Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-19
II. c, FR|CK ABLE
! T0KEEP SECRET
Private Museum Obviously
Built to Go to City's Hands
Some Time.
by HERBERT COREY.

on Each summer those who can beat
it for distant farms and rocking chair
hotels. In the fall they come back to
bore those who have lived comfortably
in the city by recital of their troubles
When the mercury exhibits beariSh ten |
denotes, the movers look about for some
sunny spot in which to spend the Win
, ter There are houses on 5th avenue
and the platinum-set side streets that
hardly show flicker of light from one
years end to another. 1t is lucky
tourist who sees a Vanderbilt mousse
maid about her duties when the rubber
neck cars jolt by.
The process Of opening one Of these
! houses is about as complicated as
launching a yacht, anyhow. Charles NJ
Schwab is too busy to visit very often
the French chateau he marooned on
Riverside drive. But when he does
when he feels like having jovial party
of friends in to spend an evening at
bridge, say. or the good wife would like
/ to get the place warmed up. so she can
serve tea without chilblains-it takes
/ full month to get the place under con-
( troll. Rugs must be taken from the
storage vaults, pictures from the ware
houses, silver from the banks. The &C
! tual cost runs into the thousands Of
dollars.
Frick Kept His Secret.
| Some of these lavish places are,
! properly Spea king, never closed. The
Henry Z. Frick house on 5th avenue
was always in commission, for it con-
tanned thirty million dollars worth of
| art objects. Incidentally, the Frick
! home will stand as proof that now
and then men are found who know
/ how to keep secrets. 1t is plain as
pikestaff now that this magnificent
place was built for museum, and
men do not build museums for thei
| natural heirs some one might hav
/ guessed that it was Tricks intentio
to leave it to the city. But no one di
guess-and he never told. For year:
photographers, resident correspond
ents. visitors and chateau lecturer
set their springboards of comment
the Prick lawn But his lips did no
! open.
The fact that Tricks home contain
ed thirty million dollars worth of ar:
i set a police officer talking. He sal,
| that the actual negotiable cash value
of the properties contained in some of
| these magnificent city houses is
! breath taking. Not one but dozens
contain collections worth all the way
from One-half to five millions But,
/ broadly speaking. they are as safe as
churches, Nine cases out of ten the
! successful footing of a wealthy mans
4 home IS AN ''inside job" or one in
which honest but stupid servants
have been fooled by the dishonest but
| acute servants of a rich neighbor
Breaking and entering in the simple
Y.
; There is always lapdog or an under
| footman or a late-returning son in the
way.
Opportunity for Thieves.
The practical immunity from rude
and dirty handed thieves which these
houses enjoy is, to his mind, a proof
of the low type of mind the evraage
thief possesses. Years ago there was
IN New York man who, rightly or
wrongly. was suspected of being an
International fence for stolen art OF
the first quality. More than that he
was suspected of being the Inspiration
and stage manager Of many; of the
greatest conps brought or by the
criminals of his time. z
There is no such man nowadays"
said tie police officer. Yet the field
was never more promising. A great
CRIMINAL criminal of the sort one
reads of in fiction--could rip these
an hours time his men could strip
one of them clean. He could pay
running expenses by the sale of the
smaller and more easily disposable
objects and hold the paintings until
opportunity came The fact that there
| is no such man shows that the more
physical forms of crime are not worth
| the attention of really intelligent mer,
now. They go in for other ways OF
! getting easy money"
| BIackmaflers Prosperous.
| 1t is not every man, he said, who
can sell mining stock or oil shares OF
| the fake sort. Many men with really
excellently developed criminal brains
| are quite without value in swindlire
| schemes. Men who have failed as
F., swindlers. however, are dangerous
habitues Of the financial district. They
have learned enough of its ways to
be able to find opportunities. The
success with which bank messengers
have been plundered and in some in
| stances corrupted is due to the in
tensive study of Wall street methods
by men who could not sell fake stock
to a young widow.
And a man who can't do that"
said he, might as well quit the
game"
Blackmailing is considered a very
profitable line among younger men
who have certain shell Of culture
and marked aversion to work. One
young man who lives in the-let us
say the seventies-reached New York
not long ago with no money and no
recommendations, and. so far as care
could protect him. no past But he
is handsome, likable and amusing.
Now he has fine apartment, a large
car, and at least two safe deposit
boxes. He has never even pretended
to toll unless it be considered work
to hold the pudgy hands o. well-to-
do ladies no longer in the first bright
flush of youth. There are scores like
him who live by borrowing and black
mailing.
Tale Of n Jewel Theft.
Not long ago it became discreetly
known in certain police circles that
jewels valued at more than S200.O
had been taken from an uptown
house. No word has ever appeared in
the prints. Only very few men in
the profession of thief-catching-or
of negotiating with thieves, which is
branch of the profession-were per
mitted to know and they bound them
selves to say nothing.
|. NO one knows how the theft was
accomplished. But on the morning
of the day on which a dinner was to
be given an especial admirer of the
lady of the house telephoned a re-
quest that she send to the safe deposit
for her jewels. He had never seen her
en- grand tenue. he said. After bank
ing hours he telephoned again.
Wear no jewels he begged. Let
! your beauty be unadorned
Some time after dinner and during
the evening the jewel case in her bed
: room was ransacked. The crime is a
complete mystery. We have been as
sured by the lady and her husband
that no suspicion attaches to any ono
present that night. whether servant
! or guest The young man still calls
at the lady's home. Odd, isn't it?'
Difficulties Of Travel.
Returning to the winter fight of
: New Workers. for points south and
west. the trains are now booked solid
for weeks ahead. One can get to
California by more or less circuitous
routes. but it is no longer possible to
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