The Ogden standard. [volume], January 07, 1920, LAST EDITION - 4 P.M., Image 10

About The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1913-1920

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
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1 Startling Experience Near Fashionable Riverside j If
Drive, New York, When a Pair of Hands Stretched ' 'J&i24 : fen !i
j?EEP in that chair and sit still!"
- x The mossengor boy had turned
over his bundle with two fur
.coats in it to the young man who was to
Hr pay the $535 C. 0. D. charges.
Instead of drawing a wallet from his
' pocket the man brought a pistol to the
H: level of. the boy's head. At the same in-
staut the sliding door of. the closet opened
Hl behind the boy. A pair of hands reached
forth from the closet holding a towel sat
urated with ether. Firmly the hands
pressed the cloth over the boy's face he
H' sank into unconsciousness.
H It was a tragic moment in the very
quiet, humdrum life of young Nathaniel
Rosenblum, a clerk and messenger boy in
Brill Brothers, Broadway nnd Forty-ninth
' street, clothing store. Nathaniel had seen
Just 3Uch things in the "movies," but he
never dreamed that he himself would bo
the central figure of a real-life hold-up by
two desperate thieves.
It happened on a Friday morning a few
days before Christmas. Just at 10 o'clock
B Mrs. Jennie Tallman, who operates an at-
B tractive looking rooming house on fash-
B ionablo West End avenue No. 507, near
B Eighty-fourth street received a' call from
HI two well-dressed, gentlemanly looking
B applicants for a room that she had vacant.
B Mrs. Tallman had advertised her room and
B was very mn'.h pleased that such nice-
B appearing -pen should bo the first to con-
B'- , sider it. One of her visitors carried a
B , prospered looking black patent leather
B suit case and the other a smart cane -and
B a lawyer's brief bag. They walked with
B '"TMrs. Tallman up the two flights to the
B vabnt apartmenta rear one and after
B looking it over most carefully decided that
B it woulddo. They paid her the first week's
B rent, assuring her that only one would oc-
B cupy thei apartment Their names, 'thoy
B caid, we:rc Messrs. Duplesses and Snider,
B and they gave a plain Impression that they
B wanted Che quarters for some important
B conferences dealing with a law suit of con-
alderable magnitude,
j Half an hcuir'later these same two men
j -walked into "Brill Brothers' big store, on
the corner o;f Broadway and Forty-ninth
j street, and beqame interested in Uie firm's
j best fur coats. There had been just time
enougli for theuj to leave 'Mrs. Tallnian's
1 apartment house take the subway at
Eighty-sixth street, get off at the Fiftieth
street subway statin, and arrive at Brills'.
The two customers were extremely fas
Mdlous. They tne'd on a number of coats
md finally selected one apiece. Tho
prices of the garments were $350 and $1S5,
Hj ' making a purchase of $535 in all.
j Tho salesmen wei-e pleased. Their cus-
tomers were pleasdd but the latter re
gretted that they bad not brought with
them sufficient iundis to pay for the coats.
Could not the garments, be delivered at
their home that at
ternoon between ,-3
Hj and 3 o'clock? They 4&&
would pay a small
deposit as a guar- j?-
antee or good' faith, $
say. $15. Why, of
course, this .could be '-
done. Where did
they live? 'Whv, at ' "
No. 507 West ?Tid a i
avenue. The loca- B,,
tion of tho houso flfi
was in itself almost A AM
a guarantqe that the f
transaction was en- ffiiKS
tirely a bona fide Ygji
one. Messrs. Dttples- MM
sies and Snider $
should have their
purchases at exactly H
the time they want- " vjgt
ed them, Messrs.
Duplessies and Sni- .
der paid their $15 in . W
B a careless sort of-
B fashion and left the 'fi
B store. sTCf
B .The customers
had been most pol- X tM
ished and urbane. ' Hj
Thcro wa3 not tho . -r SB
B slightest suspiclou ' " dMR,
of them or their 'sJm
B motives, hut ths t S&ftM
B manager of ' 'Kfm
j Brother.-., .-everthe- , -.3
less, instead of jftMtf
B sending an ordinary jijsgBi
messenger, decided hWsf
B to pick' out a- more i&m
responsible person
to deliver the goods i
on which such o WsSjajg
considernblo amount JvuMf
of money still had F$mfc
to be collected. He
therefore summoned
B his assistant ship- M&P$
B ping clork, Nathan-
lei J. Rosenblum, faSMtfe
M who is nineteen ji&S&p
years old, thorough- 2feay
ly trustworthy, am- !3IE
Mtious. and a stil Nathaniel J. Ro.cnb
dent outside work u ...
lng hours at! the e thlcvo trap and
New York University Law School.
