Evening star., 1909-06-26
RATS WERE ROBBERS
Is
Prove to Be Jewel Thieves at
Oesio Store.
CAUGHT By CLEVER DECoY
Strings Tied to Watch Cases Led to
Their Hiding Places.
STRING OF PEARLS STILL GONE
Chamois Skin Coverings Of Jewels
Were Attractive to Hungry
Four-Footed Thieves.
CAUGHT BY CLEVER DECOY
STRING OF PEARLS STILL GONE

The Salvatore Deso jewels have been
recovered. A mystery which had IL been
made public before, would have driven the
Woodill and Sigel murder mysteries of
the front pages of newspapers to the in
side pages has been solved.
But the credit does not belong TO the
Washington police. Nay. nay Salvatore
Desio. himself. is the Sherlock Holmes
who discovered the perpetrators of the
crime and recovered the lost valuables
But with all his skill he has not been able
to capture the thieves. That may come
later.
For some time Mr.. Desio who owns and
operates jewelry store at 1912 + street
northwest, has been missing articles from
his place of business. Small pieces OF
Jewelry of no great value were the first
to go. but later valuable pearl necklace
disappeared. Then it was that Mr.. Desio
called on Capt. Boardman to solve the
mystery and, if possible. to arrest the
robbers. Detectives were put on the case.
All the pawn shops in the city were vis-
tied with no results.
Watch and Chain Disappear.
few days ago Mr.. Desio sold a gold
watch and chain to one of his customers
for $50. The watch was left i'm the care
of the jeweler to be engraved and regu-
lated. Mr.. Desio left 1t on a shelf of a
show case When he arrived the follow
ing morning he discovered that the ar
ticles were missing.
Monday last the jeweler received two
watches from a New York firm which
were in chamois cases. They were placed
on a table in the store and, as on the
other occasion. when Mr.. Desio opened
his establishment the next morning. they
a al ca oy.aA T1,n y~n1t ale
notified of this robbery, but an investiga-
tion revealed nothing s.
Wednesday evening last Mr.. Desio re-
membered a story told him by a window
dresser who had missed a number Of
chamois gloves from store window and
which were later discovered under the
window Believing that the missing jew
elry had disappeared in the same manner
Mr.. Desio decided to make an effort to
detect the thieves. Accordingly he secur-
ed three old watch cases and after plac-
ing them in small chamois bags tied silk
strings to each.
Strings Led to Hiding Places.
One was placed on the show case from
which the gold watch had disappeared.
another was placed on the table in the
store and the third on shelf in the rear
of the store. Leaving plenty of loose
string to each bag the proprietor closed
his establishment for the night.
Mr.. Desio went to his place early Thurs
day morning and upon making an inyesti-
cation discovered that all three of the
dummies had disappeared. The strings.
however, all led to rat holes. One of them
led back of glassware showcase in the
store, another back of a safe in rear
room, while the third was traced back OF
a closet in the rear room. Upon pulling
up the strings the dummies were found
on the end. The chamois bags had been
partly eaten.
A search of rat holes In the store de-
veloped that the gold watch and. chain,
a brooch and several other small articles
of jewelry which had been missed from
the place during the past year were all
in the place. The string of pearls, how
ever has not as yet been located.