The Washington times., 1911-10-26
THOUSANDS NGEMS
HAUL Of Tn|EFWHO
WORKS IN DAYTIME
Robber Plays Boss Paint
/, er, And Enters Home Of
i H. Clay Stewart.

Jewelry valued at $4,000 was stolen
from the ffomn 1f II. Clay Stewart, q
wealthy resitestate1 b bfvaxer, ~ 10H Elev-
enth street northwest,s, BY a. man who
represented himself as a. -"bossT painter
who had come to oversee work being
done on the house. =. x. s,,...-;,..''-,.,. -,.'
The theft occurred between $3.50 and
o'clock. yesterday afternoon and. ac-
cordig tho the ..police. was apparently
the work of~a observation-disclosures. The
robbery apparently had been carefully
planned and timed. .,sJssfs ts
Mr.. Stewart has been having the OUT
side OF the house painted, and two men
were at work yesterday arternoon. One
OF the men was working on ladder
at the third story. About $3.50 o'clock
the doorbell rang. and when the maid
answered 1t a man stepped in the hall
Suspicion Not Excited.
'.Pm the boss painter" he said, "and
came to see how my men are getting
along, I want to give some instruc-
tions to the man working upstairs"
The mans actions In no way aroused
the suspicious of the maid, and she all
lowed him to go to the third floor un-
accompanied, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart
have their sleeping apartments on the
bed room. opened the window, and, in
a casuai way, remarked to the painter:
Are you. going to paint the roof.
Eyes, guess So" replied the painter,
thinking that the man was a member
of the family or lived in the house.
The thief then opened the top drawer
Ct Mrs. stewart's bureau and took the
jewclry from two cases. Neither the
drawer or Jewel cases were locked.
-, Articles Stolen. ,
Going downstairs ten minutes later. he
was met In the hallway by the colored
butler. who also thought he was In
charge Of the painters. He started to
&C ontsthe front door. and then, t.,rning
to the butler. said he would go odt the
Easement door. .---.....
Half an hour later Mrs. Stewart, who
was out at the time. returned and, go
ng to her room, discovered the robbery
Among ule stolen articles are. two dia-
mond aadpspeerl brooches valued at $500
each, strree~ diamond rings worth $500
apiece. an emerald and diamond ring, a
turquoise and diamond ring, y, dragon
pin set with diamonds, large butterfly
pin Get with diamonds, an enameled pin
set W tn diamonds, blue stone king,
and a sword made Of diamonds.
fact that the thief did not disturb a
diamond brooch valued at 500 and roll
Of bills. which were In plain sight In
Detectives working on. the case say
they believe the thief was frightened
away and left the room hurriedly with
cut waiting to pick up the brooch and
money.
AS soon as the robbery was reported
to headquarters Inspector Boardman,
accompanied by Detectives Hewlett and
Pratt: went to the house Inspector
5oaI oman took charge Of the invcstiga-
end fOur-servantsy were in the house Mt
the time, But the only ones who saw the
robber we're the :naid and butler. They
cid. medium height, and weighing about
$50 pounGs He was dressed in gray
suit and was not very neat In appear
cries, One IS that the man is an ac-
complished crook and had carefully
lnid his plans while the other Is that
pc waS passing the house and had no
Intention of committing the burglary
until he Saw the. painter working on
The ladder and, believing that he would
experience no trouble in being admitted,
decided to take Il chance"
Cases We're Unlocked.
The Jewels were, In two eases, which
Mrs. Stewart usually Kept locked. 1t
also was her practice to keep the
drawer locked, but Yesterday afternoon
ehe went out for only a short time and
did not take the usual precautions
The pointer who talked with the burg
lar said that he had never seen the man
before. He supposed that he was In
some way connected with the house
hold and asked the question out Of curl
The police as yet have failed to OBJ
tain any clue to- the mans Identity, al
though the description furnished by the
two servants has been telegraphed to all
AeFEe cities In the country.
Tho detectives are of the opinion that
the robber is the same one who was
discovered Tuesday afternoon tn the
home OF Mrs. Edward A. Balsir, 24t
Eighth street southeast. -
Although there have been an unusual
ly large number Of housebreaking cases
and thefts reported to the police dur
Ing the last few weeks, the Stewart
robbery is the only one, the police say
that bears the earmarks OF being the
work Of a. professional crook. A colored
man who was seen in some of the
houses is believed to have been respon.
Stble for 2 number Of the other robber'
Report was made to the police Of the
Seventh precinct today by A. Da ghard
Snat-a quantity. of clothing had beer
stolen during the last week from his
west The thief entered with q dupii
Detectives are also Investigating tht
theft of two diamond rings valued a.
$3.50, which were stolen from Mrs. L
= #. Cain, wife of DR.. Cain. The family
moved Yesterday from 1902 Q stree
northwest to a house in Conduit roat
and the rings were taken from Mrs
Gains handbag. Several colored mel
who assisted In the moving were takel
to the Seventh precinct station ant
questioned, but not held.
Jewel thefts. however, are not tn
only ones engaging the attention o
the police today.
l.. f. Mayhem reported the theft o
a wagonioad of iron from building .
Twenty-sixth street and Benning road
2 -