The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-08-08
CRIMINALS FOLLOW ONE ANOTHER
IN THEIR METHODS.
One Peculiar Swindle or Robbery IL
Sure to Roget It's Counterpart by
Another Gang of CrOoks-Picture
Stealing and Body SnatchinG.

room, entered the room and, having
collected rich booty of rings, watch
es, brooches, necklaces and other trim
kets worth some thousands of pounds,
disappeared with them.
For a considerable time past there
had been none of these dinner hour
robberies. Now the feat Of these
thieves was to make them common.
Strangely enough, their imitators even
selected the same neighborhood. With
In a few weeks, while the Belgian am
bassador, NJ. van de Weyer, and his
wife were dining in their residence at
New Lodge, thieves made a clean
sweep Of madam's 1ewelry In precisely
the same fashion. The next gang Of
imitators were not so lucky. Through
a mistake in the dining hour Of
Lord Peterborough they timed their
visit to his lordship's house too early
in the evening. Instead Of being at
dinner his lordship had gone for a
drive, from which he 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 had vanished, but his
jewelry, scattered on the bed ready for
packing up, was still there. Similar
as these robberies were they were the
work of different criminals. all imitat-
Ing the first. They soon had imitators
all over the country.
Gainsborough's great picture, THE
Duchess Of Devonshire." was stolen
one night from Messrs. Agnew's gal
lery in old Bond street by thieves who
cut the picture from its frame, rolled
it up and carried it off. There had
been no robbery Of the kind since
1850, when burglars visited the picture
gallery in the Earl Of Suffolk's resi-
dence and cut out and decamped with
several pictures, of which they tried
In vain to dispose. In disgust they at
last abandoned the treasures, worth
some thousands of pounds, hiding them
under one of the two arches of Black
friars bridge, where they were found.
The perpetrators of the Gainsborough
theft were equally unfortunate in
their attempts to make money by their
crime. Still, they had their imitators.
The very next year thieves made an
entry during the night into Woodville
Lodge, Clayton, Sussex, and cut from
their frames and decamped with pic
lures valued at from 10000 to f15,-
600.
In December of 1874 quick witted
daring thief who CHANGED to be at Pad
dington station took advantage Of the
hustle on the platform attending the
arrival of the Prince Of Wales to lay
hands upon the jewel case of the
Countess of Dudley, which contained
gems valued at 100000. The jewel
case was In the custody of two female
servants, VINO reached the station in a
cab. The first, alighting from the cab,
put the case down on the pavement
and turned around to assist her COM
panion out of the vehicle. When she
looked for the case again 1t was gone.
Selling upon the arrival or departure
Of royalty as an opportunity for theft
Immediately sprang into fashion among
thieves. The very next month at the
same station as the Duke of Edinburgh
was passing through 1t thieves found
an opportunity to rob an attendant of
the Russian ambassador, Baron Blu
low, of his dressing case, containing
jewels worth some thousands of
pounds.
The fact that the man he chose as his
example was rewarded with ten years
penal servitude did not deter Tarpsy,
the jewel thief, from resolving to imi-
tate his plan The first thief ordered
several thousand pounds worth of jew
elry from London shop, had the pre-
cious trinkets brought to his house
chloroformed the unlucky bearer and
disappeared with his booty. Tarpsy
proceeded on the same lines. With bis
wife he took house in the west end
and then, proceeding TO jewelers., re-
Quested him to send selection of dia-
monds and emeralds for his wife's con.
sideration. The unfortunate jewelers.
man when he was shown into the Tarp.
sy drawing room was seized, chloro-
formed, bound and gagged, while Tarp-
sy and his wife decamped with their
precious burden. So far the plan had
succeeded. but Tarpsy commenced to
fail as soon as he began to be original
He and his wife having stolen away
to bennington, Tarpsy excited the sus
picions of the landlady with whom
they lodged by the peculiar changes be
effected in bis appearance.
30 acute did her suspicious at last
become that she communicated with
the police. When they arrived they
were just too late. The mysterious
lodger had slipped away to the cont
nent. The detectives, baffied for the
moment, were not, however, discour
aged. Mrs Tarpsy remained, and they
watched her keenly.,
Some months later she donned the
deepest mourning, and the information
that she had lost her husband, who hac
died on the continent, spread around
The detectives rightly conjectured thai
Mrs Tarpsy was merely taking steps
to convince any possible watchers tina
their trouble would be In vain and dis
courage them from the task. The,
watched her more keenly than eve
and, following the widow" one day t
house In the north of London, discov
cred the deceased" and much mourne
husband alive and well.
One swlndler begets another. Watts
the fraudulent clerk of the Globe AS
Robson and Redpath. Watts was
young and trusted clerk who devise
an ingenious plan of classifying his en-
ployers' books in a manner which ene
bled him to embezzle huge sums. Will
he was receiving salary of only EGO
year, he was keeping up fine hous
In the west end and a mansion q
Brighton, at both of which he enter
tanned lavishly. His wines were of tn
best, and he retained one of the mos
famous French cooks to superinten
the preparation of the banquets a
which he dazzled hosts of enviou
guests. He was a patron" of actor
and impecunious literary and artist
persons. BY the time his frauds wer
discovered he had embezzled no les
than 10000. He was tried, foun
guilty and sentenced to ten years pens
servitude The same night he hange
himself in his cell.
Robson, clerk In the employ Of th
Crystal Palace company, not deterre
by Watts fate, initiated his frauds an
his reckless extravaganza. He had lai
hands on and spent E27.OO0 when hi
career was closed with sentence G
twenty years penal servitude. Only
fortnight after Robson's conviction al
other imitator OF Watts was detecte
in Lionel Redpath. His punishment
was the awful one of lifelong imprii
numont