The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1924-04-10
KID DETECTIVES"
SOLVE BURGLARY
John and Joe Lupi, Aged 10
and s Years, Find Hole
in Crystal Floor.
COVERED WITH BOX
Children Discover Ray of Light
which Penetrates Mystery
that Puzzled Police.

The mystery surrounding the man.
ner in which burglars entered the A.
Crystal department. store, 152-154
Rowland avenue, and decamped with
approximately $4,000 worth of spring
merchandise, was solved last night by
two children, after it had puzzled po-
lice for the entire day.
With the solution, the police esti-
mate of the cleverness of the burglars
| rose rapidly. The theory upon which
they are now working is that the job
was the work of experts rather than
local talent.
1t was shortly after o'clock last
night that ray of light penetrated
the mystery which the police, Adolph
Crystal, owner of the establishment
and more than 100 other persons had
been attempting to solve during the
day.
John Lupi, 10 years old, accompan-
! led by his brother, Joe, age 8, decided
to do bit of amateur detective work
/ They had recently become interested
in the marvellous exploits of Sherlock
Holmes whose investigations" they
found usually hinged upon some slight
/ clue.
After supper they slipped away
from their home at 865 Pearl street
/ which is near the store, and into that
part of the basement under the store
which is used by the Ferraro family
who live over the store. Due to the
fact that it serves merely as a store
room for coal the basement door was
not kept locked The Ferraro part
of the basement is divided from the
part used by Mr.. Crystal by brick
wall, but is also under the store.
/ AS the youngsters entered the place
they discovered ray of light coming
| through the floor upstairs. They had
never seen that ray Of light before
when they CHANGED to be in the base
ment, and they Immediately deduct
ed" that it might have some connec-
ton with the robbery. They rushed
into the store and reported their
"clue" to Mr.. Crystal, who immediate
ly accompanied them to the basement
Calls Police Back.
What Mr.. Crystal saw led him ia
call for the police. After he had put
! in the call he moved a table and
big box which was under the table
and the mystery was solved. A hole
had been cut in the floor just large
enough to admit the body Of man
! A count showed that 50 holes had
been bored in the floor in order to
remove that section.
After the robbers had entered the
place and removed between $50 and
200 suits of high grade spring cloth
! ing and 10 spring overcoats, which
they had apparently handed down
through the hole in the floor to q
confederate in the basement, they re-
placed the section of the floor and
pulled the box back over it, SO that
all traces of the work was removed
and departed with their loot.
| In making their investigation, which
had not been completed, the police had
not reached the stage where they were
willing to move all the merchandise
| in the store to inspect the floor. They
had looked at that section of the floor
over the Crystal basement and seen
that everything appeared snatural.
/ OnG Hole OrCOVcTeu.
/ In replacing the table and the big
packing box which stood under the
table, over the section of the floor
which had been cut, the robbers fail
ed to get the box over one small hole
/ and it was through this that the shaft
of light came, which the children saw
| Further investigation has led the
police to believe that the automobile
used to carry the loot away, was park
ed beside the store on the Pearl
street side, and for this reason NO
tracks were visable in the allew
! The department calls it one of the
cleanest jobs of burglary which has
ever been staged in tine city.
That the job had been planned for
some time, and that the robbers had
been working on it for several days
called that Sunday night when he
went to the basement to get coal he
found that the electric light bulb had
been removed. He returned to his
living quarters upstairs and got sup
ply of matches.
Guard Against Surprise
The light was taken, the police be-
lieve to prevent the possibility of
anyone coming into the basement and
turning on the light while the burg
lars were at work there.
1t is also believed that providing
the hole in the floor was not discov-
erred the burglars planned to return
later and again clean out the stock.
CONTINUED on page 81