Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-18
ROCUE'S MANY TH[FTS
Mr.. S. Fl. Kauffmann's Home
Robbed Of Valuables.
WORK OF A SERVANT
MUCH OF THE STOLEN PROPERTY
RECOVERED.
Purloiner Had Fitted Up a House on
Thirteenth Street Northwest
Pleads Guilty.
WORK OF A SERVANT

Michael r. Muller, member of Capt.
Boardman's staff OF detectives, has suc->
ceeded in solving 1.-The mystery of suit
case" In this city and bringing the offender
to justice. In this case the party under
charges was guilty Of q series of offenses
which involved only questions affecting his
honesty. the scene of his numerous acts of
wrongdoing being the home of Mr.. 8. H.
Kaufman. 1421 Massachusetts avenue
northwest The individual who caused all
the trouble was Frank D. James, thirty-six
years old, who had been in the employ of
Mr.. Kaufman since the 10Th of May last.
He was not suspected of dishonesty until
few days ago. 1t is believed he began car
rying away Mr.. Kauffmann's property
short time after he was given employment.
Some of the articles he pawned. but most
of the property he kept for the purpose of
adding to his already partially furnished
home at 1200 18th street northwest.
Detective Muller recovered something like
$3.50 worth of property that James had
stolen. Many times during the time he was
employed in the house sums Of money dis
appeared, but Frank was not suspected of
being the person who had committed the
thefts, and no effort had been made to trace
these thefts to him. He had come to Mr..
Kaufman highly recommended, and after
he was established in the house he did moth
Ing to excite suspicion of his honesty. In
deed, he was so efficient about the house
that his employer looked for evidences of
honesty rather than something that would
indicate the contrary.
James often carried a suit case from the
house with him when he went away.
however, and now that he has been arrest
ed and confessed his guilt 1t is easily I'M
derstood what he carried in it.
Articles Recovered.
Valuable ornaments, cut glass, articles of
wearing apparel and even large and costly
rugs formed the contents of the suit case
from time TO time. AS is usually true with
such persons. however. James carried off
articles that were in use almost every day
and when these were missed an investiga-
ton showed that they were not the only
articles that had disappeared 1t was i'm
possible for members of the household to
tell just what amount of property had been
taken, and they were surprised when they
called at headquarters yesterday and ascer-
tanned the amount that had been recovered
short time ago the butler in Mr. Kauff-
mann's employ expressed himself as being
dissa tisfied with his position. He was not
dissatisfied because of the work he had to
do, nor because there was any trouble.
but he felt that he could not properly ac-
count for the property in his care while
James was employed there. When he said
he was going to leave his place he made no
accusation against James, but people in the
They knew something was wrong and re-
ferred the matter to objective Muller, In
forming him of their suspicious of James
1t was but short time thereafter that he
was able to make the statement that James
was the guilty man. His arrest followed
and the goods mentioned were recovered
1t developed that James had sent trunk
filled with the stolen property to the stor-
age plant OF one of the local companies
but had neglected to hide the receipt. 1t
was In this trunk that most of the stolen
property was found.
Previous History.
When the detective had his man behind
the bars he made inquiries about him and
learned that he had been employed at Pitts
field, N. H., about three years ago and
that he was arrested there on charges sim
liar to those preferred against him here
He managed to escape q prison sentence
there. and after working In several cities
landed In Washington. His recommended
tions were strong enough to have obtained
for him a good position in any household
in the country or a government position
had he applied for one.
A visit was made to the partially fur
nished home of the prisoner on 18th street
Several young men rented rooms In the
house and there were all the marks to indi-
cate that the occupants of the dwelling
were men Of leisure. Besides the furnish
ingS with which the house was supplied he
had several barrels packed with goods
Had he not been OPPORTUNITY caught he
would probably have shipped his and Mr..
Kauffmann's effects to some other city and
fitted up another home, even more lux
uriantly than the one In this city. 1t is
the belief of the police that much of the
property in his house was distracted from
places where he had been employed
Having admitted his guilt of having stolen
everything that was recovered, the prisoner
was taken to police headquarters yesterday
and photographed for the gallery. Copies
of his photograph will find their way to
the galleries of other police departments.
Arraigned in Court.
The prisoner was arraigned before Judge
Kimball this morning and In the absence
Of his counsel, Attorney Campbell Caring
ton, he entered plea of guilty in each of
five cases of petit larceny. In a case Of
grand larceny. the theft OF rugs and other
property valued at $3.50 being alleged,
counsel waived an examination and the
prisoner was held in bond In the sum of
$1,000 for the grand jury.
The question of sentence in the five cases
of petit larceny was discussed, and Mr..
Given. the assistant United States attorney.
suggested that the court continue them for
sentence. He said he did not care to have
jail sentences imposed at this time, for In
the event of conviction upon the charge of
grand larceny he wanted the record to be
IN sucn condltlon that the prisoner could
be sent off to the penitentiary and not be
held In the District jail.
The court adopted the suggestion and an
nounced that the prisoner will have to give
bond in the sum of 5000 In all the cases
in order to get out OF prison before the
trial OF the grand larceny case in the
Criminal Court
Attorney Darlington arranged for his eli
ent to refund the money. 1915, that had
been obtained from pawnbrokers upon some
Of the stolen property.