The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-14
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. G.
GEM THIEVES.

Caruso gem robbery, which has been
so widely and efficiently advertised,
has attracted attention to the fact that
thefts of jewels are greatly on the in
crease. In New York, where a sys-
tematic campaign of robberies seems
to be well under way. it is believed
that an unusually clever band of
crooks is at work, with a master mind
disposing of the stolen goods. In 9TH
er cities, on trains. at country houses,
the story of disappearing valuables is
the same.
operating now One is the profession
al yegg who works in a gang and uses
the latest methods. He is only dis
tant relative of the old fashioned safe
cracking burglar who didn't mind
waking up the neighborhood and
counted on luck and speed to get him
| away. Nowadays, if he must crack
safes the professional crook makes
study of combinations, or carries an
acetylene drill which Will nOiselessly
put hole in the side. But on the
whole, cracking safes and jimmying
windows is frowned upon by burglars
who deal in precious stones and OBJ
! jects of art.
Each crime is planned down to the
| last detail even tho it takes several
weeks or months. Most often the yegg
obtains a position as butler or chauf-
feur at the house to be robbed. Rec
/ concentrations
cepted by the household. and the new
servants, who are by the way usually
model domestics. take as much time a
| is needed to study the plan of the
house, habits of the people, and the
vulnerable spot in the protection of
valuables
The servant Trick.
7 Then some day when the owner of
the jewels is out, paste duplicates are
quietly substituted in the process of
busting the boudoir, or as the employe
! is on his way thru the house on al
errand. The pseudo-servant slips off
before the cry is raised, or stays on
long enough to prove an alibi by
fellow servant when detectives are
called in.
The other type of jewel thief is one
that is becoming even more prevalent
than the common yegg. This is the
hard-up and unscrupulous member OF
high society who is living beyond his
OF her means. He is far more des-
perate than the regular burglar. for
| if his true financial condition should
become known he would have to drop
out of that particular circle where life
seems to him so desirable.
The gentleman burglar. and his
counterpart, the lady jewel thief, are
the result of a disregard for honesty
as a cardinal virtue. combined with
unbelievable carelessness on the part
! of owners of precious stones.
Most men who own valuable gems
keep them locked up So that they are
at least safe from social pirates, but
women who wear jewels get used to
hiding them in peculiar places or even
to dropping them into a drawer. From
1 the bride with her 5000 solitaire to
the dOwager whose jewels are valued
at 100000, there is tendency to
trust too much to providence and the
police department to keep the treasure
safe.
And then when a detective is called
in to get back the stolen goods, the
laccIsation is again made that the
public is at fault because It will not
cooperate with the sleuths People
still seem to think that a detective,
as a supernatural being. should pick
out the criminal unerringly without
Fostering their friends who were on
the ground when the theft occurred.
because obviously their friends could
know nothing of the burglars tricks.
The Guest Thief.
Mr.. Morgan Bradford, head of a
well known detective agency, says
that the prevalence Of Jewel robberies
by guests is not even dimly realized,
and that the victims are the last peo-
pie to be convinced. This, he says, is
what makes life hardest for detectives.
A society woman employs a sleuth
to recover her $40, 600 breastpin,
stolen out of a dresser drawer durin g
the servants and questions her as to
how many people saw her drop it in
the drawer. Only two of her friends,
she tells him, and she is indignant
when he insists on their names. He
looks them up and finds that one of
the young women has only small in
come. as money goes in that stratum
of society. that she is in debt. and that
she made a short trip to New York
the day after the party. Yet when he
reports this to the woman who en-
ploys him, she as likely as not re-
fuses to allow him to question her
friends as it would be an insult. So
the detective, having followed other
clues to no purpose, has to give up
the Job and the amateur burglar con-
tinues her social career with her hon
esty unquestioned-as she had fore
seen.
This sort of thing. MI Bradford
says, happens all the time. 1t ac-
counts largely for the estimate that
of all the Jewels reported as missig
only about one-fourth are recovered.
These amateurs rarely if ever resort
to burglars methods. There is, no
business of entering windows at night
with flashlight and black cambria
mask. Theft for them is made ridicu-
ilously easy. Time and again they
have heard their host mention care
llessly the fabulous cost of this bit of
lbric-a-brac, or of that necklace, and
so when chance sooner or later leaves
the guest alone and face to face with
the object of value. it is unobtrusivelv
stored away and the incident is closed.
A Curious Case.
An interesting case of this sort hap
pened in Washington during a recep-
ton given by a wealthy man, we'll
known in society. One of the guests
was a popular youth whose chief
drawback to happiness was his small
income. This young man was alone
in a parlor when he was seen by a
detective present to finger a tiny
Japanese carving. Presently he slip
ped it in the coat-tail pocket of his
dress suit. The. detective informed
the host. who begged that nothing be
done.
But few days later curfo dealer
telephoned the owner OF the carving.