Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 189, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1914 — THE BURGLAR’S TIP [ARTICLE]

THE BURGLAR’S TIP

By FLOYD F. LONERGAN.

William Dennison, in bathrobe and slippers, was sitting in his cosily furnished room, very intently conning over his favorite evening paper. Suddenly he saw an item that, bad he mentally classified it, he would have placed with “Business Opportunities.” Mr. Dennison was a burglar, but if he and BUI Sykes had met, Sykes would probably have tried to rob him. Dennison did not look like a burglar. Mild-mannered In appearance, unobtrusively dressed, he occupied a room in a modest-priced bachelor apartment house, and was one of the best tenants, prompt in paying his bills, and quiet in his habits. The article that had attracted his attention read as follows: “SHE ROBBED HERSELF. "Mrs. Jessie Corbett of No. 4099 West Eighty-seventh street, ‘heroine’ of the sensational burglary that created excitement a few days ago, has admitted to the police that she robbed herself. “With tears running down her cheeks, she told Detective Graney today that haying lost a large sum at bridge, she &as afraid to tell her husband, although honor compelled her to pay her gambling debts. “Accordingly, she pawned her jewelry and settled with her creditors. A few days later she was found in her apartments, bound and gagged. “It now develops that her maid, because of a handsome cash bonus, had agreed to be her accomplice, tied her with ropes, and then, returning from ‘market,’ had given the alarm that kept the entire detective force busy day and night This girl finally broke down, after a vigorous ‘third degree,’ and her admissions to Detective Graney, used with effect have drawn a confession from the ‘victim.’ “Contrary to what most husbands would have done, Mr. Corbett has for-, given his wife, and has even gone so far as to take her jewels out of pawn and return them to her. The collection of gems Is valued at $3,500; but, despite their value, the wife has always kept them in a bureau drawer, which has the flimsiest kind of a lock. Mr. and Mrs.' Corbett live alone in t their apartment, except for the maid, Mary Andrews.”

“Everybody should read the newspapers,” he said, addressing a watercolor on the opposite side of the roof. “They are worth their weight in gold to a business man.** Two days later when Mary Andrews returned to the Corbett apartment after a trip downtown, she saw something that serft her bounding to the telephone. “Police headquarters!” she cried. Then, after an interval: “Give me Inspector Reilly. . Oh, is that you, inspector? This is Mary Andrews. She has done It again.” “Who?” she repeated. “Why, Mrs. Corbett. Don’t you remember how she robbed herself? Well, she’s bound and gagged now, just as she was before. This time, however, I didn’t have a thing to do with it. I swear it. Your detectives scared me to death before, and I mean to be honest in the future. “No, I haven’t cut her loose, and I don’t mean to. Send your men around here. It’s none of my business, and I am sick of the. whole affair.” Half an hour later two disgusted detectives strolled into the Carlin flat. “I’ve been helpless this way for. nearly three hours,” she said, when finally revived. “And this girl would not do anything except glare at me. She has no heart. Mary, you are discharged.” Mrs. Corbett looked in vain for sympathy. “Why did you do it?” asked Garrity, the senior in point of service. “We have lots to do Without bothering about your foolish stunts. It is a shame to take up our time in this way.” “But I was actually robbed,” protested Mrs. Corbett, as she wept profusely. “Really—truly—honest.” “Well, what was it now?” questioned Garrity. “A book agent, like the last time?” “No, sir," said the woman. “He was the curate of St. Paul’s chapel. At least, he said he was.” “Did he want you to join the choir?’’ sarcastically queried the elder detective. •- “He had a letter of Introduction from Bishop Sigden,” was the frigid response. “The bishop and his nephew are great friends of my husband, although I have never met either of them. Mr. Sanders, that is the name the curate gave, wanted to arouse my interest in tenement-house reform.’’ “He —what?" gasped Garrity. “Of course, I told him that I was not one bit Interested, and then he requested permission to use the telephone. 1 * “Who did he call up?” "He rang up some butcher shop, and ordered a four-pound steak sent to his “What next?" “He remarked that as ft Was rainpobkpt, bound and gagged me, and left me as you found me. While I was helpless, he ransacked the bureau, and mv mnnSv aiid IWWBtTV”

“Just like the book agent who called on you the last time. Did he tell you it would be fine weather tomorrow?” • 2 "He certainly did,” eaid Mrs. Corbett, 'in surprise. “And added that Central park was beginning to look beautiful, and that he hoped to meet me on the Mall some pleasant afterboon. I did‘not say anything, because I was gagged.” “Well, I am not gagged!” shouted the enraged detective, “and I do not believe one word of your ridiculous yarn. No burglar would act the way you say this man did. Would he, Kelly?” Kelly, thus appealed to, Indicated that he agreed with his partner. “If you had any sense, you’d know that you couldn’t pull off a stunt like this twice in two weeks,” Garrity .continued, severely. “You had to steal the same old jewels in the same old way, and you thought you could cover it up with a brand-new story. Well, you cannot fool us. Go and see the pawnbrokers yourself. Good-day." And the two detectives stalked out of the hotrsK When Mr. Corbett came home, he also expressed his doubts. Being possessed of political influence, he was able to keep the story out of the newspapers. “Jessie,” he said to his weeping wife, “don’t do any foolish stunt like this again. When you want money, come to me. But if I were you, I should drop bridge. “Understand this, I cannot-and will not permit any more fobberles. They are too severe a strain, both mentally and financially. As a punishment, I will leave your jewelry in the pawn shop. Please, please drop romances, and be a sensible little girl.” And Mrs. Corbett, who by this time had almost wept herself into a belief that she was the culprit, promised to behave In the future. in a modest room In a bachelor« apartment house, William Dennison was smoking his after-dinner cigar. He limited himself to three a day. “A pretty good afternoon’s work,” he mused, “even though the jewelry was not valued as stated. Forty-five dollars in cash, and $1,600 dollars for the diamonds, will keep me in modest comfort for some time. “Poor little woman!” he continued “Still, I honestly believe she will learn that truthfulness always pays in the end. “Look at her position. Even should she meet me on the street, she dare not have me arrested, for nobody would believe her. Nobody would believe anything she mljit say on any subject. Well, in, time she may live down her bad reputation. I hope so.” He picked up a newspaper, paused a moment, then threw It down again. “No more business for several weeks,” he said. “I will now enjoy myself.” And he settled down on the couch for a comfortable “reading” evening. (Copyright.)