The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-01
CARELESS HOUSEWIVES
 OFTEN EMPLOY THIEVES

NeW YOrK, May l.-Many LnOuS- ands of dollars in money, jewe1ry, clothes and valuables are stolen from American households every year be- cause housewives neglect to investi gate personally their servants refer ences.
 A warning to this effect, based on National Surety Company record was issued today by J. A. Kenny, manager of the Company's Burglary Depart ment
 Housewives who engage new ser wants should actually call upon their references, personally. Letters of re- commendation should not be trusted. Dishonest servants and some other classes of employees have been known to write letters of recommendation for themselves, even going to the ex- tent. of using fictitious letter heads (which can be printed at small cost) and giving addresses at which they have temporarily rented furnished room.
 A wealthy Brooklyn woman recent ly asked the servant of a social ac- auaintance to find her housemaid. The servant chose girl whom she had met in an employment agency backroona. The Brooklyn woman en- ployed this strange girl without in- vestigation. She also recommended the strange girls sister as maid to another friend. Both sisters began a. series of household thefts, dispos- 1 ing of the stolen articles in pawn shops. The thefts of the two sisters totalled almost one thousand dollars | Many apartment house superinten- dents are also causing thefts by lax ity regarding references. Owners of apartment houses. because of the ease with which thefts can be com l should investigate the characters of elevator men, hall boys and other em- tployes with especial care
 | An engine room man, who was re- 1 gently engaged because of his good appearance by the superintendent of an uptown apartment ouse, worked
 only long enough to learn which o1 the women tenants left their jewelry upon their dressers when going out
 to market. He then gained access to | their apartments by telling the ser-
 wants that the steam heater needed
 fixing. He took s1700 in valuables
 and disappeared.
 1 An uninvestigated night elevator man in another apartment was asked
 some months ago by a wealthy wo- l 1IdI eSlLdhI u DICK the JOCK OI AeI apartment house because she had for. gotten her key. Finding this "locA picking" easy, he repeated it when she was out stealing s350.
 Many wealthy women also either l from carelessness or affectation, trust
 needlessly to the honesty of their
 servants, and thus tempt them. The l servants may resist this temptation for many years, then an unusual per sona1 need or fragrant temptation vii
 sweep away their honest resolutions
 Most servants are honest; but oppor
 tunity frequently makes them thieves
 and the opportunities are frequently | thrust upon them by careless employ
 CTS.
 l The credulity of some wealthy charitable people is sometimes pa
 thetically misdirected. During tht
 last few weeks, a wealthy spinstel
 who has been interested in trying tt
 reform wayward girls. tried to hell 8 girl with a long prison record. Int
 spinster got this girl a position a.
 servant with wealthy friends in tn,
 suburbs of New York City. She dit not tell the friends abou the girl. iprison record. She feared they would not want to employ such a person No sooner did the girl obtain a posi-
 tion than she wrote to her former prison associates that she expected tt make "big haul" The National Sur ety Co.,, has the letter now. The ST stole six thousand dollars worth O jewelry and disappeared. The com pany is still trying to find her.