"Do. not accept any checks, Nat," -he
paid, "and don't let the coats out of your
sight for a moment."
These were simply the usual instruc
. tlons in such cases. The manager' wont
back to his duties convinced as whv
should he not have been? that in the
hands of a. thoroughly trustworthy mes
scnger and under such Instructions tho
coals wcro safe from any accident.
Young Rosenblum dep'arted with tho
1 I7 VI u
"$535 to collect, V
C. O. D.," they j
said to young Na- ffT 1
thanicl, as ho packed
up the fur coats and c
started uptown. Si
packag-es, arriving at iPf
the West End avc- , j j
nue address at ten
minutes after two g'ye3f the gentl
o'clock. Mrs. Tall- jn tho third flo
man, who was just 8aid Mrs. Tallman,
about to go out on a lady, looking at the
shopping trip, an
swered his ring, and when ho asked for
Messrs. Duplesses and Snider, told him that
the gentlemen were in their room on the
third floor rear, and to go right up. As ho
reached the door the shorter of the two
Snider, he had named himself to the land
ladymot him, ushered him into the apart
ment and told him to oit down while he
examined tho coats.
At one side of the room was ? wide
closet, its door closed. Just in front of it
stood a very comfortable looking easy
chair. It was the kind of a chair that In
stinctively one picks out to sit upon and
that causes a decided feeling of dislike
for the person who beats one to its cozi
ness. There were no other chalcs around
it in fact, nothiug to distract, the eye
from Its Inviting arms. Young 3senblum
did not think at the moment that this iso
lation was curious. Why should he have?
Promptly. he walked over to it and seated
himself. "Mr. Snider" had already put
the packages on the bed and had removed
their contents
"These are all right." he said. "Really
splondid value. By the way, how much
is the balance?"
"Five hundred and twenty dollars,"
answered the messenger, consulting the
bill ho held.
"Mr. Snider" dropped his hand fnjo his
right coat pocket; young Mr. Rosenblum
prepared to receipt
the bill after he had
Tfegv counted the money
W?k tbat 1C felt sure
i - that hand was about
?$k"t to draw out.
Then his heart
r Jumped .quickly, for
Kftf instead of money he
fferaltefc found himself Jook-
''3" lne 5"to tne Dlack
barrel of a capable
W&Z ziwb automatic u'lstol!
ivSw& And as ne stared at
11 "Mr" Snider"
pjlEa stepped close to
him and sturk the
i barrel close to his
tnat' chair and sit
s6sPpiiiifi stl11 aml cl not
twiiffi Hl open your mout"-"
TKflfKslHty snid tliG ninn v,'iLn
wt$aMBl thc i)isto1- "If -vou
fwPf 7n3P" don't I'll blow a
mMSMBski bole through you.
Sgr,JBK Remember, this is
RREJw Rosenblum was
Bw9k w(S very surc 5t was no
Tfcti& a SipS joke! He obeyed
SL fJSs Instructions H e
BySSLfaigj heard a noise be-
ft Uf hi-d him llke lhat
v '"jisSsi? of a door uemff
' m aside. There came
a faint hospital
SQSjCT smoll. Tho hands
ffiJjpStj holding a white
towel dropped past
"was pressed to his
moutli and nostrils.
Fsaf&jj' He Inhaled the reok
F&S of ether. The towel
was saturated with
cloth was tied be-
IsSm h!nd his 'earr- Who
Vj&if was operating bc-
h'md him the mes
songer could not
see.
ilum, who fell into But he could seo
nearly lot hi life. "Mr- Snider." gun
held firmly and
menacing him! There came a buzzing in
Rosenblum's ears. His muscles bagen to
relax, his head to sag.
Through his numbing brain floated
strange thoughts. It must be a nightmare
that he was undergoing! Surelv this
could not be reality thl3 melodramatic
situation that was like things he had seen
at the movies. It was absurd that such a
thing should happen in broad daylight and
in a fashionable house in one of thc most
fashjonable and best policed sections of
i mum u kj&usvi u
wred His Face i
an Ether-Soi
jLyi Towel
5RfL
M Mm
packacc.
"By the way," said the man
roomj "how much i the ba
the city. That must be it he was in a
nightmaro and his dream was a reflection
of some 'motion picture that-he had seen!
He struggled to awaken.
