-
 tendencia Streets, and who was a vic tim of the thief on Tuesday night The thief gained entrance to the Mitchell home. The doctor had antic-
 ipated this visit and had made prepar-
 ations to receive the man warmly. To l that end he placed under his pillow his
 revolver. The burglar, evidently
 comprehending tEe situation, stole the
 pistol and some cash. In prowlinR
 around the house in very industrious | manner, the thief caused the doctor to
 wake up. The gentleman, taking ip
 the situation, bethought himself of the
 gun he had placel under his pillow and sought to draw the gun. He was
 surprised to realize that the weapon
 had been removed and was in the | possession of the man who had in-
 truded. Of course the thief had the
 man at his mercy and 1t would have
 been the height of folly to have grap-
 pied with him, so Dr. Mitchell watch
 ed him move about the room and saw 1 him leave the house. It was from closely watching him that minute description was obtained and given the | officers.
 Developing Alabama.
 | John Lister, assistant agrlculturai | agent of the Louisville and NashVille Railroad, Is in the city today having
 stopped over on his regular trips
 thsough this section of the country Mir Lister talked interestingly to The
 Advertiser man last night at the Es- cambia where he is stopping.
 He stated in detail the plans of the company in the matter of strawberry
 cultivation and gave some great views of the future At the present time
 great strawberry beds, covering some
 200 acres. are now in active cul- tivation at Castleberry and other Ala bama points. These products of the l soil are sent by express freight to the large marts of the North and West and
 are for sale at those points before the
 average man is looking for such lus- | cious products.
 Right now it was also stated the | comnany. is interested in the cultiVa-
 tion of peaches and hundreds of trees are now in various points Of Alabama bearing fruit very early in the year.
 Mir. Lister was authority for the state | ment that by the operation or the ex-
 press freight systeP. the Alabama | tl,n nrf ITl a-