Stole Mr. Van Siclen's Posts.

New York, 1895

For some time past Garret Van Siclen, residing on the Black Stump road, Jamaica, has been missing locust posts that had been cut and piled on his farm. Shortly after 1 o'clock Monday morning, as his son was preparing to go to market, he saw two men removing posts from the pile. Without disturbing the men in their work, he hurried to the village and notified Constable Ashmead. The officer walked up Hillside avenue and arrested the men as they were driving to Brooklyn. They had 35 posts in the wagon. They gave their names as Matthew Funcke and August Wieber. They were locked up to await examination.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, June 21, 1895, p. 4.

Threw the Goods Into a Well

New York, 1895

On Friday night the store of Edward Baldwin at Bayville was broken into and goods worth $15 stolen. On Saturday some of the goods were found under a barn near by Monday morning Officer Monilaws arrived with a search warrant. He went to the house occupied by Harry West to look for the goods. West waited until the officer got inside the house when he threw a lot of goods out of a window and afterward tossed them into an old well. The officer saw him and fished the goods out. West was arrested, charged with burglary.


Poor Overseers in Debt

The town of Newtown met on Friday. Town Clerk Robinson offered a resolution requesting the board of supervisors to authorize the supervisor of Newtown to borrow $5,500 for the purpose of paying that amount of bills now due to grocers and others for the support of the poor. Over $1,100 is due the Temporary Home for Children.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 1, 1895, p. 2.

Stole Hance's Rig and Money

New York, 1895

Benjamin Hance, of Far Rockaway, visited Jamaica on Sunday, and informed Constable Ashmead that a man named Piersen, in his employ, had stolen his horse, buggy, blankets, and $102. Saturday morning Hance received a telegram calling him to New York. Piersen drove him to the station. He then told the man to drive the horse home, and taking a roll of bills, $102, from his pocket, told him to give the money to Mrs. Hance. On his return in the evening Mr. Hance was surprised to learn that his wife had not seen Piersen or the money.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 12.

Employee and Money Gone

New York, 1895

Silas A. Williams, a young farmer, whose place is near Old Westbury, is searching for a man whom he had in his employ for a year and a half. Tuesday Mr. Williams and his wife went out to spend the afternoon among relatives, leaving the house in charge of the hired man. When they returned the man was not to be found. Mr. Williams found that a pocketbook in his bureau drawer had been rifled and $87 taken.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 1, 1895, p. 12.

Miss Coote's Watch Returned

New York, 1895

Fred Simpson, Maurice Karp, and William Holly, who were arrested at Flushing charged with robbing their fellow students at the High school and stealing the watch of Miss Coote, one of the teachers, were arraigned before Judge Smith and admitted to bail for later hearing. Strong efforts are being made by influential friends of the boys' parents to have the charges dismissed. The watch stolen from Miss Coote three weeks ago was returned to her.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.

Stole the Hackman's Rig

New York, 1895

The Flushing police are looking for the thief who stole a horse and wagon from E. G. Shire, a hackman, at Whitestone, on Sunday night. Shire left his horse in front of the railroad station a few moments and when he returned the rig was missing. There is as yet no clew to the thieves.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.

Punished for Stealing Wood

New York, 1895

Andrew Payne and David Brewster of Massapequa, were arraigned before Justice Seaman, at Wantagh, on Friday, charged by Walter R. Jones with stealing wood from his place. The justice sent Payne to the county jail for sixty days and imposed a fine of $25 additional. Brewster was fined $10.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.

Insisted Upon Going To Jail

New York, 1895

Pyles Accused Himself in Order to Spend Two Months in Prison.

John Pyles, a boy vagrant, was arraigned before Justice MacKenna at Whitestone on Friday by Police Captain Carll. The judge was about to impose the usual ten days' sentence when the lad objected.

"I'd like ter hev jes two months; no more en no less," he said.