He half opened his heavy eyes. The
man with the ,gun seemed to be terribly
little and far away, as though he were
looking at him through the large end of
an opera glass. There seemed to be a
green light all about him. Through the
noisG in his ears he heard the far-away
figure say:
"Aro, you asleep?"
Then the shape seemed to lift, his chin
up and lei it fall back. The buzzing -in
his ears grew into a rush of many waters.
He felt himsc-lf being lifted up and carried
away on the bread of the flood. Then he
dipped under it lKo unconsciousness.
He had been lifted but not by any
flood. When, after a few minutes, con
sciousness began to struggle back, he
found himself in a closed closet. The
fumes of the ether were heavy within It.
He tore away the cloth from his nose and
writhed against the closed door. It slid
away a fraction of an inch and he found
strength to push back the sliding panel
and creep out Into thc room. The man
with the gun had disappeared.
And so had thc two fur coats!
Rosenblum crept down the stairs, meet
ing no one, and into a tearoom on the
basement floor, which Is run by Miss Mar
jorle Holton, a friend of Mrs. Tallman's.
He was still stupefied and almost inco
herent from thc effects of the drug, but
he managed to tell tho essential facts of
his Identity and what had happened to
him. Miss Holton sent for Mrs. Tallman,
but she had left the house some minutes
before, thus probably escaping'by the nar
rowest margin encounter and deadly
peril at the hands of the two thieves. For
they had taken with them suitcases, law
yer's brief case and cane, as well as tho
two coats, and It Is a certainty that their
going so laden would have aroused her
suspicion and. led to questions. That the
pair who had proven by their treatment
of tho messenger that they had little regard-
for human life would undoubtedly
have had no compunction in silencing her
immediately is certain.
What had happened was, in fact, an ex
traordinarily dramatic, daring and wickedly
clever bit of active criminality. The thieves
had picked out Mrs. Tallman's house be
cause of its unimpeachable, character and
the exclusivcness of thc section in which
it is. The address would at once g far t0
disarm any probable suspicion which they
might encounter during the further work
ing out of their plan. They had manipu
lated the equipment of the room with sin
ister intelligence. Tho closet had served
as a perfect hiding place for thc confed
erate with the ether.
Thc comfortable chair had been placed
Just In front of it and the rest of the furni
ture in the room arranged eo that the ot
tention of one entering would at once be
focused upon the chair. The thieves had
been fully cognizant of the value of the
susgestlon. Gamblers use this same expedi
ent in "forcing" cards upon their dupeB by
subtly malcinr such cards "stand out" a
little from the rest of the pack.
They were familiar with tho use of ether;
lifting up of the relaxed chin of the person
(Q 1020. Interna tloeal Feature SerTlcc, Inc.
In the rear W&W C ' $1 fa" KMS&yu'1 ,: ,
J) "Now it still!'
under the anaos- drew a pistol fi
thctic and the let- Nathaniel's head, j
ting It drop, is a door of the closet op
hospital test to hands roachod forth
see whether thc saturated with ether
drug has actually cloth over the boy's
taken effect. ness.
The placing of
the young man's body In the closet
.showed that they did not scruple to step
short of murder, for in that confined
space, with the fumes about him, it was
by merest chance that Rosenblum did not
sink into a coma from which he could not
bo revived.
At the risk of murder then, and the ex
penditure of about ?30, the two thieves had
gotten coats valued "at $500 more than their
financial outlay.
But before a representative of Brill
Brothers, telephoned to by Miss Holton,
could arrive another extremely curious
thing occurred. An ambulance from the
Knickerbocker Hospital drew up at the
door of the West End avenue house. Out
of It Jumped a doctor and a patrolman.
"We had a telephone messago to send
an ambulance to this house," said the
doctor, "by somebody who said that a man
had been drugged .here."
"Somebody has been drugged but no
one here sent any message," said Miss
Holton, in amazement.
It then turned out that at 2:35 less than
ten minutes after Rosenblum's body had
been thrust Into the closet Police Head
quarters had gotten the telephone call de- i
scribed. The sender would give no name,
but gavo the telephone number as Academy
264C. This number is that of a residence
on One Hundred and Third street, from i
which, of course," no call had been sent and 5
whose occupants knew nothing whatever j
of the West End affair. What had hap- i
pened, however, was that one of thu (
thievqs, fearing to turn the case of rob- f
bery into one of murder, had boldly called f
up the Police Department and sent in the I
call to aid the young man he had mal- 1
treated. j
Description of the two thieves made by v
tho salesman who sold the coats; by Mrs.
