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|\Z| I MRS STUYVESANT FISH Silver plate and dia- Z "Z,<V, t ■ WO
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CAPTAIN KIDD a - I
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MRS. STEWART BARNEY Diamond brooch 30,000 aT
/ -w T W"M YC7 T T* \ dflt / MRS WILLIE K VANDERBILT--String of pea-H. 50.000
/ |k| I 11/ 11/ A Igr I ■• V - MRS HENRY REDMOND Emerald bracelet 50,C->
/ |V| L %n/ I I IIV | \Jr JH Iffil MRS. HtNKY BAR ION JACOB' Rubv pendant 200.000
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“This modem ‘Miss Captain BBk |: '
Kidd, first lady of the gang, must use a motor boat, she covers so *— -»< ■* ) -—. '
much ground—or water—in a single night.** f\\' *X. 7- ] ckTER-l^’• .... z*WWIL x s
How a Daring Band of Motor ' " IMOb
Boat Pirates Recruited from ■ j
> a > > - Richard Stevens, who it
r asnionaole Society’s Own Ranks s / Kidd’s” up-to-date industry.
Are Looting the Unprotected
Shores of the Summer Colony
SOCIETY motor boat pirates,
captained by a woman, are the
latest enemies of the rich.
Newport, supposedly impregnable,
is suffering from a series of very
peculiar robberies. Women whose
jewels are guarded as zealously as
those of a queen are the unhappy
victims. They do not lose the.r
jewels in the old way; fasuiuu
changes even In burglary.
Formerly a woman lost her dia
monds or pearls while dancing or
flirting with some fascinating
stranger. This man. In reality an
enterprising thief, would attend a
dance or a reception, become ac
quainted with a be-jeweled woman,
dance or flirt with her and incident
ally relieve her of as many gems as
he dared. But this is out of date.
Kaffleses were becoming too com
mon, the method was growing dan
gerous. Something new was needed,
some daring departure had to be
made.
Newport is therefore the practice
ground of the most modern thieves,
thieves whose cunning is more dan
gerous than that of their pred
ecessors, for they do not scruple
. to use the latest modern inventions.
And at the head of all the trouble is
a woman. Newporters will have to
"find the woman” before they can
stamp out the burglaries!
Newport has always guarded its
houses and gardens very carefully,
unless a person entering the grounds
is Known he is made tv get out at
once. Therefore the present situa
tion is all the moie staggering to
the police.
Houses whose grounds are
patrolled bj watchmen from sunset
to sunrise, whose entrance gates
are securely barred have been en
tered, priceless jewels and plate
have been taken and not the slight
est clue left. Not a foot print, not
a finger mark points to the bold
pirates. Not a fold of a curtain iu
changed, and certainly no one his
passed the watchman at the gates.
These men say they hear nothing,
see nothing- But the jewels are
gone Some one has taken them.
Ostensibly Hie work of ghosts, but
in reality the work of the cleverest
gang of clever thieves; the work of
a woman!
When these robberies were first
reported to the police it was decided
that the thieves got away in a motor
car. They made such quick get
aways Extra watchmen were sta
tioned on Bellevue avenue and
streets touching that shaded bigjj
road.
One night eight rubber-heeled im .
ported sl-’iiths guarded a certain
handsome mansion on the cliffs near
Narragansett avenue That night he
house was entered and jewels
valued at half a million dollars, it
was whispered, were taken. The
sleuths and the men servants swore
that no on. entered the grounds
How could they" The grounds
are surrounded by an iron fence
twelve feet high Th. gates were
kicked. The only unguarded aide
was the ocean side, and the cliifa
here are nearly two hundred feet
high.
How did the pirate get away? A
maid servant peeking from her win
dow' just before dawn saw a shadow
slink behind some shrubs. She
thought it was one of the sleuths.
A few minutes later she heard the
muffled chug-chug of a motor boat,
and almost instantly a long shadow
cut through the water just off shore.
The sleuths also saw and heard.
Said one to another: "There goes
an early lobster man. That's a good
boat he has."
