El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-07
Career of One of the CleUerest Hotel
Sneaks This Country Has Ever KnOwn

manned among the MAoolAa-
aArtfuI Dodger7 in minneapolis.
Shortly after this, word was received
from Police Headquarters of MiTneapO-
lis. Mimi. that the ''Artful OOdger'
was wanted in that city. He had been
arrested there for a hotel Job and re-
leased on bail which he promptly
jumped. As his record was a black one
and complaints from cities in the North
west, Middle West and the South began
to pour in. the detectives redoubled their
efforts to recapture him
While seated in the foyer Of New
York hotel a few nights later the detee-
tive who first arrested him was startled
to see the .'Artful Dodger," fauitlessly
groomed. enter the hotel, approach the
desk and ask for room without a BATH
This. the detective later said, was the
course always pursued by this swindler-
In obtaining a room without bath ne
would 20 to his apartment and parity
disrobe. Then. emerging from his room
under the pretext of seeking bath' ne
would try all the doors near his room
ANY Of these that he found unlocked he
would open and enter Should the occu-
pant be in the room he would hum0ly
apologize for the intrusion, saying that
he had mistaken the room for the BATH
As he was an adept with skeleton keys,
If was an easy matter for him to open
anv and all doors he might find locked
No sooner had the "DOdger' signed
the register Of this Broadway hotel tnan
the detective slipped up behind him and
claDping a pair of handouts on his
wrists. informed him Of his arrest Ot
course battle followed, but handi-
earned by the shackles on his wrist, the
ssOodper'' was overpOwered and accom-
panied his captor to Police Headquar-
ters. whence he was remanded to the
Tombs and held subject to the call
of the Minneapolis authorities He was
taken 10 Minneapolis a few days later,
tried and convicted, and to-day he IS
rounding out a long term for burglary.
$4,000 Jewel Robbery.
I Another interesting case in which the
same two detectives figured had to do
with the solution of ten thousand dollar
gem robbery in an uptown New York hO-
/ tel which not only baffled the house detee-
tives but half a dozen private detectives
who had been detailed to apprehend the
thieves. A Miss Barnes, who was stop
ping at this hotel. was the victim OF the
robbery. While she was away from the
hotel shopping the lock of her trunk was
forced and the gems stolen. Every ef-
fort TO aDDrehend the thieves failed. One
= detective agency had stationed youth
/ in the hotel who posed as a bellboy- As
! all signs pointed to this being an inside
lob it was believed the newcomer might
/ worm himself into the confidence Of the
/ other belIboys and thus pick up some
valuable clew The two Headquarters
detectives who as a last resort had been
/ brought into the case ascertained that
the BOYS then employed in the hotel had
/ been discharged. Two Of the beIbOys,
Percy Wyckoff and Harry Willis, had
left the employ of the hotel a day or two
| after the robbery. The efforts Of other
/ detectives to find these boys were Of no
! avail. but the city detectives went to
work with a viii and found Wyckoff
working as a beIlbOy in another hotel
Without ceremony they promptly &C
cused Wyckoff Of tbs theft, deciding that
if their bluff worked it was a chance
well worth taking. Wyckoff protested
his innocence, but after sweating
process that lasted many hours he con
fessed his guilt He was taken back to
the hotel and when confronted by Miss
Barnes he again admitted that he had
stolen her gems. When asked what had
become Of Willis he said that his one
time friend had gone to the Pacific coast
to accept a position in a hotel there.
This the detectives branded as false
and told the boy he would be returned
to Headquarters and continuously in
terrogated until he told the truth. he
need expect no rest, they told him, until
be divulged all the facts concerning the
robbery. the whereabouts Of Willis and
, the hiding place of the gems A thorough
search of the pawnshops of the city
] failed to bring about the recovery of the
5 Jewels. After holding out for many
3 hours Wyekoff wilted and led the de-
a tectiyes to the hiding place Of Willis,
+ which proved to be a sumptuOusly ap-
t pointed apartment which he occupied
s with his wife.
d Willis assumed q defiant air, but when
eI he realized that his one-time friend had
a ''squealed" he knew that further denial
was useless. so he. too, admitted his
e guilt, and that night shared the cell Of
s Wyckoff in the Tombs The trial and
d conviction of the boys was but the ques-
d ton of a few weeks, and both to-day are
G rounding out a long term in Sing Sing.
q Before their conviction, however, they
oil revealed the name and address of the
y fence" to whom they had disposed Of
Il