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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1914)
' " - - - ' ----- ' - 1 - - i O ' if r - .... - .. . . . - . The Omaha Sunday Bee MagazinePage ".si O .v V Surprising Revelations of the V WA'f l Mr. Eaten English Gentleman' and Thief. Surprising Revelations of the Ingenious Methods of Mr. Eaton, Gentleman Thief, and Others Who Are Victimizing W and Resp ectability in a New Way '.:,.. I.'-,. ; : - V'-.;;' ...V ( ' ; .... AV .- . ? : t T ? J . J Mrs. Jacques Bastanoby Whose Troubles Bepin at the ' . Cabarets and Tea Dances. IN the criminal world, as In the inflttt trial and busInoBi world,' new ; coadl tlona of. life' lve opportunltle for WW'' - inethodg. The "Ti1 : Rooma," ' the "Cabarets" and the "Danclns Tea", rea taurants have opened a sew field for erlmtnals... Preying, like woltes around, these places, ' the ille ' estimate , that B.00O criminals In New Tork are now mat ing a comfortable UtIdk. ' ' ' ' The now rather notorious ease of Her bert P. Eaton i and his victim, Mjra. Arthur E. Pike, has shed a flood of llcht on the ; operations of these scoundrels. Other cases have shown that robbery Is not the only harm to womankind that baa followed the breaking down of old social restraints through the Insidious Influence at the tea room with Its accompaniments ef muslo and dancing. . T'je unmasking if Mr, Herbert F. Eaton , Ijnglish gentleman, traveller, , society man, dancer and burglar has been fol lowed by some very Illuminating revel . tion. The police are now able to under stand the steadily growing complaints of hitherto unezplainable robberies. Mr. Eaton la not alone in his peculiar field of activity; the police records Indicate that there are many others who are victimis ing the patrons of the tea dance restaur ints In the same way. , 1 Eaton was not a thug. He had the manner and the personality of a man of breeding. He was careful never to force his atten tions on a prospective , victim. It la be lieved that he worked at times with a young woman confederate and through her was able to be formally Introduced to respectable patrons of the placee he fre quented. But Eaton's own adroitness and ; resourcefulness were often sufficient to se cure an acquaintance with a woman of , wealth without the formality of an intro duction and yet without arousing suspi cion' or feBenttr.eilt; tAn Instance of this will' be given fur ther on. , . It stands to reason that when a' woman ' dances with' a man she does not know she enters upon a perilous path. The "the tiansant" Is a queer institution that gives everybody who can pay the price of ad , mission or of refreshments an opportunity to f dance. The manager must see that his women visitore have partners to dance with, and it need hardly be eald that If he can find good-looking,- well-dressed young men for thla purpose he is only too glad to have them and will ' hot Inquire very closely Into, their character. It Is proved from recent cases that the most fashionable and dignified hotels In the clt have been the means of promoting these promiscuous acquaintances. The fact that these dances are held in the daytime allows young girls and yonng married women an unusual freedom to at , tend them. The old institution of the chaperon has been more or. less aban doned fqr daytime affairs. A. girl or a woman who Indulges In the intricacies of the modern dance with a man can scarce ly help developing a certain intimacy with - him, even though she may .never have ' met him betote. After the dance she can . hardly refuse his request to escort her home, especially if he U gotng the same way, and In many cases she would not deny a good dancer the privilege of call-s ing on her. Thus chance acquaintance carries a stranger straight Into the in timacy of the home. . New Dangers for Tboughtleis Women Keen observers of life estimate that there are Just as many men who frequent . the tea rooms simply for the purpose of . making the acquaintance of attractive , women as for the sake of robbery. The Intentions of these men may not he aJ- ways of the worst, but It is certain that on the whole they are a social danger. A , girl has no opportunity of Judging the character of a man whom ahe meeta un der such conditions, and too oftea she l ' not guarded by family and friends against the dangers of chance meetinga. Sirs, Pike's