The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-04-10
AERIAL BURGLARS
IN ACROBAT|c FEAT
Street Crowd Sees Dime Novel Thrill
Ter Acted As Long and Short
Escape From Roof,

NEW YORK. April 9--Long and
Short, the acrobatic burglars. present
ed their thrilling aerial act at 4
O'Clock yesterday afternoon, in Fifty
Arstst., near Ninth.ave. before a PACK
ed street
Long ~ an altitudinous person OF
porch climbing ability. Short is
squatty young man. who by descrip
ton is recognized by many residents
OF the neighborhood as having ex-
hibited great agility In robberies.
Their names reflect their personal APP
pearance and are not indicative Of
family connections.
II began to rain burglars. Hearing
the patter persons looked up TO the
roof of No. 367 West Fifty-frst-st.
and saw Long and Short coming down
to the roof apparently from the sky.
At first the street crowd thought the
Wright brothers had arrived. and all
eyes sought their airship.
The roof OF No 367 IL only one
story high, nesting as a break In
long row OF fve-stOry houses that
starts at Ninth-ave. and Fifty-second-
ct. and runs around half way through
the block in Fifty-nrst-st. 1t was TO
this low roof that the burglars
dropped
Escape Number One.
A dozen persons IN the street seem
ed to recognize the smaller OF the
two men, and instantly the cry went
up that burglars were escaping. At
4 - - Ion 10
a double five-story apartment house
For artistic effect lodges Of stone
were set under the windows OF the
second story. with little iron stoops
in the exact centers.
The men climbed from the roof up
one OF these lodges that was almost
too narrow for cat promenade.
Nimbly they skipped along the peril
Gus path, while the crowd below bel
lowed. Long had the lead. Short
was the rear guard.
A limousine-model policeman o.
60-horsepower, whose number escaped
the populace, arrived. putting. He
watched the aerial burglars do their
dizzy stunt, and so far bent his neck
looking up at Long that he failed to
the cat on the iron balcony Of No
361 and shot through the air 10 the
street like the young woman who
turns somersaults In an automobile in
the circus.
The leap for life took the breath
away from the multitude. aud when i.
recovered Short lad disappeared
Long dallied along his narrow perch,
with an eye on the policeman below.
The policeman made a demonstration
toward his hip pocket and suggested
that Long come down.
Escape Number Two.
Il can't jump" said Long Stay
where you are and III come down
through the house
He scaled the parapet and entered
the front window Of Mrs j. F. Glib.
sons fiat. That is the last the police
man saw OF him. Two minutes later
a maid in the Gibson apartment saw
2 man with a thin. sharp face under
a peak cap dart through the hallway.
II amt going to hurt YOU" he call
ed, but let me hide,"
The maid screamed, and the man
made for a rear window, whence he
made a desperate descent into the
back court maze behind the five fiat
houses.
The policeman, pecvish because the
burglar had failed to keep his appoint
ment on the sidewalk, went up to
Mrs. Gibson's fiat 10 reprove him for
not being a man OF his word. He
learned the truth Immediately search
was instituted throughout the entire
block for two purposes-tirst. TO ascer.
tain how the burglar got away; sec
ond. to find out from what things or
persons the two had flown. A can
vass OF the flats and stores in the
neighborhood did not reveal the rea-
son for the flight. and no one could
find its ultimate direction.
Whereupon Ninety-first and Ninth
ave-, collectively. adjourned to Johr
A. Totten's real estate office. across
the street, where 1t was decided that
the shorter man had been guilty OF
many burglaries in the neighborhood:
that no one knew Why they dropped
from the sky in their mad hight--
And finally
That the policeman missed the
chance of his life and might have
caught the main offender against the
peace and property of the neighbor-