Pyles then called the judge's attention to the fact that the last time he was in the village he had stolen $5 in money, a watch and chain, and other articles from Mrs. Charles McCall for whom he was working at that time.

He asked the court to send for Mrs. McCall and see if she would not make a charge against him. An officer was despatched to Mrs. McCall's house. She said it was true that Pyles had stolen the articles he named about a year ago, but she refused to make a charge against him.

When the judge heard this he said: "Well, Pyles, I charge you with the theft. Are you guilty or not guilty?"

"Guilty, yer Honor, guilty," shouted the lad.

"Sixty days in the county jail," said the judge. The lad left the court room with a smile of evident joy.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 12.

Easily Traced

1895

"Stealing a typewriter," said a man who looks after the rental department of a large eastern typewriter house, "is grand larceny and a state prison offense, yet this and the further fact that an immense number of these culprits have already been sent to penitentiaries in different states do not deter dozens of others every month from making like thefts. We have a standing list of from 100 to 200 typewriters that have been stolen from our branch offices and agents in various sections of the country. Every typewriter has its own number, which cannot be effaced, and whenever we hear that a machine is missing we immediately communicate its number to our representatives in this country and abroad, with instructions to seize the machine when found and to prosecute the person holding it. It is only a matter of time when any typewriter will need adjusting and repairing and will be taken to a repairer, and then the thief is easily apprehended. Thus we actually lose few or no machines." — Philadelphia Ledger.

A Dishonest Ticket Agent

New York, 1895

John H. Ferril, aged 21 years, residing at Rockaway Beach, and employed by the Long Island railroad company as ticket agent, was arrested on Monday by Detective Sarvis for stealing tickets from the office at Woodhaven Junction. Ferril was arraigned before Justice Hendrickson at Jamaica. He pleaded guilty to a charge of petit larceny and was sentenced to the county jail for 90 days.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 18, 1895, unknown page number.

Temptation

1895

"I shall never," says a New York woman active in philanthropic work, "carry my pocketbook in my hands in the street again. A recent experience has showed me its danger to others besides myself. I have been interested lately in a young man, a typical growth of the tenements, and have been trying to encourage him to lead a better life, with, I hope, some degree of success.

"A few days ago I met him on the street and stopped to ask how he was prospering. In my hand at the time I was holding my pocketbook, and from the moment that we met I saw his eyes fastened on that with a wolfish look that made me tremble. I did not dare put it in my pocket lest he should discover my distrust, and yet I felt that it was cruel to stand there with it flaunted in the face of his desperation.

"The interview was most trying. I asked him a few questions, to which he scarcely replied, so fascinated was he with the sight of the purse, and as soon as I could with ease I bade him good-by and walked on. As I did so he raised his eyes to mine with a conscious, hunted, yet baffled look, that told me as plainly as if he had said it that were I not I the result would have been different.

"When I turned the corner and was out of his sight, I stopped, weak and faint, to recover myself, and put that purse in my pocket with the vow that it or any other in my hands should never again offer temptation to a fellow creature." — New York Times.

Serves 55 Years As Convict

1920

So What's a Mere Sixty Days to Man With That Record?

Frank Hood, 78 years old, heard Judge Hugh R. Stewart of Chicago sentence him to sixty days in the house of correction and grinned.

"It's easy for me to take," he told the court. "I've done time in every big prison in the country. My total time behind the bars is fifty-five years. Sixty days is a cinch."

He was found guilty of stealing a suit of clothing.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Small Lads Confess Murder

1916

Brothers, Aged 11 and 12, Rob and Shoot a Teacher.

BOISE, Idaho. — Lynn and Harold Lovelace, brothers 11 and 12 years old, have confessed to authorities at Twin Falls, Idaho, that they murdered F. Thomas Hamill, a teacher from Carson, Nev., whose body was found at his ranch recently. The lads, first taken into custody as runaways, were found in possession of Hamill's horse and wagon, pocketbook, provisions and eight guns and a revolver. Both have admitted the killing, which occurred when Hamill surprised them robbing his cabin.

