The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-02-16

can and English traveiers on the
Continent Few days pass during the
Riviera season. for instance, with
out the report of some daring train
robbery, and in most cases only gems
and money are taken.
The heavy toll exacted from travel
ers passes into the pockets of an eX-
ceptionally clever and highly organ
lied gang. of international thieves. :
Their operations cover a wide area,
and are carried out with scrupulous
regard to detail, and an ingenuity
which has often baffled the police.
ew transatlantic lines, cross-channel
boats or trans European expresses
journey without representatives Of
the gang aboard. They have agents
in all the big towns and cities, who
warn them of the movements Of we'll
known people who are likely to be
worth plundering. The thieves them
selves are drawn from all nations, and
are generally well-bred men and
women, who are invariably we'll
dressed and put up at the best no
tells. Many of them are excellent
linguists, and through being able 10
render friendly services to travellers
who do not know their way are often
able to rob their unsuspecting victims
with impunity. 1t is the woman, as
rule. who acts as the decoy.
French Girls r Sc.
How full of resource are the women
who have taken up this class of crime
is well illustrated by the adventure OF
an Englishman who returned recently
from Paris. He carried with him
banknotes Of $500, and, being man
Of the world, brusquely repealed the
advances of two men who journeyed
in the same compartment of the train
to Boulogne. Just as he was landing
at Folkestone, however, a pretty
French girl in front of him tripped
and fell. Instinctively he went to her
assistance, but while her profuse
thanks were ringing in his ears he
found that his pockets had been rifled.
Another case of remarkable self
possession and GOODNESS occurred III
Paris two years ago, the victim on
that occasion being a jeweler. A
well-dressed man, carrying a gold
headed walking stick, entered the
jewelers. shop and was looking al
some scarfpins when two men came
in and arrested him, explaining tC
the jeweler that he was Crook
and that, as police officers, they mus
take away with them the trays q
jewelry from which they said theil
prisoner had stolen various articles
They entered a taxicab and drove of
with rush. The jeweler never saw
the Officers" or their prisoner again
Celebrated Cases.
A rich German lady year ago me-
countrywoman on her way from
Paris to Marienbad She had pleas
ant manners, could speak eigh
languages, and said she was a govern
ess. She was engaged by the LADY
and soon afterward decamped will
ieweIry worth over $4,000 In Sep
tember of last year an American wo
man was robbed of jewelry wort
$4,000 and hundreds OF pounds in mon
ey in a train at Pau by a well-dresse
man, who, after introducing himsel
to her, gave her chloroform.
One of the most notorious case
of jewel robberies occurred in 1885,
when the Duchess of Sutherland wa
deprived of jewels worth $125,O00,
a man known at Harry the Valet" 9
the Care du Nord, Paris Four year
later Lady Carnavon's jewel case wa
extracted from her dressing case O
the journey from Paris to London, an
i'm 1906, the wife of an American mi
lonaire, while doing on a lounge
her dressing room, was robbed of ht
jewels, worth $4,000 Again, in 100
Angus Forbes, of Montreal lost $500
in the train between Paris and Calai
and Miss Alice Miller, of Montros
was robbed of her jewels at Par
terminus. There is a regular clearir
house for stolen jewels in more thf
one Continental city, and very fe
gems are recovered.
In 1906 the princess of Thieves
handsome Belgian woman, who hi
lived many years in Chicago, came
London, and by the clever substitute,
Of a dumy while inspecting a pea
and diamond necklace, worth $1,000
at Christies, managed to secure {
valuable. Another woman, arrest
in 1909 in Paris, always wore a sat
roha with a long daan Doclyat Ub