Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-10-10
BURGLAR BAND
Led by a Woman at Glen Cove,
Long Island,
ARE BOLD ROBBERS.

They Have Stolen Twenty Thousand
Dollars in Six Weeks.-The Track
OF an Automobile and the Foot
prints of Woman the Only Tangi-
bic CIews.-Rich Residents Re-
comes Vigilants.
In the strangest burglar hunt ever
known about New York posses of
wealthy cottagers are nightly patrol
ing the shores of Glen Cove. l.. l.
With guns on their shoulders and
revolvers at their belts, they have
replaced the paid watchmen of the
villages about the Cove, through
whose lines the looters slipped in and
out like cells, and they are looking
for daring band of land and water
pirates led by a slender-footed wo-
man of beauty and good taste.
During the past six weeks the
thieves with their woman leader have
secured more than $4,000 worth of
silverware and jewelry; that in one
of their marauding trips they chloro-
formed a well-known matron and her
maid. and that on several occasions.
by the aid of swift motor boats or
automobiles, they escaped almost un-
der the eyes of the posses.
None of these wealthy sleuths has
seen the much-feared woman leader
OF the pirates yet, though some SER
wants have. But the rich vigilantes
have found her tracks-made by mar
row, pointed, highheeled No. ga
shoes-leading from their homes to
the beaches, where she got into the
motor boat or to the roadways, where
she entered the automobile.
The latest of the robberies occur
red Saturday night. The home of Mrs.
John Lille, widow of prominent
politician in Mineola. was broken in
to in the usual mysterious fashion.
and $1,000 worth of silverware car
ried on. Wheel marks. apparently
made by an automobile, were found
in front of the house the next morn
ing. A well-dressed woman, clad in
tailored suit of blue, had been seen
walking about the grounds just be-
fore nightfall. Not only does this
fact and the tracks of pair of dainty
shoes indicate that the woman is of
the burglar band. There are other
evidences. For instance, in several
houses rare linens and laces, whose
value few men could possibly know
were taken. Half eaten bits of candy
were found about one or two of the
looted houses, indicating the femi-
nine leaders sweet tooth and also her
calmness while on job.
Her band apparently was not de-
TERED by the fate of that other band
of Long Island burglars who were
rounded up during the Summer by
District Attorney Coles and Sheriff
Gildersleeve, of Nassau County They
were sent to Jail for terms ranging
from fourteen to forty years. Officials
say no tighter sentences will be i'm
posed upon this band If its members
finally fall into the millionaires drag
net.
One reward of $1,000 has been
standing for two weeks. John Alvin
Young Sunday added an individual
reward of $500 more. 1t is expected
that no less than $500 additional will
be gained through the play, The
Woman Pirate
A feeling that the burglars are al
most uncanny has spread through the
towns. So completely have they dis
appeared within few minutes of the
lootings. that it seems as though they
dematerialize themselves.
al determined; with some friends.
it would be best to go out and hunt
the burglars ourselves" said Mr.
Young. the bank president. Sunday
They looted my house and got off
clearly, though my coachman fired
upon one of them-a masked man
Last week the burglars were auda-
cious enough to come back after
what they had left from their first
visit. But they were scared Off One
of the band was seen quieting my
watchdog with a piece of meat We
hope to get them some of these
nights"
The robbery of the home of Frank
-. omltnerS is responsible fOr the
coming theatrical performance. Mrs.
Smithers may be the impersonator Of
the mysterious woman leader.
1t was at their home the feamale
desperado's tracks were first discov-
cred. Charles Williams, watchman,
pointed them out to the rich Vigi-
lantes. Then the procured rules and
tape measures, did some Bertillon
work in the sand, and learned from a
shoe man that the woman wore dain-
ty No. ga oxfords.
'I watched her house for awhile
and heard a whistle that sounded like
a signal when darkness fell" said
Williams. Three hours afterward
the Smithers home was robbed
though I could not legally connect
the woman with It,"
An automobile was used in con-
nection with the Weidenfeld and
Stevens robberies at Oyster Bay.
Wheel marks were found on the
lawns OF the houses next morning.