Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-03
PAIR CONFESSES
|. ROBBER|ES HERE,
POLICE DECLARE
Laborer and Nephew Ac-
cuSed of Taking Valuable
Antiques From Homes.
YOUTH is ARRESTED
AT CAPITAL STORE
Appeared With Suit Case Full Of
Rare Books to Sell, Detec-
tive Charges.

The mystery of the identity of
burglars whose familiarity with the
Capital society columns has allowed
them, with discerning taste, to ran
sack .sumptuous Capital homes Of
priceless prose and poetry, rare
antiques, jeweIry and other things of
value, was believed by police today to
have been solved in the arrest of a
48-year-old laborer and his youthful
nephew last night.
Police this morning reported that
after thorough grilling, the pair. Will
liam Sullivan, 1914 H street northeast,
the uncle, and John L. Sullivan, 81,
2004 Bryant street northeast, had con-
fessed to robberies in homes of wealthy
Georgetown residents while their oc-
cupants were sojourning for the Sum-
mer months at fashionable resorts In
this country and abroad.
This afternoon the pair was ordered
taken on a. tour of the ranSacked
homes in Georgetown and other
fashionable sections Of the northwest
section of the city. These ransacked
homes have been a puzzle to police for
several weeks.
Rare German Books Taken.
Rare German books of prose and
poetry, valued at more than $4,000
and stolen from the home of Rudolf
Leitner, first secretary of the German
embassy, offered for an infinitesimal
portion Of their real value, led to the
arrest of the pair last night, police say.
The books, police declare, were offered
at local book store, while a detective,
planted at the store since the report of
the theft of the books had been received
at police headquarters, stood guard. The
younger man, it is alleged, arrived at
the store with suit case full of books
to sell, and Immediately was placed
under arrest.
Following the questioning of the
younger Sullivan, four headquarters
detectives were assigned to the task of
experimenting the uncle, who has a
long record with the local police, with
numerous convictions on HOUSEKEEPING
charges listed on it.
Claim Loot Was Found.
The detectives went to Sullivan's H
street address, found Sullivan and are
alleged also to have found many thou
sands of dollars worth of goods, be-
lleved by police to have been loot from
the homes of wealthy Washingtonians.
Police say they found jewelry bearing
the name of John M. Sternhagen, 1923
o street, where $4,000 burglary was
reported to police in July; jewelry an
Swering the description of some stolen
| from the home of Louis Pennington,
BOO Q street and articles answering
the descriptions of those reported stolen
from the homes of Representative Ross
A, Collins, at 2463 Wisconsin avenue,
and William S. Conant, 1402 Thirty
first street.
Police today declared that practically
every home in Georgetown reported
ransacked during the Summer months
was visited while occupants were out
OF the city, and that the burglar or
burglars showed considerable discern
ment IN their choice of loot to carry
away. throwing aside the gaudy baubles
that would bring no price with a
fence" and taking instead some not
so striking looking article, such as a
rare book, painting or piece of ANTIQUE
JeWeiry, Tor which good price might
be obtained.
Won't Estimate Total.
1t Is the first time in years that police
have had to deal with thieves who
showed so much knowledge of the value
OF rare literature, and it is believed that
this .penchant for rare prose and poetry
brought about the collapse of the al
legged robbery project of the Sullivans,
since 1t was the German books that
led to their arrest.
Police today were unwilling to esti-
mate the total amount of loot reported
stolen in the past several weeks from
Georgetown homes, partly because they
could not determine the value them
selves of some of the paintings, books
and antiques which have been listed
by owners as among loot taken from
their homes.
Nor would police make definite esti-
mate OF the amount of goods they claim
they found at the Sullivan home,
William Sullivan's police record is re-
ported by police to date back to 1917
when Maj. Pratt, superintendent of
police, them just a detective, arrested
Sullivan for house-breaking. He later
was sentenced to serve three wears In
Leavenworth prison, Kansas. Since
that time, police say, Sullivan has been
arrested on IL occasions, several times
on house -brea king charoas