KING OF BURGLARS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 184, 21 December 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

KING OF BURGLARS

'STRAXUE CUIMLYAL CAREER. Sydney, Ueccmhor 4. Known in South Australia as "Tlip King of Burglars,'- -lames Townsley, .1 young man wlio boasts of the most picturesque Criminal record in the Commonwealth, has just received another five years for gaol-breaking in Adelaide, his sentence now standing at 17 years' imprisonment.

Although only 27 years of age, Townsley has for six years followed a life of crime. His scholastic career was a successful one, and when he left a well-known Adelaide College at the age of sixteen he was well primed for a business career. Alert, shrewd, and possessed with pleasing manners, he was, through influential friends of his father, able to gain employment in one of the leading soft-goods warehouses in Ade-

laide. He took his place as a junior salesman, and in six months had so well worked himself into the business groove of the department that, the head of the iirra looked upon his as one of the most promising youths who had been employed by them for many years. A taste for amatuer theatricals developed when he had barely reached his first score of years, and his aptitude for female impersonation was so apparent that he was generally cast for a part in which it was necessary for him to play the part of a girl. Undoubtedly these impersonations gave to him, later on, when detectives were on his tracks for some big burglary, the idea of covering, his identity through the agency of female attire. In this he was startlingly successful. For two years he was one of the leading lights of the amateur dramatic club to which he belonged, and his stage efforts were much appreciated by the public. A small salary given Townsley for his labors in the warehouse was, by his generous parents, allowed him for pocket money, but this was not sufficient to meet his financial requirements. lie ' was fond of horse-racing, and pressure by bookmakers lor money he owed them caused young Townsley some anxious moments, and at last he resolved tomake a dash to pay off his gambling debts.

TOWXSLF.Y'S FIRST BURGLARY. It was the custom in the warehouse on a Saturday, in consequence of the banking institutions closing at noon, to place all money received between midday and 1 o'clock, the closing hour, in a safe -in one of the back store-rooms, some distance from the office. The object of this was to defeat the end of any thieves who,-if after firm's cash, would naturally operate on the safes in the main offices. Townsley knew all this, and, being desperate, determined to do the job on a Saturday night. For the first attempt he handled the safe in such a manner that the detectives who visited the scene of the robbery on the following Monday morning, pronounced the work to be that of an expert cracksman. Townsley scooped nearly £IOO through the job. and while the police were hunting high and low for the safebreakers, lie calmly attended the warehouse every day and carried out his duties.

Some information came to the ears of the firm in which lie was employed, however, and a private detective was instructed to keep a watchful eye over him. The result of this surveillance was that the man shadowing Townsley became aware of certain happenings, wnich induced him to suspect the youth for the safe-breaking, and soon Townsley was looking for another position. The evidence against Townsley was purely circumstantial and incomplete, consequently the police were unable to take action. Months and months of idleness reduced him to a state of desperation. He made another break into crime, which cost a jeweller nearly £IOOO. There was, however, not sufficient evidence to convict, though there ■was no doubt in the world that he had committed the crime.

DOMESTIC DUTIES. Shortly after this robbery the Adelaide police gained tlie impression that the former salesman and amateur theatrical had left the city. Crime, however, was rapidly increasing. Shops were broken into nearly every night, and good hauls were being made. The detectives brought their "phiz-gigs" into their service, but even they found it impossible to locate the genius in crime who was "cutting Adelaide to pieces." This was at the end of 15)10, and the police were so perturbed through the frequency of the thefts that '■' night specials" were detailed to scour the city, so as to endeavor to come across the burglar, or gang of burglars. All this time, as it afterwards turned out, Townsley was in Adelaide. He had adopted female attire, and had, through the registry office, obtained a position as a general servant in the household of a weil-known business man in Adelaide. When permitted, he went for a walk in the afternoon, and. as he ha* admitted, utilised most of his time when out of doors spying out the house in which to do his next job. When his employer and family had gone to bed for the night Townsley, dressed in an old suit of male clothes, would emerge from his room, and, with a loaded revolver in his pocket, would start out on his crib-cracking expedition. It is said that during the mil crime rage in Adelaide no fewer than 200 places were broken into and robbed, and as the police are now certain that Townsley committed all the thefts, and that his "fence 1 ' paid him well, the former salesman must have stowed away a good wad of bank-, notes. However, a run of crime for many months was at last broken up when he was captured by two policemen climbing down the balcony pole of an Adelaide mansion with the owner's diamonds, valued at close on .€IOOO, in his pockets. Townsley was armed, and he made a vigorous struggle to get away, but the two policemen were too many for him, and he had to submit to arrest and ultimately be sent to the Yatala prison to serve 12 years on two charges of burglary.

WAITRESS IN A RESTAURANT. After being incarcerated for some months and escaping to Melbourne, Townsley took a position in a Melbourne restaurant as a waitress. No one ever detected the slightest action or mannerism tlnv-t would break down the disguise he had adopted. in fact, his companions among the waitresses were astounded when they were afterwards told that the desperado arrested after, a desperate struggle a month or so ago was none other than '-Miss Evelyn Hartwood," who had been one of tha favorites of the establishment, especlallv with the male customers. The habitue's of the lunch-room and the attendants have hardly yet got over the shock they received when they heard the story of "Evelyn's" apprehension. When not'parading, the Block in Collins street in the latest style of coat and skirt and the very best of millinery, he was hard at work in the luncheon-room attending to his duties. But at night no balcony was too high for him to reach, and no house could prevent him from entering it and getting away with a swag. What led to his arrest was his daring in appearing in the streets in his proper attire one day. Detective Mitchell, of Adelaide, and his wife were spending a holiday in Melbourne, and Mitchell caught sight of Townsley. The latter recognised the Adelaide' detective, and ran away, but Mitchell later on gave such information as led to his arrest.