New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-29
WHITE ADMITS
HOLDUPS AFTER
NIGHT OF PRAYER
Manager for Brooklyn
Company Pleads Guilty
as Bandit Leader.
STRIPS MASONIC
EMBLEM FROM COAT
Model in Home and Office al
Night Led Gay Life with
Stolen Money.

Philip Tolliver White. confessed be-
traycr of the confidence of wife, en-
ploycr and friends. stripped from his
coat Masonic emblem which he wore,
as nc stood trembling and fearful be-
fore Justice Aspinall in the Brooklyn
Supreme Court.
81 hereby strip myself Of this Shrine
emblem" he cried. 81 am not ft to
wear it. May the Lord give me strength
10 bear what | must suffer-"
Only n moment before, while his
whtefaced young wife stared fxedly
at his heaving back, he had changed his
plea of not guilty to the charge of d-
recting the theft Of S3,O32 from the
John W. Masury & Sons Paint Com
pany, of 30 Jay Street, Brooklyn, last
June, to that of guilty Of robbery in
the second degree A moment later
James +. Clinnin. his accomplice and
dupe, added his confession to the dra-
matte climax of guilty remorse.
The sequel to two days of the trial
in which White, manager of the Masury
paint concern with $4,000 salary, we'll
dressed, well bred and confident, had
steadily insisted on his innocence,
came after an almost silent colloquy
between the defendant and his wife.
On opposite sides Of the rail which
passed his chair stood as court con-
vened, the father and husband whose
love of Manhattan night life had led
him into crime, and the trusting woman
whose faith in him has never waned.
Pleads with Wife.
Little wife, be game, be strong, and
for Gods sake keep your faith in me-"
That was all that was said in the mo-
ment they stood there. An instant
later former City Magistrate Charles
+. Wahle, of Whites counsel. informed
the court of his clients desire to make
confession.
With the shame Of his public dis
full restitution to his employer light
ing for supremacy in his face, White
listened without looking at ms Wiie
while Justice Aspinall remanded HIM
until the announcement OF sentence,
the maximum of which is fifteen years
confinement, on Wednesday.
White determined to confess Tuesday
night. his counsel. former Magistrate
"
latter held a conference in Justice
AspinaH's chambers before court con-
vened with Assistant District Attorney
Allen. during which the state offered
TO accent the changed plea of guilty
TO the lesser charge. But the wife OF
the man who swore away his liberty
and social standing did not know what
the day had in store for her until she
was called 10 look into her husbands
ewes across the oaken railing.
The confession put the final seal OF
truth on the story of Robert Roberts,
third in the trio 10 which White and
Clinnin belonged. which yesterday re-
bounded from the chief defendant as
from one unshakable in the knowledge
Of his innocence. Roberts, turning
states witness, had told how he and
Clinnin had met White in night cafes
and had been told by him OF the ease
with which payrolls might be stolen
from factories.
Night Life His Ruin.
The first crime which they attempted
was-the hold-up of messengers carry
ing the payroll of the Sackett & Will
helms lithographing firm. Of Williams,
burg. For this Clnnin was tried and
acquitted last October, after jury
had accepted Whites assurance on the
witness stand that he had dlned with
Clinnin at the time Of the robbery at
the Crescent Athletic Club. to which
he belongs. The hold-up, June ., of
Harry Bceh and Arthur Barlow, clerks,
carrying the payroll of the Masury
firm. so closely resembled the previous
one that Detective George !. Conroy
was able to trace an intimacy between
Roberts. who was apprehended, and
CHnnin and White.
Until the unexpected ending of the
trial Whites wife had believed that the
Continued on page 6. column 3