Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-29
SPANKED FOR PAYING
QUARTER FOR JEWELRY
ITALIAN BOY IS SOUGHT BY THE
POLICE
$4,000 Necklace, Lost with Other VaIu-
able Jewels from Express Wagon,
Recovered by New York
Officers

NEW YORK, Dec. 2S.-The Jersey City
police recovered yesterday $4,000 pearl
necklace which was one of the pieces
of jewelry in the $4,000 package stolen
from the United States Express company
on Thursday of last week. The necklace
was in the possession of a 14-year-old
boy who had bought 1t for % cents from
boy about the same age. The police
refused last night to give the name of
the boy who bought the necklace, but
in a narrative Jim is as good as any
other.
Jim knew the boy who made the sale
only as Pete. He is en- Italian and worked
with Jim at one time in the stogie fac
tory Of the American Tobacco company
in First street, Jersey City. Jersey City
was dotted all of yesterday with detec-
tives looking for Pete, but no trace of
| him was found.
Ji..l acquired the necklace on last Sat-
| urday night He met Pete on First
street near the stpgie factory and after
brief howd'y between them Pete want
ed to know il Jim wouldn't like to buy
Christmas present. 1t was then that
| Pete flashed the necklace. 1t contained
| eighty-five pearls.
| Jim wanted to know how much Pete
would take for them.
"a quarter said Pete.
'That's too much," was Jim's reply.
| "P1l give you dime"
| Pete refused to be beaten down, and
as Jim had to buy one or two Christ
mas presents anyway he decided this
| would do. Before the deal was closed,
| though, the two moved over under an
electric light, where Jim could get a
| better look at the necklace.
| 1t was pay night at the stogie fac
| tory and Jim had few greenbacks in
| his pocket. Apparently Pete saw them,
for after he had disposed of the neck
| lace he pulled a handful of sparkling
jewels from his coat pocket and said:
'T'll give you the whole lot for s3."
60 on" said Jim, "do you think I'm
easy?"
Drives Bargain
| Pete then offered Jim two more pieces
for 20 cents, but he turned them down.
| From the description given by the boy
the police believe one of the pieces was
the emerald brooch, 13 80 carats, valued
| at $13500.
| The next morning Jim took his father
| into his confidence and showed the neck
| lace. Jim's father took him over his
knee and spanked him good, saying he
would teach him not to spend his good
money for truck That discouraged Jim
.
who probably would have been able to
| discern bargain.
| Jim carried the necklace around in his
pocket on Sunday and Monday and Tues
day. On Wednesday he noticed an account
in one of the papers of the United States
Express theft. There was a picture of a
necklace in the paper which looked just
like his. He spread the paper down ON a
| table and stretched the piece of jewelry
/ mi a1o11oafda nf Tho n
pearls corresponded exactly. The clasp
and the spangle also were the same.
| Jim decided then that it was up to him
| to risk some more trouble with his father.
The father this time advised his son to
| hurry right around to the stogie factory
and show the necklace and the picture
/ to Joseph Schneider, the manager. The
| boy did this.
| why" said the manager, "you have a
valuable piece of jewelry here Where
did you get it?'
Jim told his story, and Mr.. Schneider
called up the Jersey City police head
quarters. The boy turned the necklace
over to the police yesterday morning.
and it was identified by a representative
of Alfred H. Smith & Co. of 475 Fifth
avenue, the owners of the jewels.
Four men from police headquarters in
| New York were Immediately sent to as
sist the Jersey City department in rum
ming down the young Italian. The ex-
press company also sent out it's special
agents under command of Special Agent
Joseph Mayhem. The insurance COM
pany which accepted the risk on the
| jewels also had it's representative at
work, and there were also detectives
| from private agencies.
The entire neighborhood about the
stogie factory was canvassed and all of
| the italian colonies. The police hacve
pretty good description OF Pete, but
their chief hope was in running onto
somebody who had heard Of another of
Pete's bargain sales.
Search for Boy
| The belief of the police is that the boy
picked the package out of the wagon
either while it was on the way over from
Manhattan or a Jersey Central ferry
boat or after 1t got to the Jersey City
side. The driver and his helper say that
the package was near the end of the
wagon, so that this could have been done
easily. The helper has said that the only
time he left the re1r of the wagon was
for minute or two on the way over on
the ferryboat.
| The police say that 1t is entirely plaus-
ible, however, that the package might
have been dropped from the wagon and
picked up by the youth. They are in
clined to the theory, though, that he
made chance grab into the wagon and
hit upon the most valuable package.
The declared value was marked plainly
on the outside of the package. This was
$1,000. The police believe that the boy
| tore the wrappings from the jewels in
the dark and dumped the lot of them
| into his pocket. In no other way can
they account for the fact that he had
failed to appreciate the value of them.
| What the police fear now is that Pete
has fallen into the hands of older people.
who have learned through the news
papers cS the value of the jewels.
The negro porter who was arrested on
suspicion on Wednesday night was held
| yesterday, but the police are satisfied
now that he knows nothing about the
theft.
| EL EPHANTS ARE MORE