The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-09

thai, the dry goods merchant at 1150 Stratford avenue, who, with his wife Ida, is now held in heavy bail for the alleged theft of jewels owned by Mrs. Charles M. Cole, wife of the treasurer
 of the Merchants Express Company
 My nephew is poor and his uncle, David Hickman, is poor, and they have put up this game on me thinking to get rich out of it, he said. Leben- thai is held under $5,OOO bonds, while his wife is detained in bail of $4,0O0. Their nephew, Morris Gordon, is held in bail of $2,000 on the same charge. Besides the criminal charge against the Lebenthals their property has been attached by Sheriff Brown in an ac- tion begun by Mrs. Cole who claims of her jewelry.
 Mrs. LebenthaPs sister, Mrs. Lena H.
 RemiZ, the furrier with an office in the Arcade, went bond for Mrs. Leben- bonds for Lebenthal. Young Gordon. who is a local trolleyman, went to jail. In the city court today Deputy Judge Wilder continued the cases of the trio until tomorrow. Attorney Henry Greenstein has been retained by the Lebenthals.
 The case is very peculiar one. It will be remembered that last June when the Ringing Brothers circus was in town a bag of jewels was lost on a North Main street car. The loser was Mrs. Charles M. Cole who advertised her loss in all the local pa perS, and reported the matter to the police. MT. Cole took up the matter with Attorney E. K. Nicholson who recommended that the Eagle National Detective Agency be employed. Since then the local police and the private detectives have been working together on the case. Had it not been for the confession of Morris Gordon, the con- ductor of the trolley car, who found the bag which contained the jewels and s37 in cash it is probable the case would have remained unsolved.
 Gordon, who had already been under suspicion, voluntarily confessed to At torney Jacob B. Klein yesterday and asked advice. In some way the in formation leaked out and at about 2 o'clock this morning the Lebenthals were routed out of bed by Policeman Coughlin and locked up at police head quarters along with Gordon.
 Gordon's story is that he found the bag on the trolley car in which he was in charge on the North Main street division on the afternoon Of June 25. He says he left it unopened until he went to his home, he resides with his uncle David HalZman of 107 Central avenue. He intended to turn it in at the office of the company the next morning and his uncle advised
 him strongly to do so. In the morn ing he stopped at Lebenthaps home on the way to the office. He said Le- benthal took the bag containing the jewels and refused to give them up again. Gordon said he asked for them repeatedly but Lebentha1 refused to hand them over. Gordon said he had York and intercede with Lebenthal which she did but the latter remained obdurate. The matter preyed on the
 mind of Gordon so much that he had to stop work. He asked for a good lawyer and was referred to Attorney Klein. MT. Klein was absent in Den yer and Gordon waited for him to re- turn. Yesterday he saw MT. Klein, told everything to him and asked what he should do.
 He gave Attorney Klein several rings from which the stones had been removed and several gold ornaments which had been bent out of shape. These were what the Lebenthals had finally returned to him saying that was the way they were when they re- ceiyed them. Besides the jewels there were s37 in the bog which Gordon ad- mitted having spent. Attorney Klein advised him to get the money ana then tell his story to the police. That was the arrest of all three took place shortly after midnight and brought
 
 matters to head.
 MT. I4ehenthal claimed this morning that he never had the jewels in his hands, nor did his wife. He sa1o ne by Gordon and advised Gordon to give up the bag to the company. That IS all he knows about the 1eWels' ne said. His wife said she knew noth- ing at all about them until this morn- ing when arrested.
 hal a. case black mail pure and simple He said he and Ho1zman were not on friendly terms and he blamed Hickman for put ting Gordon up to do the trick. He said that he had done a great deal for Gordon. He claimed to have found him a job with the Connecticut Conn., pany but he said that the young man lost it because he did not ring up fares rather than because he was so worried over the jewels. He also said that Gordon had been arrested several times in other cities, once in Akron, I Ohio, and again in New York. He said also that Gordon's father was not much better than the son and that ne committed suicide.
 At police headquarters the story of Gordon is given the preference over that of Lebentha1. The fact that the young man voluntarily made a full breast of the whole affair has counted in his favor. After hearing his state ment this morning Captain Arnold said that Gordon had a good story.
 The rings and other jewelry which l the Lebenthals are alleged to have re- turned to Gordon, according to his | story, had not been identified as those | lost by Mrs. Cole, this morning. When | Mrs. Lebenthal was arrested she wore l several diamond rings and diamond earrings. These were taken by the | police but Mrs. Lebenthal said they | belonged to her and that she could | prove it. She had them for many | years. She was released on a bond | before her husband was and created a | scene at police headquarters. She | wept and cried over the disgrace of be- | ing under arrest and locked in a cell. |
 Lebenthal has lived in this city for | many years. For about IT years he | was proprietor of the White House | clothing store. For the past few years | he has run a store on Stratford ave- l