He ordered them away, but they retreated into the house and covered him with his own guns. He parleyed and asked for food, and after they came out Lynn stood guard over him while Harold entered the cabin to get him some bread. Hamill grabbed the younger boy, and Harold then shot him in the head.

The boys then left in the wagon and drove 120 miles over a trackless country in six days, camping out at night. They were headed for Lebanon, Oregon, where they say a grandfather lives. The elder boy is moody and shows no regret, but the younger cries now and then and says he is sorry.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Too Extravagant By Half

1901

The manner in which one defaulting cashier was detected was rather peculiar. It was all due to the curiosity of the women of his neighborhood. He went to no expense in the way of dressing, they never heard of his gambling or drinking to any extent, he was a model husband, but he loved a good table. There was nothing unusual in this, but one day when the ladies of the vicinity were discussing the best method of cooking meats the wife of the cashier declared very innocently that her husband doted on ham, but he would not eat it unless it had been boiled in champagne. "Boiled in champagne!" exclaimed the listeners. "Heavens, how expensive! We couldn't afford to have ham on our table often if we cooked it that way."

It was soon noised all around the neighborhood that Cashier Blank was a high liver indeed, and the men began telling of his uplifted ideas of cookery. This soon reached the ears of the directors of the bank, and they concluded it might be wise to investigate the accounts of such an epicure. Plain water was all they could afford for their hams, so the champagne lover was called up and subsequently relegated to the pen, where he had to forgo his pet dish for many, many weary days. — Louisville Times.


Human Nature

It is human nature to deride what we cannot possess, to deny what we cannot understand and to insult those we envy. — Chicago News.

Steal Gold Cargo

1919

Scrap Iron Is Found in Boxes Packed With $50,000.

SAN FRANCISCO, California — A box supposed to hold $25,000 in gold coin shipped by the Anglo and London Paris National Bank of San Francisco on the liner Korea Maru Aug. 2 was found to contain scrap iron and metal washers when opened by the consignee in Hong-Kong, according to advices received by the bank and steamship company.

The bank, acting as agent for a New York firm, packed two boxes, each containing $25,000 in gold and the correctness of the shipment was certified to by three trusted employes.

Both boxes were put in the strong room of the steamship, but only one of them arrived at its destination with gold in it.

Officials of the bank said they believed the substitution of scrap iron for the gold was either made on board the steamer or after the consignment reached Hong-Kong.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Takes Nails and Is Nailed

1919

Thief Leaves Fur Coat and Walks Away With Hardware.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Samuel Donovan of an unknown address aroused the interest of Patrolman John Manning. Donovan, the officer alleges, stepped up to an unoccupied automobile and caressingly fondled an expensive fur coat, which he subsequently put down and walked away.

Later, the officer says, he returned to the machine, took out a heavy bundle and started briskly along the street. He had gone but a short distance when the officer stopped him and, after a few questions, escorted him to the City Hall avenue station. When the bundle was opened it was found to contain about seventy-five pounds of ordinary nails. The Christmaslike wrappings on the bundle were evidently deceptive.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Bold Pirates Attack Ships Near Mexico

1920

Modern Red Rovers Recall Days of Captain Kidd — U. S. May Act to End Ravages

Buccaneers and pirates are swarming in the Pacific off the west coast of Mexico — freebooters in high leather boots, who swear terrible oaths and carry huge swords. Just as if they had stepped out of the pages of story books or had come to life again from the days of Captain Kidd, these marine highwaymen are waging their nefarious trade much as did the pirates of the old Spanish Main. From Mazatlan the Mexican government has dispatched a naval expedition equipped for two months' service and which it is hoped will be able to rout the outlaws.

From time to time into the ports on the Pacific coast of the United States, in the places where sailormen gather, there have come rumors of these bands of pirates. Mostly they have been put down to overindulgence in forbidden liquor or a desire to shine in the spotlight with wild and improbable tales. But now the discovery has been made that these pirates actually are infesting the seas and the stories that once were sneered at or dismissed with a pitying smile are avidly listened to.

