Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-04-09
Gang III France is Entitled TO the
Designation.
COMPLICATED ORGANIZATION
Had Regularly Employed Agents to
Spy Out Likely Place and Had in
Their Ranks Experts in Many vari.
ous Lines.

''rhc Forty Thieves w to Date" is n
title wlicrctU THE remarkable Sana Of
criminals whose trial begins at Amicns
| Assizcs tomorrow might Justly lay
claim Although only 90 Of them fell
into the clutches OF the police. their
total number was exactly 10, like the
French Academy. or to return to less
'i:;rcspcciiul smile. like All Babas
legendary band. Their cave was a
| mousse in the Rue dc IL Cief Paris.
ilcrc they kept a reserve supplystOf (
| burglars tools and cruciblcs for melt
ing gold and silver. and here they con-
trirch ingenious hiding places wherein
they stored other booty unit! favor
| able opportunity came for negotiating
i. With Il consistency for which tho
Parisans have cause to be grateful.
Tic 40 thieves operated exclusively
Ill the country. Their usual course was
| to send scouts In search of furnished
houses which had been temporarily
| left nntenantcd. AS soon MS anything
suitable was discovered telegram. IN
cipher, was dispatched to hcadQuar-
tors.
| Two expert operators, most respect
Tably dressed, and provided with ire
Hr2nchablc travelling bags Sui! or
craciiamen's tools were promptly sent
from Paris so as to arrive on Tie
scene OF their la5ors after nlghtrall.
Having ascertaincd that the thread
placed acrcss the door by tho scouts
was still unbroken and that The occ,,.
pants consequently had not returned
IN The meantime, the gentlemen from
Paris had merely to use t:.eir skclnton
keys. walk in. help themselves. ti;-
croctly retire and take the first train
cithcr TO Paris or the next town on
their list. In many cases the gol,l nntl
silver ornaments were in Paris nnd
melted down before the owners discnv-
cred hcir loss.
he organization of the gang gives
evidence of much patient effort Their
cipher key was the word Portuguese"
tc each letter Of which the figures from
10 correspondent. Letters not con.
tanned in the key word were left I'm.
altered. Thus Toulon appeared In their
kilograms as t25L2N, anu Tie figures
l3&9, "pris," meant that an acccmpicg
had been caught. All the members
carried forged papers aud had false
names When any one of them was
unfortunate enough to be arrested. lie
slammed madness, so as To- secure n
transfer ut any rate for Il time. 10
an asylum, whence escape is nucli
easier than from the prison With the
help OF his comrades outside The sun.
posed lunatic rarely failed IL give lin
Keepers the so by.
The leader of The gang is n young
Marseillais. named Jacob, who began
life as a cabin buy and has played
many parts. Hc owes much To his
mother though not in the accepted
way. She gave him a great deaf ol
excellent advice as To lhc houses he
should enter and the receivers vino
would give the hast prices Fer lNoty.
Some ol the old ladv's letters 20 her
son fell into ilir hands OF The puico
and will be produced at the trial.
They provide most cdifying rcuding.
Another member OF the fraternity waa
a specialist in. he use OF chlcrcform;
a second managed the cruciblcs ami
filled up his spare moments by wrlin::
Anarchist pamphlets: a third was a
well known hahitne of the public gam.
bling rooms In he Riviera: iolli. were
women One h,n'lrcd AMI NIFTY cliars.
&c OF "oc!,cry are brought asains! ,lu
prisoncrs.-Pall Mall Gazette