SOME REMARKABLE THEFTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12855, 2 May 1905, Page 6

SOME REMARKABLE THEFTS.

The Melbourne police have recently discovered two vast stores of stolen property. About, a month ago a man named O'Kane, who kept, a second-hand shop, was arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property, and his business premises were lonnd to contain great quantities of it. The second, arrest was made within a few days, and has led to further astounding disclosures. i William Smith, of Duke-street, Collingj wood, the person arrested, has how been I called upon to answer 330 defined charges of j larceny, burglary, etc. His private residence- was fitted out from one end to the i other with stolen property, and apparently j when the house room became too crowded, I a- his store- of other people's property rai pidly increased, he met. the difiicitlty by adding additional rooms to his house, building a fern-house here- or a coach-house j there, ami the timber used was nearly all stolen. A search of the premises disclosed I four bicycles and a motor cycle. There I were dozens of pieces of garden hose of j varying lengths. In every room, was a | charming collection of bric-a-brac. Clocks j of all descriptions crowded every available I mantelpiece. In a pavilion at the side of the house was a phaeton, and as it was too big to get out through the door the police think that Smith, alter dragging the stolen vehicle home, built a pavilion around it. Dozens of peopU- have turned up to claim long-lost, property. The Grove-street Presbyterian Church claimed a tub of crockery and some spoons stolen on the eve of the Sunday-school picnic two ami a-half years ago. One man identified a wire gauze door as his. He stated that ilia thief oamo to his house 'a year ago, anc. although he and his family were inside, unscrewed the hinges and walked off with it. Another, a Hawthorn resident, related howone evening a man's head suddenly appeared through the bedroom window, and in an instant was followed by a hand which grabbed a small prayer book and other articles. The owner rushed out, only to see the thief fast disappearing on a' bicycle, which had been placed ready for rapid retreat. Tools, lamps, silver-backed brushes, and other valuable domestic furnishing-; were gathered industriously by Smith from I every suburb, but apparently he only wished to make his'owil home beautiful. He never sold his acquired property. Amongst the j many articles restored to sorrowing victims was a set of teeth long since given up as lost.