The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-08-14
PHYSICIAN IS THE BURGLAR
DR.. Holbrook, of Delaware County,
Pa, Confesses to Rohberies.
Led a DR.. Jekyl and Mr.. Hy6e Life
Committed the Grimes in
Order to Wed.

Coatesville, Pa.-Dr. Benjamin
Holbrook, one of the best known ply.
sicians in Delaware County, has been
held under $4,000 bail on a charge
Of burglary. IIolbrook is the son OF
a former Philadelphia physician now
deceased.
DR.. HolbrooE Is said to have con.
fessed fully to Detective Dague of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, whose head
quarters are at Parkersburg, the
crimes charged against him.
The robberies were, of course,
committed at night, and always the
doctor, it Is charged, drove to the
scene in his buggy and carried the
booty away behind his spanking
team of sorrels. In the daytime he
was a suave, we'll bred practitioner,
a specialist in eye, nose and throat
diseases, the we'll hammered sympa-
thetic DR.. Jekyll Of local society, and
as especial favorite with the families
Of good standing in the town in which
there were manageable daughters.
One OF, the things that he said te
Detective Dague in the course Of his
confession was that he was engaged
to marry two young women, one a
very charming Philadelphia, the
other living in Coatesyille. He was
not sure which of them he would
have made his wife If all had gone
we'll. The doctor has been a wild.
over for about four years. He told
Detective Dague that the first
thought of criminality came to him
when, desiring to remarry, he found
himself confronted with imminent
bankruptcy.
A private hearing was given Hol.
brook before Justice Of the Peace
Joseph Johnson at Downingtown and
he was held in $4,000 bail for court,
He was unable to furnish bail and
was committed to the prison in West
chester.
Many robberies are laid at his
door. In April last the station at
Wyebrooke, on the Holland branch
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was
broken into and 4000-mile mileage
books and some jewelry and silver
ware were stolen.
A few nights afterward the station
at Glenmore, on the same line, was
entered in like manner by the same
person, chiefly that he might put the
agents stamp on the mileage books
a thing he had neglected at Wye
brooke. He took a silver watch and
a razor belonging to the agent and
several pairs of new shoes which
were in the freight room. Next the
station at Buck Run, on the Pomet
roy and Newark branch, was robbed
and a typewriting machine was sto.
len.
Suspicion was first directed to Dr..
Holbrook through his attempting to
make use of one Of the mileage
books, but he escaped detection.
Meanwhile other burglaries were
committed within a radius OF ter
miles of Coatesville. Three OF these,
in Coatesville, eel to have fur
nished the clue to the burglar. He
took from the electrical supply store
Of Edward Thomas, on Third avenue.
a typewriting machine, p revolver.
some valuable electrical tools and
a stock of dies. He then entered the
Office of David Mariner, liveryman.
and stole a gun and a stop watch.
Next he broke into the store OF
Frank Carson, at Second avenue and
Diamond street. There were also
robberies at Pomeroy, Timacula post.
Office, near Brinton's Mills, and
Mount Carmel schoolhouse. At the
Cliff farmhouse, where DR.. Holbrocs
boarded and had a kind Of office,
search by the law officers revealed q
large variety of booty.