New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-14
PICKLES AND CAKE
TRAP RECKLESS II
Butter Print CleWs Aid in
Arrest of Boys Held as
Grocery Raiders

The detectives Of the 7th Branch Bu-
reau. Of Brooklyn, slept in peace last
night for the first time in couple of
weeks. They had broken the Flatbush
crime wave, and eleven elusive marau-
Gers. banded in an unchartered criminal
organization known as the desperate
Dozen" had been rounded up and were
awaiting arraignment.
1t was in midsummer the crime wave
started Groceries were the chief suf-
ferers. Morning after morning one
grocer or another reported TO the po-
lice that his shop had been broken
into.
Detectives Wackley. Owens, Walsh
and Burke, early assigned to the case,
agreed that the jobs bore evidence of
the same handiwork. They studied fin
gerprints and footprints and butter
prints which had been taken from ice
boxes and disdainfully tossed back
when it was discovered they were not
cheese. Wackley, Owens, Walsh and
Burke always work well together.
Butter Prints Aid Search.
"Let US look" said Wackley, one
morning, for short, stocky NAM
WHO wears moccasins," put in Ow-
ems
"And likes cake. cheese. pickles and
potted ham" added Walsh
And has TO be home by 10 o'clock at
night" finished Burke.
Irt-f 1 ~
the detectives were working-and
thinking. But the crime wave rolled
on. The grocers continued to get the
worst Of il and real estate agents be-
gan to suffer.
On the night Of October the Office
of John Parker, at 2l3S Beverley Road,
was entered and keys to a number of
vacant houses were distracted The
next night Frank +. Fosters rear office
door was forced, and more keys were
missing when he took stock in the
morning again, TO vacant houses.
Plot Gets a Bit Thickish
"The plot said Wackley and Owens
on getting this news. THE plot
Certainly thickens," agreed Walsh
and Burke.
Other reports came to the baffled de-
tectives. The Atlantic & Pacific Tea
Company store at 1910 Flatbush Ave
nue., the ROulstou grocery near by and
Mrs. Sarah VOLTS delicatessen store
in the next block were successfully
raidCd. Cakes, cheese, pickles and
potted ham were missed. Burglars got
into the home of States Tompkins. at
G73 Ocean Avenue, and carried away
silverware valued at $500. All the
burglaries were committed before 10
o'clock at night
At o'clock yesterday afternoon De-
tectives Wackley, Owens, Walsh and
Burke. who had picked up better clews
than fingerprints and footprints. came
upon short, stocky person who likes
cakes, cheese, pickles and potted ham
and prefers to be home before 10. He
was Charles Mclaughlin. who is ff
teen years old and lives at l1l7 Flat
bush Avenue.
An hour later the secrets of the
Desperate Dozen were theirs. Be-
tween then and 10 o'clock last night
Detectives Wackley, Owens. Walsh and
Burke made ten more arrests. They
also visited many vacant houses in
Flatbush. In some OF them they found
remnants Of meals in which cakes,
cheese. pickles and potted ham had
been featured. In another house, in
East Twenty-sixth Street, they found.
about 5000 worth of silyerware that
Mr. Tompkins is going to look at to-
day.
Boy Prisoners Bailed.
The other ten prisoners. whose par
ents nut up bail for their appearance in
the Brooklyn Children's Court in the
morning. were Charles Daler. fifteen. of
2A0S Clarendon Road; Thomas Quinlan,
thirteen, and his sixteenyear-old
brother, Edward, Of 2lll Clarendon
Road; Joseph Holbrook, thirteen, OF
1919 Rogers Avenue; Bernard Leonard,
fourteen, Of 993 Rogers Avenue; Morris
Weinberg, fifteen, OF 1884 Rogers Ave
nue.; John Hayes, ten. of 25l9 Claren-
don Road. and his eleven -year-oli
brother. Jimmy; Francis Smith, ten, Of
1929 Flatbush Avenue, and George
S,eckenreiter. thirteen, of PSI East
Twenty-sixth Street.
The bows are all members Of the
Flatbush Boys Club, which has head
quarters at 1923 Snyder Avenue. Dur
ing vacation time, they said, they had
carried their plumber to a summer
camp Il Pcrgegat Basin. Jamaica Bay.
Since then they had been forced to ind
places nearer home, and warmer, in
which 10 stage the get-togethcrs Of the
Desperate. though one shy, Dozen.
Several times, they admitted, they
had slept in the erstwhile vacant
houses after feasting and played
hockey from school next day. Such
lapses they covered with the explana-
tion FOR home consumption that they
had spent the night at one anothers
Iouepa