Small Vessels Their Victims

In wild and almost inaccessible caves on the lonely islands off the Mexican coast these buccaneers have their hiding places. Tramp steamers, coastwise trading vessels and sailing ships with small crews are their victims. They appear at the break of dawn, sail boldly up to their prey, swarm over the sides, battle the crews and loot the ships. Then they sail away with their holds loaded with booty, to hide it in their caves until a favorable opportunity presents itself to smuggle the loot into the United States at some lonely point on the coast or into one of the less usually watched parts.

Who are these men and where do they come from? They do not seem to belong to any one nationality. Americans, Europeans, Mexicans, a Jap and a Chinese or two — these make up the motley crew of the pirate ships, according to J. C. Robinson, who recently arrived at San Francisco, Cal., with a thrilling tale of his capture and his adventures at the hiding place of the gang.

Pirates Overcame Crew

"They took me off the sailing ship Marie Penman," says Robinson. "I had stood my watch and was in my bunk in the forecastle. I learned afterward there had been a battle on deck and that the pirates had overcome the crew, but I was so tired I didn't hear any of the noise of the scuffle. The first I knew was when I was roughly shaken and awoke to find a pirate holding me by the shoulder. I rubbed my eyes and believed that I was dreaming, because he looked just like the pirates of whom I had read in my boyhood days. But I quickly saw that it was no dream, for I was jerked to my feet and ordered on deck.

"There the pirate chief, a big, black-mustached man who wore big boots to above his knees, carried a huge cutlass and swore the most blood-curdling oaths, put me to work helping transfer some of our cargo to the pirate ship. I was frightened and I worked hard, and when the pirates left they took me with them. Why I do not know.

"A day or two later we made port in a lonely island. I haven't the least idea where it was. The pirate ship just sailed straight toward it, and just when I was beginning to think that we were going to bump square into a huge cliff an opening appeared and our ship twisted through it into a little bay. Back in the edge of the hills, a half mile from the sandy shore where we landed the cargo, there was quite a settlement of these pirates. Evidently the ship which had attacked the Marie Penman was only one of several pirate vessels.

U. S. May Take Action

"They didn't pay much attention to me — just let me run around and do what I wanted to. I heard a lot of their plans, ate with them, slept with them and it seemed they had forgotten I did not belong to the band. When the chief who had captured me sailed away the next time he took me along. We raided a small schooner, and when the pirate ship was leaving I managed to remain aboard the schooner, upon which I worked my way back to a port in Lower California, from which I worked my way to Frisco." Robinson has been asked to tell his story to Navy officials, who say that if such a pirate nest exists the United States may take a hand in helping to wipe it out.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1900, p. 1.

Thieves' Smooth Trick

1909

WILKES BARRE, Pa., Oct. 6. — All records for impudent thefts were broken at Bloomsburg this week, when a furnace, with all its flues and attachments, was stolen bodily from the home of C. C. Barger. The thieves, John James, of Mausdale, and Joseph Kelly, of Danville, who were arrested today, admitted their guilt and were held under $500 bail by Justice Jacoby.

They learned that the Jeremiah Fowler estate, which owns the Barger house, was to place a new furnace in it, and Wednesday went to the house, said they had been sent to take out the old furnace, carted it away in a wagon they hired and sold it to a junk man. So plausible was the whole affair that not until yesterday was it discovered that the furnace had been stolen.


Bluffed By A Corncob

EVANSVILLE, Ind., Oct. 6. — Earl Sappenfield, an escaped lunatic, held policemen and detectives at bay for ten minutes with a small corncob covered with a handkerchief. The officers thought he had a pistol.


