“SILK HAT HARRY.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16662, 18 February 1922, Page 10

“SILK HAT HARRY.”

NOTORIOUS BURGLAR REFORMS. SCARED BY DEAD MAN. A dramatic s-tory is told of the circumstances in which a notorious New York criminal, known as “ Silk Hat Harry.” broke his parole, and found himself back in prison again for the Completion of his sentence. “ Silk Hat Harry,” who is known also as Walter White and Harry Black, has been a burglar all his life (says t-lio New York correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle ”). His specialty was the robbing of the homes of wealthy people during, or after, some social entertainment. While on parole from Sing Sing Gaol, he marked out a fashionable New York mansion, from which he expected to make a rich haul of wedding presents. Wheu the house was in darkness he made his way into it through a window that had been left partly open. Making his way across the carpeted hall, he tried the handle of a door. It yielded to his pressure, and he found himself in a pitch-dark room. As he groped his way along a well his hand came in contact with a metal object, and then something that felt very cold to the touch. Very cautiously he turned his flashlight on to the object he had encountered, and to his horror found himself looking into the face of a dead man in a coffin. The metal object he had first touched was the silver nameplate on the coffin. So great was the shock to “ Isilk Hat Harry ” of this unexpected encounter that, shaking all over, he made his way from the house as speedily as possible, and gave himself up to the first policeman he met He told the constable who he was and that the detective forces of several cities were hunting for him. He wanted, he said, to take his punishment and get it over, so that he might “go straight” in future. A member of the Parole Board, before whom “Silk Hat Harm*” was brought, suggested that he might have stolen the silver-plate on the coffin. “No,” he said, “I draw the line at robbing the dead- Besides. T took a mental vow over the white-haired gentleman lying there in his last sleep that I would gin no more, and J mean to keep that vow The man was known to the police as a. 4< society ” cracksman, and he got his name of “Silk Hat Harry ” from his comrades m the world of crime owing to bis practice of always wearing a high silk bat. Although he pleaded hard to be sent back to Sing Sing Prison to finish his sentence, which was a long one, “ Silk Hat Harry ” has been