Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-23
OANDY|SH|GHWAyMAN
Chokes and Robs Woman in
View of Crowd.
DEED IN GLARE OF LIGHT
Daring Thug Escapes Before Crime
Is Realized by Onlookers.
GOOD LOOKING, WELL DRESSED
Got Valuable Chatelaine Bag Con-
tanning Money and Safe Deposit
Key-Escort Not at Hand.
GOOD LOOKING, WELL DRESSED

NEW YORK, September 2S-In the full
glare of the brightest spot in Broadway,
with stream of theatergoers within a
few feet of her. Mrs. S. F. Stewart OF
Gramercy Court. No. 152 East 22d street.
was choked. knocked down and robbed
last night of her gold-plated chatelaine
bag as she was about to descend the
downtown subway stairs in front of Shan
ley's restaurant few feet from the cor
ner of 42d street.
The whole thing occurred in a few sec
onds. The desperate highwayman had a
good start before the throng that gath
cred around the hysterical woman realized
that she had been the victim of one of the
most daring hold-ups in the history of the
city.
Assailant a Dandy.
Before being escorted to her home she
recovered sufficiently to describe her as
Sailant as a fashionably dressed. good
looking man. apparently thirty years old.
Her most vivid impression was that he
wore canary colored gloves.
Despite the fact several hundred per-
sons were attracted by her outcries and
the subsequent attempt to locate the thief.
the police of the West 47th street station
wore loath to admit that the assault and
robbery had taken place.
Newspaper men who made inquiries at
the station were refused any information
in connection with the case. but short Y
afterward the Tenderloin was flooded with
central office men who. with the assist
ance of the police. began a roundup of
the various questionable resorts.
Waited at Subway for Friend.
From another source it was learned
that Mrs. Stewart, who is an attractive
looking widow, still in her thirties, was
dining at the Hotel Knickerbocker with
a man friend. He left her for few min
utes to attend to some business farther
down the street and promised to meet her
on the subway platform.
She was smartly dressed and bore every
evidence of prosperity as she started for
the subway entrance.
She had made her way through the
dense crowd that jams Broadway at the
theater hour and was just turning down
the stairs when the hoid-up man, who
was standing on the top landing, grabbed
her by the throat and choked her to pre-
vent any outcry With his free hand he
grabbed the bag from her wrist, and,
giving her a final shove backward. darted
down the stairs. Mrs. Stewart fell in
heap on the sidewalk, too stunned to yell
at the fleeing thief.
Police Then Took Interest.
When she recovered her senses she
became wildly excited and cried out that
she had been assaulted and robbed Her
story sounded SO absurd that some of the
first to go to her assistance were in
clined to doubt her. Her disarranged
hair and torn collar and part of the bag
handle that she held in her hand con-
WINGED the crowd she was telling the truth.
This gave the thief a splendid chance
to get away, and ii is believed that after
committing the crime he ran across the
station platform and up the stairs on the
other side. From that point il was
easy matter TO lose himself in the dimly
lighted West Side streets.
The bag was valued at $65 and con-
tanned 81 in cash and a key to a safety
deposit box.
In the confusion which followed Mrs.
Stewart missed her escort and went home
without him. Later a well dressed man,
who drove to the station in a cab and
was closeted with the captain for a long
time, was said to be the man who had
been with her.