The New York herald., 1922-01-05
SMART BERLIN gang
GETS MILLIONS LOOT
Arrest of AristOcratic Shop
Thieves Connected With
Police Bribery.
FUR AND GEMS STOLEN
Suspicion Aroused by Rich
ly Dressed Women Buying
Christmas Presents.
BLUFF WORKED AT FIRST
Search Revealed Great Booty
and Accounts of Sales
in Holland.

Special Gable to THE New YonK HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau.
Berlin, Jan. 4.
The arrest here of a distinguished"
gang OF shop thieves whose loot al
ready amounts to about 10000. 900
marks in value Is one of Berlin's SEN
sations. A further sensation in this
connection has been caused by revela
tions that the thieves bribed some of
the members of the Charlottenburg
police force to hush evidence, and that
had it not been for this bribery the
gang would have been arrested some
time ago.
The arrest Of the leader of the gang,
a woman named Dora Roeber. who is
the mother-in-law of a high Govern
ment official. and her principal accom-
pIice, Anna Forester, occurred under
dramatic circumstances.
A few days before Christmas two
richly dressed women wearing ex-
pensive fur coats and jewels entered a
fashionable store in Berlin's shopping
district They said they wanted to
buy Christmas presents. While show
ing them different objects shop as
sistant observed one of the women
trying to steal an expensive object.
The shopkeeper BIuffed.
When the assistant accused her of
this the women became excited and pro-
tested vigorously. Immediately they
asked to see the manager Of the shop.
They gave their names and addresses
to him, mentioning the fact they lived
in six-room flats in one Of the best resi-
Dental districts OF Berlin. Misled by the
attitude of the women. the shop assistant
apologized, whereupon the two women
left the shop.
The next day two we'll dressed men
called on the owner Of the shop. They
told him they were the husbands OF the
women and showed him their pocket
wallets stuned with thousand mark
notes. asking him IL ne thought the wives
of men who were SO wealthy were OBJ
liged to steal. The shop owner, bluffed,
gave them written apology.
A considerable difference in age be-
tween the two men and the two women
aroused the suspicious of the shop owner
who told the police OF the circumstances.
An investigation was started which led
to the arrest OF n large number of the
members of the gang.
gxauan cHnAs Vyn~xv. NTSvufcu~
When the police searched Dora Roe
ber's extravagantly furnished fiat they
found stolen goods worth millions Of
marks and obtained proof that the
thieves had opened big bank accounts In
Germany and also in Holland. where
most OF the goods stolen in Germany
were taken and disposed of. Their loot
comprised gowns. carpets. cutlery and
jtwe,ry. Practically every one Of Ber-
Inns fashionable shops was victim OF
the operations of the gang.
II was characteristic of the skill OF
Dora Roeber and Anna Foerstar that
the police found In the formers fat
china table set consisting of f78 pieces
which were stolen during four consecu-
tive days without anybody In the shop
where they got 1t noticing that the set
was missing.
The leader of the gang had intended
to buy two luxurious motor cars and
to employ liveried chauffeur and
footman to stage" their next thefts
even more effectively. Dora ROBBERS
son-in-law. Herr Morvilius. Is the direc-
tor Of an important Government institu-
tion. He also has been arrested, charged
with completely in the the fits.
An investigation has shown that some
members OF the police force of the Char
Iottenburg district previously had OBJ
taincd compromising facts about men,
bcrs of the gang. but were bribed by the
payment of $4,000 marks to hush up
everything. Numerous alleged accom-
plices OF the gang have been arrested
in the last few days.