experience illustrated only ' some of the dangers of this thase of city life the ease with which the friendship of highly resectable woman could be' cultivated und,er cover of the afternoon , dance and the criminal acts it might lead to. Mrs. Pike, who is the wife of a cotton" broker and lives In a handsome apart ment at No. tit Riverside Drive, 'wea ahocked recently to find that 'her place had been robbed of $1,900 worth of Jewels and a quantity of valuable clothing. When ahe turned the matter over in her mind ahe waa forced to admit that suspicion rested on a certain "Mr. Wllliama," a very attractive young man she had mot at a tea at the Hotel Astor, one of the most dignified and fashionable hotels in the ; city. Mrs. Pike was listening to the strains Miss Marie Kohn, Whom Eaton Met at the Hotel Manhattan. Eaton De ' voted Himself to Admiring Miss Holm's Valuable Dog and Won Her Confidence. of "the fox trot, the new fash ionable dance, and, .being an en thus! astlo dancer, she could not help wanting to dance. Some body, aha could not re- ,; member who. ' it was, Intro- ' ,-.,... - ' . duced her to "Mr. Williams.'' and he Im mediately asked her to dafice. He was a splendid dancer and . perfectly familiar with all the new dances. The young man was well and quietly dressed, his solid shoulders set off by a fashionable black cutaway coat trimmed with broad braid, short la the tall and cut in front to show the waistcoat. "Mr. Williams" talked agreeably with a . cultured English aocent He had thick " curly hair and a merry dark eye. , He had been a soldier in the Boer War, Just for. ' the sake of adventure, you know, and a . gold ' miner la California. His conversa tion was delightfully entertaining. Mrs. . Pike mentioned that she was a grand daughter of J. Bpenoer Turner, once a . noted cotton broker. ' "Oh, yes." eald "Mr. Williams." "My people in Liverpool knew him. I remem ber my father telling me about Mr. Tur ner's funny American stories after dinner. - "Sometimes we get a bad impression of Americans from your ordinary tourists with their American flags and all that sort of beastly thjng. Your grandfather was one' of those delightfully cosmopoli tan Americans who are the most charm ing people la the world." All the circumstances were calculated to disarm suspicion in (Mrs. Pike's mind. "Mr. Williams" had not even sought her acquaintance, fehe had a delightful after noon, which . ended all too soon, though the hour was late. When she said she was going home up Riverside . Drive and he said he was going the same way, she naturally eald .. she would be pleased to have him go with her. - They rode in a motor "bus. On the way ahe dropped her purse and after fumbling with It clumsily for a minute be returned it to her. When ahe returned home she found she, had . lost the key to her apart ment She had another one made The meeting with ."Mr. Williams" started a pleasant friendship which lasted up to the time of. the robbery.. The rest of the facts are well known to newspaper readers. . Mrs. Pike received a telephone message from Eaton in which "Mr. Will lams" offered to return her Jewels tor ' t$A, failing which he would create a scandal. By arrangement with the police ehe met him and in a struggle "Mr. Will- lams" was shot by ev detective. ) Investigation tbowed that be was . a young Englishman of respectable family named Herbert F. Eaton, lie was earning a fair salary in a New Tork business house ' as a stenographer and had been led Into evil ways by the extraordinary opportuni ties offered by the tea rooms and the rest of the promiscuous- topsy-turvy social life of New York. No sooner was the Pike case pebllfhed than another of Eaton's victims made ber- c i -i : ..