St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1911-02-18
HAIS HORN GATHERS
in NEGROES and LOOT
gIllCsFs Capture Thirteen Members Of Gang
KnoWR as Burglar Trust"
CLIQUE HAD WHITE LEADERS f.?
Police Believe Negroes Are Only Part Of Band
That Prsys ON Stores OF This whole
Section.

police, and several others ant
two or three white people ar
under close surveillance of th'
officers, as the result of the un
rayeling of a regular burglar
trust by Officer Plais Horn il
the past week. Merchandise o.
all kinds to the value of approx
mately ST., 900 has been recovered
and the search of the police has
not yet ended.
Probably before the week ends
arrests of white persons thai
will cause decided sensations in
this whole section of the State
will be made, and much more
goods recovered. Officer Horn
has clues of the whereabouts OF
many Of the other culprits want
ed and as soon as he can locate
their haunts they will be cap
tured.
From the confessions made by
some of the ten men and three
women who are now in Jail in
connection with the arrests it
appears that a regular ring of
negroes was maintained for the
burglarizing of stores and homes
in this and neighboring parishes.
1T is the belief Of the police that
the ring is backed and has it's in
ception among whites. Claim is
made by the officers that evi-
dence is at hand to substantiate
this belief.
The nucleus of the gang has
been broken by the arrest of
two Of the ringleaders and the
members not yet apprehended
are in hiding. Stores in Opelou-
sas, Bunkie, Evergreen, Cotton
port and other places throughout
this section Of Louisiana have
been preyed upon by the gang
with amazing financial results.
Few of the burglaries that have
occurred in the past year and
they have been many have
come to the attention of the pub
lie, for the police have made
strenuous efforts to keep them
under cover until the perpetrators
could be apprehended. Through
the arrests made by Officer Horn
and assisting officers, five or six
of these burglaries have been
made public.
Like the unrayeling 0 f most
crimes a very insignificant Incl
dent led to the revealing of the
wholesale robberies. Last Sun
day, Will Morris, a negro who
had been arrested by Officers
Hollier, Anslem and Horn last
week, dropped So from the Jail
window to an accomplice in the
street below with the instruction
to Hgo to Bnnkie and destroy
that trunk. " Horn, who had a
stool pigeon" in the cell next
to Morris Immediately heard of
the incident and arrested the ac-
complice at the Southern Pacific
depot. He gave the name of
Henderson Bell and is still in
jail.
Monday Officer Horn went to
Bunkie and at the home of Bat
Morris, a brother to Will, found
a trun k containing suits of
clothes, guns, watches, dress
goods and notions, all new and
many of the articles still bearing
the trade and price-marks of the
stores from which they we're
stolen. Bat was arrested and is
in Jail here.
The next step in the unearth-
ing of the wholesale thefts led
the officer to the home of a niece
of Will Morris, who is said to
have lived with man named
Day, a slick, dudishly dressed
Northern" negro, who by his
every feature shows that he is
one of the sly, smooth kinds of
a thief who causes the peace
officers of very community
trouble and who is probably one
of the leaders or the gang, if not
the instigator.
Here a trunk and a suitcase,
both almost new, were found and
opened. They contained even a
more elaborate array Of fancy
merchandise than did the trunk
found at the home of Bat. That
night Day and the woman were
and in Days trunk were
found three new suits of clothes,
which he claimed had been or
dered from a Northern tailor for
him by his employer, the boss
of the section gang at Bunkie.
The section boss denied that he
had ever seen the clothing before
and Officer Horn identified it by
the labels in the coat as having
come from the store of a prorni-
nent merchant in Cottonport.