Tallman, and tho -description of the smaller n
of the two by Rosenblum. the messenger, o
all agree. Duplesses. who looked like a a
Frenchman of excellent breeding and
spoke with a decided accent, Is described o
as follows: Five feet nine and a half c
inches tall; slneder, with a black stubby b
mustache; dark complexion and hair. On g
the day of the robbery he wore dark tl
clothes and a dark velour hat of tho alpine b
variety. Ho was quick and nervous In it
his actions and seemed to bo of tho danc- ti
ing type. k
Snider was apparently of German origin. M
He was 'short, being about five feet six m
Grcit Britain KlchU Reserved.
' said the man, as ho suddenly f""""
rom his pocket and pointed it at
t thc same moment the sliding 'jf'
lened behind the boy. A pair
from the closet holding: a towel "-
-. Firmly the hands pressed tho t
face he sank into unconscious- yirfvpSsH
Inches in height, light hair, fyf5 i
clean shaven, blue- eyes, fS
rather florid complexion, ap- 'i$"'f
parently about twenty-eight Sffc$i
years old, neat and well $1$W
dressed and 'weighed about W?fr
135 pounds. He wore a dark tJfe
brown suit, dark overcoat
and hat on the day of the 'tr
robbery, and carried a light
colored cane and a black
lawyer's brief bag. 'Mk
Rosenblum, the shipping 'WWW
clerk, is above any suspicion. jft!
He has been In-the firm's JJ5
employ for three years and vt
holds a responsible position TTf
for one of his age. Besides, b'fi
as has been said, he is a fi'uF
studious and ambitious buy ffi fjj 2? J
and in the afternoons at- iJi
tends lectures and classes at -jt' - -the
New York University
Law School. SJ?ate!
Again, it would be almost i "
Impossible for any one to m
enter Into any plan with an Z. ;
employee of the store, for "t??8
there are a number of boys , -.
wb3 aro sent out from tlmo 'k&bv'
to timo to make C. O. D. de- &2$kiL
liveries of goods, and nny
ane of the number mav be ru u r
jssigncd. Thus, no one de- , hUse' f
livery clerk knows in ad
vance where he may be sent, in this in- h
stance Rosenblum was taken from his reg- th
:lar duties and sent to make the dellverv et
.ecause of the amount of money Involved w
nd li s reputation for responsibility and in
irefulness.
Descriptions of the pair have been sent te
c other cities, for it Is believed that the li
iame tnck will be tried again at some of
lolnt distant from New York. Tho
nonths of December and Januarv const!- fir
ute the open season for forgors. shop- mi
ifters and gentlemen crooks of the type va
i'ho victimized Brill Brothers.
Their operations are made easier anri rns
lore likely of success through the press off
f business attending the holiday season ns
nd shortly thereafter. B'r
It would seem that tho criminals now hu
pcratlng in New York and other largo ini
ities have determined that thoy stand es(
etter chance of getting away with the wa
oods oy ossaying tho unexpected and tbt
ic apparently impossible. It was tho Th
oldness of the fur coat robbery that mado lan
successful. In the same way the en- the
rely amazing robbery at tho Hotel hai
nlckcrbocker, at Forty-second street and h
roadway, recently had thc same elo- opt
lents of surprise Here two Spaniards the
fo. 507 West End avenue, near Eighty- M&T
fourth street. HISS
Idly registered at this hotel, right !n fllfel
? dJ'iTh0' NeW York"s mos' crowd. m&
Lf in I,' Were assiSed a room, JriRS?
o!:-ng0abourd SPent aU b0Ur
valuabies! and-loot them fejr
After this they calmly walked down a 'fifiv
SS?fi " plain, viow of thousands? and . iS?-n
Sihcd. ay nt0 the b,,stlInff thron pr
Quite naturally the guests who were so ' iW
Utreated by these- two miscreants were I f '
their guard in the Knickerbocker. Jiist &"'B
in the case of the messenger from fe
Hi's they felt entirely secure in th?3 i -'&a
111 je same way, no one see! i i-S5&
two men coming leisurely -down a fir f
iapc at Forty-second street and Broad. f fST
y in full daylight would even think tha ' I 1
sy did not have a right to bo doing Sis
o traditional burglar Is one with a dark S!
itoru, a mask and a jimmy, skulking in i
shadows it seems that people ill" feS
o to sot rid of this visualization of h dm r5H
fhe up-to-date burglar has learned to 5
irate in full publicly with the aid of
Important elemenrof- surprise. I ,