The next morning the detectives
saw a great light. "The robbers are
pirates,” they cried, "they use a
motor boat.”
They surely do use a motor boat.
No old fogey automobile for this
modern Miss Captain Kidd, the First
Lady of the Gang. They must have
a boat, they cover so much ground,
or, at least, so much water, in one
night. They have appeared in
Jamestown, across the bay from
Newport, where many very wealthy
Philadelphians have Summer
homes. They have looted places at
Narragansett Pier, which is less
than an hour's sail down the bay.
It is a physical impossibility to gj
from one of these places to another
at night in anything but a boat, and
the boat must boos the swiftest
kind. So the private detectives en
gaged by the wealthy cottagers are
looking for a large and handsome
hydroplane.
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Mrs. Oliver
Harriman, who
* $> mourns a S2O,-
000 vanity and
x cigarette case.
Mrs. Lewis Iselin, another Newport victim ot Miss
Caotain Kidd.”
Great secrecy is being
preserved, many of the
cottagers who have lost
their most valuable jewels
will not admit the theft,
they do no Hike notoriety.
The detectives believe ®
they are on the right track ||
and are keeping very stili
until they have their via
tint under arrest.
But Newport knows k
more than the detectives
realize! :.ns. Stuyvesant
Fish arrived in Newport
the first of July. Cross
ways had been closed for
three years. It is'one of
the show places on the
Ocean Drive. The day
Mrs. Fish arrived she sent
out cards for a large din
ner. It was tc be a very
elaborate affair. Sudden
ly Mrs. Fish postponed ths
dinner, giving a curious
excuse.
"The key of the
silver vault has
been lost and we
cannot open it.
Mis. Fish said over
the telephone to
some friends. HI ; NW
This naturally
caused a good deal BW: H
of gossip, it was so Kj ■
odd. Then a HE -
strange tale was H
whispered in the H| W
colony. The plat? HE H
~ had been stolen.
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tO Mrs. Adrian Iselin, upon whom “Miss Captain Kidd” levied a
pearl necklace valued at $50,000.
Crossways had been entered the •
night after the family’s arrival and
the silver and much jewelry taken
This astonishing story flew about
■ Newport in quick irder. The pirates
had run their speedy noiseless boat
in under the rocks at Bailey’s Beach
and attacked Crossways from the
watershed. Their boat had be n
seen but mistaken for a fishing
craft.
Some one has commented ot? the
few jewels that are being worn this
Summer by the matrons whose
jewel collections are famous. Those
whose jewels have not been stolsn
by the pirates have sent their pre
cious stones to safety vaults in New
York and Philadelphia. But no one
will admit that anything has been
stolen.
Miss Captain Kidd could deck her
self from head to foot with her
stolen plunder if she dared to. Odd
tales are whispered along the water
front. One old salt who sits by the
hour in an old boathouse on Long
Wharf tells of a long, gray boat th it
frequently slinks in and out among
the handsome yachts off the New
York Yacht Club. One night ha
swears that she was nosing along
shore between Ida Lewis's light
house and Mrs. John Nicholas
Brown's estate. At the wheel was
a beautiful girl, wearing a pale gray
evening gown and a "funny’ kind if
a coat.” Whether the old man was.
drawing on his imagination or not
it remains that the next day New
port was staggered to hear that
Mrs. Brown had “lost" a pearl dog
collar, valued at three hundred
thousand dollars.
The pirate boat is handsome, it
is swifter than anything in the bav.
It rust have cost thirty thousand
dollars The puzzle the detectives
have to solve is by nc means an
easy jne. There are at least three
men and one girl in it. It has been
practically proven that these pirates
mingle freely with the cottagers at
the Casino, at Bailey's Beach and at
many of the large private entertain
ments. They know the lay of the
land They know every twist and
turn of the gardens, they know each
room in the houses they enter, it
is therefore obvious that they have
been received as guests in them.
