Evening star., 1926-06-13

"HE trend of thieving. like the
| march Of civilization, is ever
upward.
/ The burly. unkempt bruiser
who tracked his quarry to
dark alleys and who. armed with a
| lead pipe and a weeks stubble of
beard, was content with humble
| pocket offerings. has been supplanted
| by the slender, sartorially perfect auto
| bandit. who steals and kills in broad
| daylight and for whom even a million
dollar haul is not too high.
| Now comes the newest additions to
| the gallery of unframed rogues.
| Tapestry thieves.
During the past year. according to
| the conservative estimate Of a promi-
nent Fifth avenue art dealer. tapes
tries valued at $25O,000 have been
stolen from the walls of fashionable
| New Workers. homes and from the
display rooms of antique dealers.
| The very nature of these thefts and
| the artistic as well as commercial
value Of the tapestries stolen have
Matched the belief that these are the
operations of a very clever and highly
| cultured gang of international crooks
American capitals and smooth facili-
ties for the disposal Of such peculiarly
valuable loot
| Stealing tapestries is a specialized
science. 1t requires q technique, a
! tradition, knowledge all it's own. Ex-
cept in degree of guilt. it differs from
all other forms of stealing. Those
who practice it really form the aris-
tocracy Of theft.
] After all. the auto theft requires lit
J tie more than an 8-year-old mentality
to ply the craft successfully. To be
sure the thief needs daring and cum
ming, but no particular parcel of
brains or learning to select the higher
grade cars.
| The same childish requirements
hold true in jewel. fur. silk and bank
robberies. and, as has frequently been
demonstrated in those cases where ar
rests have been made. the thieves
were artiflcially buoyed up to a high
| point of recklessness by narcotics, and
in intelligence tests registered subnor-
NAL mentalities.
| 1t is also true that the disposal of
commonplace loot is comparatively
easy. There are fences" in every un-
derworld who will buy diamond rings
and watches. There are sly mer-
chants in the byways who will stock
! up on stolen furs, apparel and silks.
But your tapestry thief must be
unique.
To begin with, he must know tapes
tries. This is branch of art knowl-
edge in which there are few experts
| and small number Of intelligent
amateurs. The thief who specializes
| in valuable paintings has much to
guide him. There is a wealth of au-
thentic literature to point the way and
Of famous paintings there are thou
sands of reproductions, many Of which
hang in the homes Of the humblest as
well as the rich.
But tapestries must be expertly
known. 1t is virtually impossible to
perpetrate fake" as has often been
done with paintings. Each tapestry
Is an entity. 1t must be known with
respect to it's designers. weavers, his.
torical period, country and suo)ect
matter.
| Let us accompany clever pair
from this tapestry gang.
! A gentleman and a lady IN tnelr
thirties, both richly though not con-
| spicuously clad, enter q fashlonaple
Fifth Avenue art shop. 1t seems that
monsieur and madame are interested
in tapestries, with which they wish to
embellish their new Long Island home.
The salesman exhibits the rich mer-
chandise with an eager courtesy. he