New Britain herald., 1924-02-22
TURNS ON PALS ID
 GIVE TALE ID COPS
"StOOl" in New York TOmbS Aids
 in Recovering Loot

N. Y. Feb. a2.-Nearly a half mil
 lion dollars worth of stolen property
 has been recovered as the result of
 the activities of a prisoner in the
 Tombs who acted as stool pigeon for the District Attorneys office and
 copied notes passed between other prisoners George Kammerer, the
 stool pigeon, gave the District Attor-
 ney the tips which have resulted in the return Of most of the Schoellkopf
 jewels the Meyers jewels, part of the
 s113,000 worth of bonds stolen from
 Hertzfied X stern, brokers, and other , smaller lots of stolen goods.
 This was revealed yesterday when
 Owen Bohan. Assistant District At
 torney. sought for clemency by Judge
 Collins for Kammcrer, who pleaded
 guilty a week ago to stealing s30,000 ! he had raised for the relief of desti- ute German children" Mir. Bohan , was forced to toll the secrets of the office to aid Kammercr, because about goo Gcrman-Americans had packed the court house to demand that no mercy he shown the prisoner.
 kammerer was sentenced to Sing Sing almost a year ago. MT. Bohan said, for a term of from two years and three months to four years and six months on his conviction of de- frauding banks by displaying fake bilAs of lading on which he borrowed money. He was kept in the Tombs because of the assistance he was gir- ing as stool pigeon.
 Marquis and Charles Curtis, and Eugene Moran were in the Tombs year when Kammerer had received virtually the run of the prison. The Curtis brothers were under arrest for the theft from Mrs. Lillian Myers Of 800 West Forty-ninth street, a former "Follies" girl, of S60,000 worth of iewelry and Moran was one of the three men who robbed Mrs. Irene M Sehoellkopf of s2SS.O00 worth Of jew els. The three men were friends-in fact Moran was q suspect in the Mey- IFS robbery-and because Kammerer was not confined to a cell they gave him notes for each other. Hammer CT copied every note before deliver ing it and turned the copies over to the District Attorney.
 As a result the Meyers jewels were recovered, And when Moran was brought into the District Attorneys office to be questioned he found that the authorities knew much more about tho robbery than he had | thought, He feared that he was due for n long term in Sing Sing, so he made n full confession in m attempt [ to Tighten his sentence. Then John W. Mahan, the fence who bought the | scheolkopf jewels from Moran, was in Florida. Mahan has con. fessed and returned s?:S.e00 worth Of the jewels.
 kammercr obtained information, in some way Of his own that has not ! been disclosed, that led to the arrest of a group Of bond thieves charged with pcrsnading Salvatore des Pages IF, messenger boy, 10 steal Si13,OO0 4 worth Of bonds from Hertzfield & Stern, brokers. M
 The messenger confessed. and part Of the bonds have been recovered.
 These were the most startling of kammorer which Mr Bohan told Judge Collins. but it is said that kammorer has been Of as- sistance 10 the district attorney in many cases and has given informa- lion which led to the return Of con. siderable stolen property, which was not mentioned.
 Judge Collins said he had received many tclegrams and letters asking him 10 give Kammerer a severe sen- tcnce. "Ilc has been engaged in dia- bolical frauds" the court said "He Is deep dyed crook. but I shall post pone sentence for two weeks to give him n chance 10 establish his charac- ter and culpability."
 Mir. Bohan told reporters later that he had "only tried to rtturn in some measure the great .favors which Kam- nerer did us whila in the Tombs."