Mrs. Harry Barton Jacobs has
"lost” a diamond and ruby pen- i
dant valued at $200,000. The
rubies, it is said, are the very
rare Oriental stones once mined in
Badakhshan and are practically
priceless. Mrs. Henry Redmond,
one of the. wealthiest widows of the
Newport set, whispers that she has
"lost” a bracelet valued at fifty
thousand dollars.
Os course the Casino gossips sav
that when a woman acknowledges
to having lost one jewel, the real
truth is that she. has lost several,
perhaps the bulk of her collection.
Mrs. Oliver Harriman. Mrs. Lewis
Iselin, Mrs Adrian Iselin and Mrs
Norman Whitehouse acknowledge
individual losses, but deny anything
further. Rut these charming mat
rons. formerly known as "jewel
queens,” are wearing no jewels this
Summer The gossips say, "You -e
--member that when Mrs. Charlie
Oelrichs and Mrs. Ogden Goelet
were robbed they wore no jewelry
for several months."
This proves to Newport's satisfac
tion that all women who do no
carry their gems on their backs
have been robbed.
These pirates are quick to seize
the least advantage. A fortnight
ago several handsome cottages were
burned at Narragansett. Naturally
all the cottagers turned out to fight
the fires. After the excitement was
over Mr. Kenneth Murchison, Mr.
Phil Randolph and several oth°r
men discovered that their homes
had been looted. This was in broad
daylight. Later it was proved that
a strange motor boat had been
standing off shore for two hours
during the excitement.
“From him that hath, shall be
taken,” is the motto of the piratjs.
They do not, as a rule, take much
at a time. They evidently under
stand to a dollar the value of the
jewels owned by the people they
rob. They pick and choose. They
do not gather in all they might.
Only the most valuable are taken.
A dog collar here, a tiara there.
They take only what can be slipped
into a pocket, perhaps the girl
wears the jewels out of the house.
She helps to rob! One tale has it
that at a ball given at a mansion on
the cliffs the girl walked out of the
house with the hostess’s tiara on
her head!
Many theories are being presented
as to the manner in w-hich the
pirates work. The most plausible
is that the girl, dressed in the most
perfect taste and carrying herself
with self-possession, enters a house
while a dinner, a dance, or a recep
tion is being given. Even in the
largest houses there is a certain ex
citement and laxity when entertain
ments are in progress.
The Casino theory is that Miss
Captain Kidd, looking like any other
guest, enters the house at the mo
ment several others are entering.
There are always, even at dinners,
guests who are unkown to others
and to the servants. The girl finds
her way upstairs and, of course,
any one seeing her supposes her to
be a guest. The hostess is always
downstairs receiving her guests. Il
seems very easy.
Only those houses are entered
that have a water approach. If the
detectives had reasoned this >ut
earlier they might have captured
the pirates before this.
The houses on the cliffs, the
Breakers, owned by Mrs. Vander
bilt; Marble House, owned by Mrs.
Oliver Belmont; Ochre Court, owned
by Mrs. Ogden Goelet, have been in
reality at the mercy of the pirates,
for the estates can easily be ap
proached from the ocean. The forty
steps at the foot of Narragansett
avenue give clear access from the
beach to these houses, to the John
Drexel house and the Tw-otnbly
mansion. This approach is now
carefully guarded night and day.
Is it any wonder that Newport 13
hunting pirates? Is it any wonder
that every strange craft entering
the harbor is viewed with jus
picion?
Even the yachts in the harbor are
not safe. Robberies have occurred
on board several of them. But
“mum" is the word and it is prac
tically impossible to make the los?r S
tell of their ‘losses.” Mrs. Stewart
Barney, wife of the well-known
architect, and a niece of Mrs.
Richard Gambrill, “lost” a valuable
brooch while a guest on the North
Star, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt’s
yacht. This “loss" was made pub
lic, but a greater “loss" was kept
secret; it is noticeable, however,
that Mrs. Vanderbilt has not worn
a certain dog collar for several
weeks. She says that it is being
repaired.
Mrs. Redmond's “loss" also oo
curred on a yacht at anchor near
the yacht club.