The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-05
SOCIETY BURGLAR
MADE RICH HAUL
S25O,O0O Worth of Stolen
Property Recovered
BELIEVED TO BE CRAZY
Wonderful Collection of Precious
Stones, Art Treasures, Bric-a-
Brac, Etc, Found by Chi
cago Police

! Cricago, August AFTER "a hours work
| the police today took an inventory of the
art treasures, bric-a-brac, jewelry, sill
yer plate and other articles stolen by
| Jacob F. Guthrie, alleged society burglar
and forger, now under arrest and an
nounced that the goods recovered are es-
| timated to be worth s25000o.
Last night after a partial examination
of the barn and the room In storage
warehouse In which Guthrie used to hide
portion of the articles stolen, the po-
| lice estimated the value at s150,0oo This
was nearly doubled when half dozen
additional trunks and chests filed with
| jewelry, laces and bric-a-brac were dug
up. Much of the stolen property was
found In Guthries home. where he lived
with his mother. sister and brother who
is Chicago policeman.
Further investigation of the young
mans history revealed that after grad
uating In course in electrical engi-
neering at a Chicago technical insti-
tute he obtained employment with an
electric company. Later he was em-
ployed in the municipal laboratory.
| subsequently he was appointed an in
structor in electrical engineering at
one of the public high schools.
Guthrie is 26 years old. feet in
height and weighs 200 pounds. He is
poorly dressed. although when arrest
ed he had more than $4,000 deposited
to his credit in Chicago banks
An Educated Fool
DR.. Leslie w. Schwab who has been
the family doctor for years, talked
with him for an hour today and later
| conferred with the head of the city
detective bureau.
DIR. Schwab said:
Guthrie is an educated fool in my
opinion. have known him since child
hood He has always been a bookworm.
| He read detective and problem novels
constantly. The effect of this has been
to create mental condition. He has all
| the characteristics of a confirmed
menace
| Chief of Detective Halpmen safe:
I Beyond a doubt Guthrie has obtained
the most various descriptions OF stolen
articles I have ever seen, silvcrware bric-
a-brac and art treasures. There are da-
monds. rubies, sapphires. emaralds. and
pearls worth thousands of dollars each.
"All his burglaries were committed In
the homes of the city's wealthy people He
read the society column in the news.
| papers and when he noticed that some
wealthy woman had left home for a few
days he. would break into the house and
steal the most valuable articles he could
| fird.
| HE apparently kept all the things he
stole which appealed 20 his artistic taste.
| Put he must have disposed of a large
quantity of the pundcr"
| After talking with DR.. Schwab, Guthrie
said:
Feels Insane
Maybe I am insane | feel that way
sometimes
The prisoner slept soundly on a wooden
bench in the ball las. night. At tea an |
at breakfast he talked freely with DIFF
ferent visitors. When informed of the
task which confronted the police in max
| ing an inventory of the stolen articles, he
,aughingly offered to assist them.
Thousands of dollars worth of the stolen
articles were identified during the day by
society women who called at central sta
ton.
Value of Articles Grows
At midnight when the police had
completed unpacking Guthrie's trunks
1t was declared that the stolen articles
| aggregated s350,0oo in value
Among the last articles unearthed
were large number of costly i'm
ported fans inlaid with pearl. The han
dies were ivory. ornamented with gold.
! These fans are estimated to be worth
! thousands of dollars.
| Among the personal effects of Gu
| thrie was found a small notebook
| which indicates he was a steady pat =
ron of burlesque shows. IT contained
the names of nearly a hundred of such
! companies and after each was written
such criticisms as IN. g." Fair"
| Pretty fair" and Good
| Guthrie declares that he never sold
one article that he stole and that he
obtained all the money he needed by
committing forgery. He says he never
! used Intoxicating liquor nor tobacco.
Guthrie is said to have lost large sums
| specializing in mining stocks.
! In one of the trunks was found the
bank book of Mrs. Otto Young. one Of
| Chicagos wealthiest women The bal
ance to her credit in the bank was
| s19 900. but it Is not known whether
| Guthrie drew checks in her name.
| Besides the money Guthrie is said
TO have on deposit in Chicago banks,
| he is said to own 450 shares of United
States Steel common stock.