The sun., 1905-12-07
SAYINGS OF rs YEARS STOLEN.
CRUEL EXPERIENCE or COUPLE
WHO WERE KIND TO 4 child.
MislCd by I6-Ycar-Old italian 1ad, Little
"IIObby" Whalcn Helped I'm Theft OF
81 900 and Jewelry-Only Part OF
Booty Recoycred-Big Hoy Defiant

~ 900 and Jewelry-Only Part OF
Booty RecOscred-Bis Hoy Defiant
Twelve-year-old Edmund Whalen Of 40
West Twenty-nnth street is a prisoner
In the Gerry society building on Fourth
avenue and will not be comforted. He
is under arrest for burglary and might
have many years in a reform school ahead
Of him. But Mrs. Eugenie ChcBey Of 4l4
West Thirty-seventh street, the com
plainant against him, says she does not
intend to press the charge. Edmund does
not know that however.
Up to Tuesday night Mrs Chickey was
the best friend the boy had in the world.
The fact that he has lost her love may be
just as much the cause Of the child's tears
as his fear OF punishment.
Edmund is accused jointly with six
teen-year-old Italian boy named Joseph
Lobati of 81 Ninth avenue Of stealing all
Mrs. Chickey's savings and jewelry while
she was away from home on Tuesday.
The money was about 81 900; the jewelry
is said to be worth about $500
Christopher Chickey is a freight handler
employed by the New York Central rail-
way comp ny. He and his wife lived for
fifteen years in the same house on Twenty
fifth street with the Whalen boys parents.
The two families became very intimate.
Mrs. Chickey never had q child Of her own;
Mrs. Whalen, on the contrary, had an
abundance. So when Edmund was born
~ years ago Mrs, Chickey regarded him
almost as her own son and ever since has
been kind to him. When Mrs. Chickey
moved to Thirty-seventh street Edmund
was always welcome. There was bed
r 4. 4 .fN ,,,Nl
Mrs. Chickey for days on end Hardly
day passed that the lad didn't visit her
and have his noonday meal at her house,
st, Michael's plrochial school, which the
boy attended. being near by. The Chickeys
called the boy Bobby" as n pet name.
Mrs. Chickey was thrifty She supple
mented her husbands meagre earnings by
working herself. The couple lived nicely,
and their four room fiat is model Of COST
ness and neatness but Mrs. Chickey always
managed to save little each week She
wasn't much of business woman and she
dstrusted savings banks so the little hoard
was put in u small bank which, as well az
the jewelry was locked in trunk. When
the savings bank was full a pocketbook
was pressed into service and finally second.
Mrs. Chickey went TO visit a friend on
Edgecombe avenue, on tuesday after
noon. Although she was not aware OF
it, Bobby" knew that she kept her money
in the trunk, though he had no idea how
Bobby" fell in with the Iobati boy. The
latter was four years Older than Bobby,
sophisticated to an astonishing degree for
a sixteen year-old, and tough as nails. He
wouldn't work or study, but he always
had money. He quickly came to exercise
a great influence over Bobby" and when
the latter innocently dropped a remark
about Mrs. Chckey's trunk young Lobati
was quick to see his opportunity. He laid
a plan and threatened Bobby" if he didn't
help it along
When the latter had his dinner at Mrs.
Chickey's on Tuesday he stole the key to
the lower lock and fastened back the spring
lock of the door Of her fiat. When Mrs.
Chickey went out later she pulled the door
to and supposed the spring lock had caught,
Soon after she had gone Bobby and the |
Italian entered the house and jimmied the
trunk in a twinkling. Then they went
over to Eighth avenue and made round |
Of the penny arcades and shooting galleries.
Lobati spent 80 cents on Bobby" and gave |
him As more. The rest Of the 81 COO he |
pocketed.
MIR. Chickey was the first to return home
that evening. He spotted the theft at once,
The news nearly Frustrated Mrs. Chickey,
when she came in later, for all they had
laid away against rainy. y.day by twenty-five
years Of saving was gone. They suspected
Bobby because the, burglars had left
candle on the kitchen table. Mrs. Chickey
always kept her candles in corner Of the
cupboard and no outsider but Bobby" knew
where they were. SO the police were noti-
fed and Bobby" was dragged out of bed,
to undergo the third degree by detectives
Bobby was toe, young, to fully realize what
he had done and he told all he knew. But
when they locked him up in cold cell the
seriousness of the thing came to him and
he cried himself to sleep.
Lobati was caught about midnight and
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