-. ... I 4 self known. This was Mls Marie A. Kohn, a, Frenchwoman of considerable wealth, t who came to New York a few years ago. . A year before the Pike case Miss Kohn was robbed of $12,000 worth of Jewels. When ehe visited Eaton's flat, by invitation of the police, she found them all there. The story Miss Kohn told revealed an other way In which a designing man might make the acquaintance of a woman he didn't know. This is the pet dog meth od of approach. Miss Kohn went to the Hotel Manhattan, also one of the most fashionable and dig nified hotels in the city, to have tea and listen to the muslo. As she entered she noticed a good-looking young man with a bright eye and curly hair. It was Eaton, but on this occasion he was travelling as "Mr. McDonald." Miss Kohn was carrying her prize pet toy Pomeranian, "Baby." As she passed the young man, he stopped and patted "Baby" with a friendly but not forward manner, as it he really couldn't help it. "Pardon me,", he said. "1 hope you don't mind my patting her. That is really the most perfect specimen of a 'Pom' I have ever seen." An .Introduction Through the "Dog They went info .the tea room together and the young man talked about dogs in the most convincing manner. He stood "Baby" squarely on her feet and then said: "Oh J you quite i too delicious little bow wow! She has every point perfect from the tip of her nose to the end of her tall. You know, my mother took first prize for toy 'Poms' four years In succession at the Swansea dog show, but she never bad any thing finer than this. . "My name is McDonald," be added. Miss Kohn, who has the exaggerated love of pet dogs that some women show, was naturally carried away by "Mr. Mc Donald's" .charming dog talk. When she was going to leave he asked her which way and she said "No. 609 Madison ave nue." He got possession of ber key by a trick and induced her to wait for him while be pretended he was golag luto bis hotel When she went on to bur apart ment she found she had been robbed. - Eaton's methods have come as a sur prising revelation to the police. A bur glar is usually confronted with the neces sity of entering his victim's house or apaitr ment by force. This is embarrassng, be cause he must work late at night when he ' cannot be observed and it Is bother some to carry plunder along the streets at such hours. But Eaton'a system 'of always providing himself with a latch key avoided these embarrassments. When Eaton crowded into the Fifth ' Copyright, 1814, by tb Btar Company. Uraat Britain Illirhta Iteierved. avenue bus to accompany Mrs. Pike to her Riverside Drive apart-. ment it waa for the purpose of seourtng her pass key. At a lurch of the 'bus, as it swept around the corner of Seventy-second street, Eaton clumsily lost his ' grip on the strap, drove his knee heavily against Mrs. Pike's arm and knocked her pocket book to the floor, with apologies for hij awkwardness be busily set . to work picking op the contents of the bag but he slipped up hie sleeve the latch key. When Baton went forth from toe Manhattan Hotel and accom panied Mies Koha in ber walk to her Madison avenue apartment it waa with the Intention of getting possession -of her house key. Swinging his cane Jauntily as they walked along, side by side, Eaton suddenly turned at a crossing 1n front of an automobile, stepped back halt a step and brought the handle, of his ' cane down upon Miss Kohn's handbag. Cards, coins and various things scattered about the pavement. With quick eye Eaton spied the' latch key. Letting his overcoat fall from his arm to cover the key, Eaton, with many apologies, assembled the contents of the bag and slipped the key into his overcoat pocket. The unsuspected possession of 'the latch key was literally, the key to Eaton'a system. And the possession of the latch key had still another value. It gave Eaton a' handle for blackmail. If his victim realized who had robbed her Eaton was able to silence her with the threat that he . would declare that ehe had given the key to blm and that ho had been a welcome visitor at her . apartment Pew women relished tbe Idea of having thla assertion made to their, husbands. Remarkable testimony to the demorallra tlon caused by "dancing teaa" was given by Mr. Jacques Bustanoby, part proprietor of a noted New York resort where par ticularly alluring entertainments of this character were given. In asking for a di vorce from his attractive young wife Mr. : Bustanoby said that she had fallen under the Influence of a wicked man while fre quenting various "hotel teas'' in company with an older woman. "My wife waa very young and very inno cent Oh, yea, very innocent," said Mr. Bustanoby, "but they take her to teaa and give her drinks and dance with her and she lose ber head. 1 am ver busy and can do nuszlng.. ' I forgive her once, and than they take her to those hotel teas again, it is one shame I" If the eipert who provides this kind of antertalnmeut thus testifies to Us dangers, can the ordinary man and woman have any doubt about them? V!