The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1913-09-02
Two ARRESTS MADE
FOLLOWING BURGLARY
Andrew and James Prendergast
Committed to Jail.

Following the discovery Wednesday
morning by Edmund Dwight that his
home on Morris avenue had been en-
tered and silverware and jewelry
taken from safe, County Detective
Edward l.. Brennan, Sergeant John
]. Morrison and Roundsman Cornelius
Hally arrested James and Andrew
Prendergast. The men were COM
mitted to jail by Justice Pierson in
default of $4,000 bail each to await
the action of the grand jury.
With the arrest of these men Mr..
Brennan believes he has cleared up
the mysterious burglaries that have
been committed in and about Norris
town for several months. He has
had James Prendergast under SER
VIGILANCE for several weeks past but
it was not until the discovery of the
Dwight robbery that he "got the
goods on him. 1t was reported to
Mr.. Brennan by Chief Ethelbert By
ram, of the Dover police, that a man
from Morristown had attempted to
sell a Dover jeweler a lot OF silver
ware and some silver that had been
melted into ingots, telling the jeweler
that he had a lot more.
Arranging with the Dover jeweler
for a second visit to him by the man
with the silver Brennan looked through
a window while the man was in the
store and recognized him as Prender-
gast. A woman was with him. MIR.
Brennan and Chief Byram put up
their own money, advancing it to
the Dover jeweler, to buy all the sill
verware and jewelry that was offered
for sale, giving the money to the
1eweler to pay over to Prendergast
AS fast as the silver was received
it was turned over to the officers
who tried to get it identified Lists
of the silver were sent to police all
over this state and in New York
and considerable of it was taken to
Newark police headquarters by Mr..
Brennan in an effort to get it identi-
fled.
When Mr.. Dwight returned home on
Wednesday morning after being away
since July 7th and found his house
robbed he Immediately notified the
police. Roundsman Hally investi-
gated and secured a list of the miss
ing articles after they had been
checked off by Mrs. Dwight. Mr..
Brennan was notified and found that
some of the silver taken from the
Dwight house was marked with a
lions head. Similarly marked silver
was disposed of by Prendergast at
Dover.
A warrant was sworn out for
Prendergast and also for his brother
Andrew. James was arrested at the
court house and Andrew was picked
up on the street. At first, it is said
the men stoutly denied all knowledge
of the robbery but later are alleged
to have confessed to the Dwight job,
Sergeant Morrison searched their
homes after the two men were ar
rested and found secreted silver
knives and forks, diamond-set jewelry,
gold chains and other valuables. Some
of the silver recovered has been
identified as taken from the Sandford
and Gillespie houses.
Prendergast under the alias of
"James Barkman" also sold some of
the loot in New York.
1t had been arranged by Mr.. Bren-
nan to arrest the men Tuesday night
when James was to pay another visit
to Dover but the latter had only
some watches and some small articles
SO the arrest was put off. Sergeant
Morrison was to search the home of
James when he received telephone
word from Brennan of the arrest.