New-York tribune., 1920-10-18
TOback Denies
Trying to Sell
Caruso's Gems
Lawyer for Fur Salesman
Tells Judge the Poillm
Sisters Erred in Mixing
His Client With Robbery
Bail Reduced to $500
Case Put OFF Until Tuesday;
Neither the 2 Women nor
Tenor Appear at Hearing

Enrico Caruso may be trilling to-day
something from PIRATES of Penzance"
or he may be warbling line OF two
tc the effect that "Policcman's lot
IS not a happy one," but Harry c.
Toback, fur salesman who had fallen
in with the Poillon sisters, chorused
loudly in the West Side Court yester-
day that he was not the "enterprising
burglar" who entered the Caruso sum-
mer home at Easthampton last sum-
mer and stole some 100000 worth of
gems while the cadence of the sad sea
waves lulled his victims into a dream
of security.
Toback, who was arrested in one
of the most elaborate police traps ever
conceived by the combined minds OF
private and Enright detectives, told
Magistrate Levine yesterday IN the
West Side Court that he had not been
in the vicinity of the tenor's home at
he said was to sell furs. which IN c7!d
weather was wild and woolly pastime
Selling Furs No Joke
If, in the operation of promoting the
rapid distribution of the skins of the
wild, one engages in fast coiloqulal
work out on the subject of the stones
that Mr.. Caruso had, but hasn't now,
il is no reason that one should be
tossed into cell by lot of uncom-
promising policemen who obtained
their evidence via an involved dictaA
phone system. So said Harry c. Toback,
fur salesman, when he was arraigned
before Judge Levine yesterday on sus
picion of having been the porch climber
who gave East Hampton its best thrill
last summer.
Selling furs, Mr.. Toback claims, is
no Joke, particularly when winter is
nailed as the master mind in one of the
best burglaries that has relieved the
summer monotony of society in con-
siderable moons.
Mr.. Toback's plea of not guilty was
so enthralling that it looked as
though he might sell Magistrate
Levine a fur-lined alpaca duster, when
his attorney, State Senator Peter A.
Abeles, declared that an awful-yes,
ii horribly awful-mstake had been
made and that his clients psychology
of salesmanship was alone to blame
for the predicament in which Mr..
Toback found himself
The lawyer declared that he had
known the defendant for some years
and had known his family since the
Mary Powell made the maiden voyage
to Tarrytown, and never had heard
anything i'll of him or them.
My client" said the Senator, went
to the apartment of the Poillon sisters
at Broadway and Ninety seventh Street
to sell furs. He is an indefatigable
fur salesman. He could sell furs to
the brunette natives of the upper
# bo Orip ,oIo
refrigerator contracts in Alaska or sell
sweaters in Bocas del Toro. He has
an eye only to business.
Business to Sell Furs
when he visited Mrs Katharine
Charlotte Poillon Saturday, it was to
dispose of furs. He followed the con-
verSation into the channels in which it
was directed, with always the hope of
bringing it back to the thing nearest
his heart-furs. His business is to
make the world safe for furs.
when the conversation drifted to
diamonds he discussed that subject
with all the aplomb and eclat betting
a sympathetic salesman. In his desire
to dispose of furs to the Poillon sis
tiers he may, in his exultant enthu
siasm, have said something about pos
Who can tell what fur salesman will
say when the call Of the wild is signing
the symphony Of hope?
MY client was sent TO see the Poll
lon sisters by two friends of his who
told him that they were in the market
for furs. What, / ask, could be more
natural? In his poetic extravaganza
he may have said things that led them
TO believe that he was the jobbic who
made off with Enrco's jewels They
may have had thoughts of the $4,000
reward that was offered; and with that
end in view informed the police. Who
knows? Some CHASTITY mistake has
been made. That is certain"
Senator Abeles made such an clo-
quent plea for his client that Tobacks
bail WAS reduced from $25, 900 to $500
and the case will be heard Tuesday aft
ernoon.
The Poillon sisters Katherine and
Charlotte, were reported to be away
On motoring trip over the week end
when Tribune reporter called at their
apartment yesterday. They were not
represented in court when Toback was
arraigned.
Not even Bill Guard showed UP for
Caruso