The San Francisco call., 1909-03-02
BURGLAR WRITES
OF OWN GRIMES
Oakland Police Receive Curious
Letter Describing AL
legged Methods
CrOcker Jewels Declared TO Be
Counterfeit and of
No Value

OAKLAND, March 1.-Outdoing Hor-
nung's eccentric RafHes IN his pride of
illicit craftsmanship. 'veritas." who
purports TO be a burglar, has gone
Undertaking and set the police TO think
ing He wrote q curious letter in
which he exposes a few OF his own
hypothetical crimes and throws light on
a recent senational burglary in Oak
land Then he further reveals his sup
posed inside knowledge OF crimes by
professionals By calmly asserting that
Miss Jennie Croker. the san Francisco
heiress. did not lose her s50.OO0 pearl
necklace for the reason that she wore
a counterfeit 70 the ST Francis hotel
ball
SENDS ALONG JEWEL
"Veritas@ evidently believed his writ
ten word would be doubted he mailed
the letter TO a local newspaper. BY
which II was turned over 70 Captain Of
Detectives Petersen ~Feritas" reasoned
that confederation IS essential 70 q
burglars statement. so he sent along a
jewel as z sample OF his loot.
The facts about the burglars letter
are these:
Mrs. A Simpsons home al 227 Nine
teenth street was entered BY q burglar
last Thursday and a report was given
our that the Chinese servant battled
valiantiy Eith the intruder until he was
Imprisoned fn a closet Then Il was
said that $1,000 worth OF silver plate
and jewels We're stolen.
Today the letter pUrpOTting 10 come
from q burglar was received and given
10 the pelice. Naming himself for
security's sake as -sVeritas,' the hypo-
theticsl crook takes umbrage at the
tale Of conflict as a reflection on his
ability.
NO FIGHT WITH COOK
There was no fight with the Chinese
cook al all, he af1rfns. That kind OF
burglary he seems 10 think fooIhardy.
for he writes:.e
no one was at. home. The cook
was IN Chinatown. as we waited until
We saw him there before we went 70
the house. As there was absolutely no
one at home az the time. all stories OF
beating, locking up. etc. etc, are mani
festly untrue No Jewelry except an
immanation pearl ring-gold filed set
ting and string 0f tet beads, orna-
mented with plated ornaments and i'm
nsnstion pearls"
Mr. Neritas explains the sample Of
burglar reward inclOsed IN the let
Ter, by saying
7 send you piece Of the loot, as you
say. II you test il with acid, or ask
2 5eweler he viii say it is worthless.
There was some solid silver. - ounces
10 be exact, atzo cents an ounce. Not
quite $1,000. do you thlnkg'
Adding '1Ir- Simpson framed the story
Up with the ehink TO get newspaper
nOtoriety.' the frankly inclined and
mysterious burglar makes a few other
avowals before taking up the crocker
case
He condescends te inform the police
that he attempted 70 rob DIT. Kleeman
IN Thirty-frst street near Grove on
February IS, and asserts that he had
fight and was chased away from the
nth house north Of -Twenty-first street
IN Webster one night at 9:35 O'Clock.
The police. wondering how much is a
jest and how much may be accurate,
find no reports made Of either Of these
occurrences. DR.. Kleeman had a buggy
robe stolen once, and that's all.
As-TO CROCkER JEWELS
Veritas dfsposes Of the Crocker theft
by explaining that the imitation pearls
were glass; that Miss Jennie Crociker
lost them IN the ballroom. Being glass,
he says. they crumbled when stepped
on: and those not crushed were de-
stroyed 70 conceal the fact the heiress
70 sl0.o00,000 wore her substitute neck
lace. ~
When the police obtained the let
ter they came into possession of su-
perb sample Of burglars handwriting
provided that a burglar wrote the het-
ter The Elissive is dated February
ze, and bears no mark of Identification
SO the police are doubling everything
At present, meanwhile trying 10 prove
the burglars recital true. When that
1s done their investigation will be
where matters were before the burglar
n-rn.e his enisfle 10 2 re1Hsra rnar-