The Washington times., 1914-10-07
HOUSE
ROBBER IS TRAPPED

A neatly dressed young man Of busi-
nesslike and prosperous appearance
walked into a secondhand shop in D
street northwest shortly before noon to-
day. and informed the proprietor he had
called to buy back an overcoat which
he had pledged for a loan of g a few
days ago.
A moment later a signal was flashed
to Police Headquarters, and the man
told to take a seat while the second
hand dealer searched for the garment
Five minutes later the headquarters au-
tomobile. with Joseph Morgan and
George wech, of the Central Onice
staff. rolled up in front of the store
The young man who had called for the
overcoat had walked into a carefully
set trap, which Detectives Berman and
Cornwell laid three days ago in the
hope of catching the man who for sew
eral months has been persistently rob-
bling apartment houses in all sections
OF the city during the absence of occu-
pants.
The overcoat on which the 81 had
been borrowed was stolen a week ago
from the apartment of Bertram T.
Birchfield, in the Lanier. The man
who brought 1t to the secondhand store
told the proprietor he intended buytng
ut back In a few days, and to be careful
not 10 sell II 10 any one else.
Jewelry Found in Room.
As soon as Berman and Cornwell
learned of this they made arrangements
10 have a signal flashed to headquarters
the moment the man returned to the
store. The big automobile recently add
ed to the Central Office equipment had
been kept in readiness to respond the
moment the message was received.
The man arrested was.Oscar r. Slack.
t~enty-seven. for number of years
employed in various clerical capacities
with the Pennsylvania and Southern
railways in this city. but for the last
year out Of Job. At first he claimed
from a friend, but when tho detectives
confronted him with about S1,OC0 worth
OF tewelry found in his room at 1lUs
Sixth street northwest, he broke down
ana admitted he had entered and rob-
bed about fifteen or twenty apartments
during the last three months.
When the detectives placed him under
arrest they could hardly believe they
had the right man. His appearance
was In such striking contrast to the
usual type arrested for such thefts that
the police were at first inclined to be-
lieve he was telling truth when he Wig
orously asserted his innocence. How
ever, the oyercoat had been identified by
Mr. BirChfield as the one stolen from
his apartment and when Slack saw the
that he would have to account for the
great quantity OF jewelry found in his
room. he said he would tell the whole
story.
Tells of Robbeies.
Don't think I'm a regular crook" he
said. IF you go looking for my record
you'll only waste time. This is the first
tine / ever was in trouble. It's pretty
town. / tried selling insurance and do
ing other things. but | couldn't get
hold of anything that paid me enough
to live on. Then one day l was pass
ing an apartment house and went In. !
had some bills in my pocket which |
which I was soliciting business. rang
the bell OF the first apartment 1 came
to. There was no response, and | knew
no one was home. took out my pocket
knife and slid the lock back. IT was
the easiest thing in the world to get
into that aOartment
After that ] worked them all the
same way. II anyone answered the bell
told them ! was soliciting laundry
business. If no one came and the lock
my pocket knife | went inside and took
what jewelry ] could find. o."
Slack told the detectives he never
used duplicate keys. He said that il
was an easy matter to open most apart
ment house doors with a knife.
Story Is Believed.
The detectives thought at first that
Slack might have been the man who
committed several large rUbberies in
apartment houses in the northwest sec
tion OF the city several months ago, but
after talking with him they were con-
VinCed from the frank manner in
which he told his story that he had not
been at the business more than three
months, and that none of the jobs he
pulled off we're more than sos. Slack toll
the officers that he disposed OF some OF
the loot in this city, while the rest ne
ers had forsdken the stronger liquid
more.
At the Sixth street house it was said
he had been living there since August.
He always paid his room rent promptly.
II was said. ard was supposed to be sn
gagged in some kind OF business Of his
own. as he seldom got up until 10
o'clock in the morning. and would often
in 10 roiHIIa nj he af