JEWELLERY HAUL FROM DRUGGED WOMAN

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 230, 17 December 1927, Page 26 (Supplement)

JEWELLERY HAUL FROM DRUGGED WOMAN

DARING OSTEND ROBBERY THIEF ESCAPES BY SEA An international thief, with £10.090 worth of stolen jewellery, was believed to be hinding somewhere in London last month. Police of three countries are on his track, and a reward of £I,OOO is offered for information as to his whereabouts. The jewellery was stolen from Mrs. Martha Wolf, wife of a wealthy Viennese merchant, while she was staying at the Royal Palace Hotel, Ostend, and the methods employed by the thief read like a chapter from a best-selling “thriller.” Mrs. Wolf occupied a first-floor room facing the sea front and opening on to a restaurant roof used as a balcony. After the Dance After attending a dance with her busband at the Casino, Mrs. Wolf returned to the hotel late at night- Being tired, she failed to notice that her greyhound did not greet her as usual, and. tucking her jewellery under a newspaper, she hastened to bed. When she awoke the following morning she had a violent headache. Th© French windows were wide open, there were footmarks on the balcony, and all her jewellery and a large sum of money were missing. A doctor certified that she had been drugged. It is believed that the thief occupied the room next door to Mrs. Wolf’s, and that after doping the dog earlier in the evening he crept along the balcony, entered Mrs. Wolf's room, drugged her, and escaped down a pillar on to the sea front. An occupant of another room declared that he saw a man’s shadow pass his window on the balcony during the night, and a chambermaid recalls seeing a black mask in the handbag of a welldressed Englishman occupying the room next to Mrs. WolFs. Thief Escapes by Boat When a search was made the mysterious Englishman had disappeared, and it was found that he had already left Ostend by boat. The stolen jewellery includes: — A pearl necklace of 99 fine white pearls weighing 272.50 grains, with three-stone diamond snap. The three platinum rings, set respectively with a white, grey and black pearl, each weighing 16 grains. A single stone diamond ring, weighing 3.5 cts., and a similar one weighing 3.6 cts. A square emerald ring about scts., surrounded by diamonds, all in platinum. A pair of emerald and diamond circular drop earrings, each consisting of an emerald weighing 2.25 cts., surrounded by 32 brilliants suspended by a chain small brilliants from a single diamond.