The evening world., 1911-07-06
THIEF HUNTED
ROUND THE WORLD
T GETS FOUR YEARS
Grocers' Bookkeeper Leads De-
tectives Over Three Cont
i nents After $4,000 Thefts.

Aft~ a chase across three continents,
In which he eiuded tho sieuths OF a pri-
vste detective agency only to fall into
the hands Of Detective Bernard Flood
Of the District-Attorney's squad. Adoiph
Pricken. a tall. we'll set up young man
OF good education. pleaded guilty In
Part III. Of the Court OF General ses-
sions to-day to the larceny Of s&s worth
Of perfumes from the wholesale grocery
nrm OF Park g. Tiiford on July 4, 1910.
He was sent 10 Sing Sing for four years
and six months.
Pricken. who is twenty-nine years old,
am TO New York q little moro than
q year ago. following his release from
Moyamenslng prison. Philadelphia, where
he had been . prisoner since Juno Is.
lS06, following bts confession that he
had enbezzlsd 81 1000 from a dry-goods
bookkeeper.
He forged a number Of letters of
recommendation and on the strength
of his bogus credentials was employed
by Park & Tilford. His bearing, nodes
ty and devotion TO his duty brought
about his speedy advancement until he
became head eookkeeper Of the storage
department Of the grocery.
STOLE GOODS WORTH $t7,soo
AND SOLD THEM.
Then began his populations which, ac-
cording to his confession. were mad
possible by u stolen pass key. In all, le
stole goods worth about 1900, which he
Immediately disposed OF.
He stole systematically and without
discovery until last Christmas. when The
trail got too hot for him and he fled.
The private detective agency. which had
been called IN by the grocery Arm to
check the robberies. got trace of him In
England. but by the time the sleuths ar
rived there he had fed eastward.
They picked up his trail In Asia. and
In Teheran. Persia, the detectives were
20 close upon him that he left his &
gage at his hotel n fled for the u
dan. There ne buried himself In the
desert Of Sahara and all trace Of him
vas lost.
But even on the desert the fear OF
capture oppressed him and. doubling on
his tracks. he -tcde his way back to
England, where he embarked for Can
ada. He crossed half the Dominion and
then dropped down into st. Paul.
Hero Detective Flood. who had taken
up the chase after the private de.ec-
tives ha6 thrown up the Job. got word
Of him. Flood rushed off 90 st. Paul.
disguised himself as q hall porter, and
after laying In wait for him three
ni~hts caug . him a. he entered his
room In the st. Pau HotsL
hELPED TO LOCATE MEN WHO
PRoFITED THROUGH HIM.
once caught, Pr,cken came back with
nut making extradiuon necessary, and
.,ncs his arrival IN this city has been
~ march assistance to tho D!strict-At-
torney In bringing to book the re
.Avers of the goods he stole. He named
naarly a dozen men. all of whom had
uaid him about one-sixth Of h value
Of the goods he stole. and they were
.snt for. one by one. and given tho al
,~srnative Of making restitution either OF
- eoods o. their value or facing IN
dtotment.
one man. Percy w. Shields OF No.ls(
West S!xty-third street, was tried On
prcken's accusation that ne was a "a
csdver, but because It was found he
wss q hopeless consumptive he waa
~yen only six months In the peniten-