Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-07-16
LIMITATION IN CRIME
CRIMINALS FOLLOW ONE ANOTHER
IN THEIR METHODS.

One Peculiar Swindle ar Robbery Is
j Sure to Bcget Its Counterpart by
Another Gang OF trooks-l'icture
Stealing ana Body snntching.
The Initiative faculty of criminals is
well recognized by all engaged in their
detection, says the London Answers
One sensational crime makes Scotland
Yard watchful for others In which
some Of it's peculiar features will be
copied.
One of the most remarkable series Of
Initiative crimes In modern times &C.
Cured Mt Windsor. While the Count
and Countess of Marella were one Feb
ruary evening Mt dinner in their man
sion near Virginia Water some thieves
. nscendod by means of Il rope ladder TO
I. n window In the countess dressing
room, entered the room md, having
collected II rich booty of rings, watch
es. brooches, necklaces and other trim
kcts worth some thousands of pounds,
disappeared with them.
) For q considerable time past there
had been none of these dinner hour
robberies. Now the feat Of these
. Strangely enough their imItators even
; selected the SAME nciglborhood. With
in q" few weeks, Willie the Belgian am
bassador, NJ. van de Wcycr, and his
wife were dining i'll their residence ut
New Lodge, thieves nude q clean
sweep Of madams jcwclry in precisely
the same fashion The next gung or
tmitators were not SO lucky Through
mistake in the dining hour of
Lord Peterborough they timed their
visit to his lordship's house loo carly
( In tho evening. Instead of being ut
dinner his lordshlp had gone for n
drive, from which ho returned later
than had been expected. On going up
stairs to his dressing room he found
the door locked. When 1t was broken
open the thieves Ind vanished, but his
1eweiry, scattered OH the bed ready for
packing up. was still there. Similar
as these robbcrics were they were the
work of different criminals. all imitnt-
Ing the first They soon had imitutors
all'over the country. !li.h
Gainsborough's great picture, '"rhc
Duchess OF Devoushire," was stolen
one night from Mcssrs. Agncw's gal.
lerS in old Bond street by thieves who
cut the picture from its frame, rolled
1t UP and carried 1t off. There Ind
been no robbery OF the kind since
1850. when Burglars visited the picture
gallery In the Earl of Suflolll's resi-
dence and cut out and tlecampcd with
several pictures, OF which they tried
In vain TO dispose In disgust they Mt
last abandoned the treasures, worth
some thousands Of pounds, hiding them
under one of the two arches Of Buek-
frlars bridge. where they were found.
The perpetrators Of the Galnsborough
theft were equully unfortunate In
their attempts to make money by their
crime. Still, they had their imitntors
The very next year thieves made IN
entry during the night into Woodvlla
Lodge. Clayton, Sussex, and cut from
their frames and decampcd with pic
lures valued ut from 10000 to f15,-
600.
:. In December Of 1874 quick wittctl
daring thief who Glanced to be at Pud-
dIngton station took advantage Of the
hustle on the platform attending the
arrival Of the Prince Of Wales to lay
hands upon the jewel cnse of the
Countess of Dudley, which contained
gems yeluad ut 100000 The jewel
8l4ri'