SMALL CLUES COUNT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 16 July 1929, Page 9

SMALL CLUES COUNT

KEYS TO BIG CRIMES SOME SYDNEY INSTANCES INTEHES'I'INX* CASES SYDNEY, sth July. In several instances ol major crime "clean-ups" in New South Wales in Hie past week, the smallest of clues has] provided the start ol investigations! which led to tho final action by police. | Two detectives called in to arrest a, young man who is said to have stolen two jars of marmite, worth sixpence in all, from a Sydney store this week. He seemed, at Inst, to he just an ordinary shoplifter, hut when he was searched Ltie detectives found in his possession a gold watch worth £ls, which he admitted was not his own. liut he would not say where he got it from, and their suspicions that he was involved in deeper thieving than shoplifting were aroused immediately. Bill they were aul prepared lor what they found when his home was searched. In one room they found stolen goods worth £SOO, including scores of gold watches, other jewellery, household linen and innumerable other articles. Eventually they had to charter a lorry to move the goods to the police station, where the man was charged on many counts. Further investigation showed that he held a position of trust with an importing company, and the police say that tho £SOO worth of goods they recovered through the clue provided by the theft of marmite worth sixpence, had been stolen in twelve months. What he has cost the firm who employed him may he gauged from Ihe fact that ho has been working for them for ten years. FATAL VANITY Experience shows that the successful criminal avoids two things in particular. These are, close association, with women, and the. vanity or pride which usually goes before a fallIn their search for a man who stole a gold watch and chain, worth nearly. £11)0, the police for six months realised that they were up against ;i man who realised the necessity for observing the two golden rules, lie made no attempt to sell the watch and chain, realising thai such a move would be fatal, especially as the chain was of gold and platinum. It is believed to be the only chain of its kind in the Commonwealth. Hut the chain is a beautiful piece of work and obviously, was of no use to the thief while, it lay in a drawer. Eventually he must have been overcome by vanity, lor ho started to wear the watch and chain. Scores of persons had been told about it by the police, and eventually one uf these persons saw {he unique chain disported on the vest of a man. living at Darliughurst. The rest was easy to the police, and the man and the booty are now in custody. THE MAN WHO CAME BACK Students of crime will all remember ih* general belief that a murderer is forced to return to tho scene of his crime. It is a moot point whether such a thing actually holds outside the pages of fiction/ but in the case of a thief arrested in Sydney this week, his fall into police hands is due entirely to the fact that he returned to the scene of a previous crime. Two years a'go a cottage at Coogee was stripped of clothing, jewellery anil other articles worth £l5O. A man was arrested and sentenced to 18 months' gaol, and part of the stolen property was recovered. When the same place was burgled recently, and £BO worth,of suits, shirts and similar articles stolen, the police drew one conclusion from the fact that entrance had been gained in exactly the same manner as on the occasion two years before, and only similar goods had been stolen. And so, on Thursday, detectives arrested a man and recovered all the stolen property, including some from the robbery of two years ago. Incidentally, as they checked off the clothing he was wearing, the detectives made him shed the stolen items. "When they had finished he stood before them clad only in a bowler hat and a pair of socks. They had to get him a suit before he could be' charged.