The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-27

opened the reception room door with a
skeleton key. climbed through the
transOm over the connecting door. Sc
cured the jewelry, and ESCAPED the
same way .he had entered. The safety
appliance on the other hall door had
not been tempered with, the thief prob
ably being familiar with it's effective
ness. as IL was a device in general use
at that time by jeweIry statesmen who
carried samples of value. Those car
rled by Mills were all of solid gold and
among them was a large number Of
watch chains valued at S175 each. The
pattern of these chains was entirely
new and easily distinguishabie from
any other on the market.
The job had been deity and Cleanly
done, not the slightest cIew having
Deen left by the rObber. The case was
one of those difficult affairs in which
the detective has absolutely nothing on
which to work except such general
conclusions as he might draw. One of
these, at which 1 promptly arrived aft
er my survey of the rooms, was that
the thief was skilled one. Traces Of
master hand were easily discerniDle
but mere impression that a crime
has been committed by q crook of ex-
perfence is hazy starting point in the
search for the culprit. In this case the
probable fact that the thief was a
professional Of ability could reason
ably be supplemented by the theory
mat ne belonged to the special class
that devotes its efforts to relieving ho-
tel guests of their valuables.
AS a rule criminals are specialists
and seldom make excursions into
spheres OF crime that have not been
closely studied by them. A pickpocKet
is seldom a burglar and "con" man
never commits a crime of violence.
Most Of the thefts committed in hotels
are the work of men whose speciality is
stealing from hotel rooms The second
conclusion to be drawn, therefore. was
that some accomplished thief in the no
tel line had been rude enough to enter
Mr.. Mills room and abstract his lew
cry. While I reasoned in this way
there was the chance that 1 was entire
" wrong, for there are no hard and
fast rules of procedure governing Grim =
maj operations any more than such
rules govern other lines Of human ac-
tivity.
1t was in a not very hopeful frame
OF mind that / returned to headuuar-
ters. Other detectives from Central"
mad the banks and hotels for their sDe-
clal fields, and with the previous record
of hotel thefts I was no more familiar
than one might become by reading the
newspapers. / determined to acolIafnt
myself with this record. however and
proceeded to examine the confidential
reports to the chief of detectives touch
ing recent crimes, sorting out all those
relative TO thefts committed in hotels
These were about a dozen in mum ber.
during the three months preceding the
theft OF the Mills jeweiry Besides the
number. which was large enough 10 be
significant. / found a general similar
lty OF method running through them
None OF them had been solved. and all
remained as mysterious as was the
fremont house robbery. In most of
the cases room doors had been opened
without injury 10 the locks and val
uableS taken from the rooms during the
absence Of the occupants, no material
clew TO the identity of the thieves be-
ing left for the detectives to work from
The more carefully I studied these re-
ports the more firmly I became con-
WINGED that a well organized band Of
motel thieves was at work I'm Chicago.
and. If 1 were correct in this. It was
only reasonable to argue that the Mills
robbery had been the work of some
member of this band. The value of the
booty previously secured was small
compared with the haul made at the
fremont house.
After slowing carefully in my memory
the details Of the various thefts re-
ported, repaired to the Clifton hotel.
IN which a guest had been robbed some
time before. Going back on the register
10 the day preceding the night on which
the robbery had occurred. / began the
examination of the signatures calling
the clerk to my aid ia the work Many
or the arrivals OF that day were known