Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1902 — A NATURAL BORN THIEF. [ARTICLE]

A NATURAL BORN THIEF.

Former Chief of Police Thoftias Byrnes, walking down Broadway a flew months ago with a friend,said: “See that man over there ? Well, he is a natural born thief. * I do not mean to intimate that he is a professional crook, but that he could not withstand the temptation to steal. He would steal just for the excitement." Now, it chanced—one of those strange coincidences that so often occur—that this man came to board in the same house where Mr. Byrnes’ friend was. He recognized him when he made his appearance at the dinner table, but naturally hesitated to communicate what Mr, Byrnes had said to his fellow’ lodgers. The young man posed as the son of a wealthy manuiacturer in a New England town who was here attending a postgraduate course in medicine. Polite and affable, though reserved, he soon ingratiated bimself into the good graces of all in the house and had the run of their rooms. One morning he was missing, and it was discovered that there had been a wholesale robbery of the jewelry of all in the house.— New York Times.