The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-26
DOUGLGSTON'S BURGLAR HUNT
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If upugltsion. I, I atill has many points
~ historical interest several huntf~l ~
which wrra adtlgd, lafr M Sunday night
and early yesterday morning, In tho Hattie
N Cpsry poi1i Tho bsw points ~ interest
wefe shown w The strangers ny thN natives
oil DAY yesterday They werc tho hoiaa
made Nv tho bullets fred NJ tho burglar
that tflod Ia break into Clinton Won vllst'a
garage, and alao ~ IasSrrsby, m tho as
sumption that any une " them might Ia
tho burglar, There may have been two
or three burglars, hut that isn't clear and
doesn't matter much now,
Tho maraudrr. or maraudefa, had one
hour's start ~ the Flushing police and an
hour and n half'a start of the Little Neck
Hosc Reel Company. 40 they got away.
II Is just possible that The ends " Justice
may have bcen defeated unintentionally
and the burglars got an linking Of the fact
that they we're wanted when the fro bell
was rung by order Of Adolph Helmuth, uni
formed chief Of the DouGlaston volunteer
fire department. However. the fire alarm
and the quick response Of the vamps and
the firing Of guns all along the main road.
from the railroad station over to the bay,
and all along the creek "a far out as Cosey
Point, caused 80 much excitement that II the
thief had not slipped away he couldn't
have been worthy Of his jimmy.
Douglaston was all wrought up over
burglars anyhow, because four houses we're
boken into or last Thursday night. The
thieves began at j. Langdon Hawes's, the
last house on the road, where they opened
a dining room window with an oyster knife,
but we're scared away before they got any
thing, Ha YES YVES sceptical about burglars
anyway, but the next morning he had to
admit that the house had been entered or
that he had forgotten his special duty Of
fastening the downstairs windows before
going to bed. Being tactful he suggested
the burglar theory at the breakfast table on
Friday and, fortunately enough, the theory
was c~orroborated later in the forenoon when
it was learned that the houses occupied
by John Reed, Edward Hope and Walter
S. Fadder had all been robbed on that same
night and the jimmy marks on all the win
dow sashes bore the imprint Of an oyster
knife.
Because Of the oyster knife evidence
the Flushing police are convinced that the
thief must be a native of Little Neck.
The burglar did not resume work on the
Douglaston contract for two nights. In
the meantime the village had got into a hair
trigger state of mind. tn men folks all
came into town to buy gun the cats were
kept in the sitting room at night 30 that they
wouldn't cause false alarms by prowling
around on the roofs and the women Quit
comparing notes about their crimson
ramblers and chrysanthemums to confde
to one another, in strict secrecy, where they
had hid their jewelry for Douglaston
took it as a matter Of course that theburglar
would come back, as he had finished only
four houses.
And he or they did come again on Satur-
day and resumed work where he or they
had left of by going to the premises Of
Clinton Van Vliet, next door to John Reeds,
the last place robbed on Thursday. Mrs.
Van Vliet heard somebody outside and
alarmed the house. Her nephew, Albert
Spencely, ran out in time to see a man trying
to force the window to the garage. He
fired four shots. The burglar disappeared
but not more quickly than all Douglaston
turned out, all hands beginning to shoot
as soon as they were clear Of their own front
doors.
The folks who had been robbed on Thurs
day were the first on the road, because,
having nothing moro to lose, they did not
stop to lock up.
j.. Langdon Halves, in green pajamas,
with one shoe on and with the grin Of a
man who has been indicated, as he thought,
Of that open window in the dining room,
led the force from the north end Of the
main road.
Adolph Helmuth, in red pajamas but
with his fire helmet on, came from the
south, a u in one hand and a silver trum-
engine. They left a trail Of withered
flowers as the dried up roses dropped from
the floral horseshoes given to most popular
members.
William Loomis turned out in command
Of the Manor Guard.
Anybody who didn't appear in night
shirts Summer length or in pajamas was
Immediately under suspicion and was
fired on.
Edward Seymour, who keeps the post
office, next to the Van Vliet place, realized
that it would be his turn to get robbed
next IL the burglar wasn't caught, 30, not
being able to think Of anything more efeo-
tive to do in the excitement Of the moment,
he ~telephoned to Flushing for the police.
Four came over in a wagon in command Of
Charles Baker. They arrived in the nick
of time, for Douglaston's ammunition was
almost exhausted, Most Of it had been fired
at q civil engineer named Bethel, who is in
the service Of the real estate company that
Is cutting up the manor.
It happened Ina just when the excite
ment was at its height, Bethel, accom-
panied by his wife, drove out Of the manor
grounds in a buggy and started along the
main road toward Flushing. He had not
gone many yards before he was ordered to
halt by a group OF white robed figures
under a tree. A lot OF laborers employed
at road making on the manors recently
went on strike, 30 Bethel mistook the
flower of Douglaston's chivalry for strikers
IN disguise.
Instead OF stopping, Bethel, who used
tobe a chief Of police in some town in Alaska, |
lashed his horse into a gallop. Then the
firing began and Bethel was sure that the
roadside watch was a gang OF strikers.
And the faster he went the surer the citi-
zens became that he was the thief, so they
chased the carriage, stopping only long
enough to reload. Other groups joined
them here and there all the way to the rail-
road and if the thief had only known about
the attack on the civil engineer he could
nave worked around into the rear OF the
thief hunters and robbed all the houses
on the east side Of the nail road that night
instead of waiting a week or so.
The Bethels were saved finally by the
Little Neck Fire Department. At the turn
Of the road beyond the tracks he had to
stop to avoi running into the hose reel
and ladder truck that was coming over
on a chance, the vamps having heard
the Douglaston bell ringing and being red
hot for a squirt test with the Dirigoes.