Howard Nesbit Convicted

Sentenced to Sixty Days, but Gives Bond for Appeal

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 6. — Howard Nesbit, brother of Mrs. Evelyn Thaw, received a sentence of sixty days in jail here. He pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempting to obtain money under false pretenses, and City Attorney Hoyt produced evidence to show that young Nesbit offered for sale at a pawnbroker's shop here a white sapphire ring for which he tried to procure $35. It was worth about $3, according to Jeweler F. I. Glouskin, from whom Nesbit tried to get the money.

Nesbit appealed the decision, but was taken to jail. Bail was fixed at $200, and J. F. Francis, who says that he is a New York City banker, arrived just after Nesbit's trial took place. He offered bond money and Nesbit was released.


This Is The Only Way

Do not reason with a conceited man; flatter him.

Kleptomania

1878

Kleptomania, which has long been recognised by the medical, is not recognised by the legal profession.

We boast of our advancement in physiology, psychology, and humanitarianism; yet when a lady of otherwise blameless life suddenly taken to pilfering mutton chops, children's boots, jewellery, or anything else upon which she can lay hands, we throw our philosophy and our humanity to the winds, we brand her as a thief, and, regardless of the fearful consequences to herself, her husband, and her children, we throw her into gaol, and utterly ruin the happiness of her and hers for life.

The doctors may be called to prove that she is nervous or excitable, that she has been very ill in time past, and has been obliged to take remedies which have more or less affected her power of control: but all is useless. The evidence is clear, she took the goods, she even secreted them. Her actions have all the appearance of deliberate fraud, and yet her whole conduct from first to last may have been due to physical disorganisation by which her power of self-control has become impaired, leaving her at the mercy of her morbid impulses.

But how can she be acquitted, while poorer women, no more or less guilty, are sent to gaol by the score: so to gaol she goes, although the more thoughtful among judges, magistrates, doctors, and jury feel the hideous cruelty of the proceeding; feel that she should be treated as a patient, and not as a criminal; and that there should be, both for her and her poorer sisters in like circumstances, a loophole of escape which does not, but which might exist, and that the infliction of a fine, or of an order of restitution, or discharge upon recognisances to come up for judgment if called upon, would be a more fitting punishment than the cruel one of imprisonment.

Such imprisonments are the more to be reprehended as they are utterly useless. The imprisonment of one kleptomanic will not deter another from pilfering, for the simple reason that in such cases the power of self-control is more or less absent. A conclusive proof of this exists in the fact that in many each cases on record, the moment the prisoner is released, keenly as she has felt her disgrace and degradation, she commences to pilfer again.

—Journal of Psychological Medicine and Medical Pathology, Winslow, Lyttleton Forbes, 1878, p. 172.

Should Mothers of War-Dead Be Sent To France?

1920

A Suggestion

Why shouldn't the Government give the next of kin — or mothers, at least — of American boys buried in France, asks the Stars and Stripes, a soldier's newspaper, the alternative of having the bodies returned or of visiting the graves?

The Government has pledged itself to bring back all bodies asked for by the next of kin. It will cost no more — probably less — to take a mother to France than to return the body of her son.

Many mothers are not so anxious to have the bodies returned as they are to have some visual evidence that their sons are buried in proper surroundings. In recognition of this desire the Red Cross has taken pictures of graves, to be sent to the mothers.

Wouldn't it be a graceful and grateful act on the part of the Government, for whom these mothers have made the supreme sacrifice of womanhood, to take them to the spot where their boys are sleeping beneath the little white crosses?


None Too Much

Down in Connecticut, says the Boston Post, the courts seem determined to do what they can to end the pernicious activities of the automobile thieves who flourish there as everywhere else. As earnest of this intent, one Walters, the recognized leader of a gang of accomplished snatchers of motor cars who have stolen $30,000 worth of the machines within a short time, was given a sentence of twenty-three years and nine months in prison. An accomplice drew fourteen years. The first mentioned is said to be a record sentence in Connecticut for this particular offense.

It is a record that should be emulated by other courts.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Feb. 28, 1920, p. 6.