MYSTERY
Case
of the
Gold
Coast
Burglar
The loot was worth
more than a quarter
of a million dollars
yet it was one small,
almost valueless, item
that led police to the
thief By WILLIAM T.
BRANNON
THE LIST of the phantom
burglar's victims read like
a page from the Chicago Social
Register.
Each victim lived in a luxurious
apartment in a tall building on Chi
cago's Gold Coast. Loot which totaled
more than a quarter of a million dol
lars included expensive furs, jewel
ry, and cash. In every case, the articles
had disappeared during the day when
two or more servants were at work in
the apartments. And each theft had
been from a master bedroom. Yet no
servant had heard anything unusual.
"That's eusy to understand," said
Capt Maurice Higgins. "All the apart
ments are thickly carpeted. The pile is
so deep that you can walk around in
the same room with someone else and
not be heard. The servants say that
they saw no stranger and didn't know
anything was going on."
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The servants were quietly checked.
Each had been with the family many
years and was regarded as trust
worthy. The police considered the pos
sibility of collusion with the thief but
then ruled this out. The burglar would
have had to be in league with at least
two dozen servants in different homes.
Until the detectives had spent days
watching the big apartment buildings,
they hadn't understood why a man car
rying a load of furs hadn't been no
ticed. In the late afternoon, servants
poured out of the buildings, most of
them carrying parcels. During the day,
there were dozens of men making pick
ups and deliveries from trucks.
Realizing that the thief might be
wearing a uniform and posing as a de
livery man, detectives checked every
one for days. On one day, while they
queried every driver who stopped in
the area, the thief quietly struck again.
Capt Higgins saturated the area
with policemen, and for a few days the
thefts stopped. He withdrew the uni
formed officers, and the burglar struck
again. Plainclothes detectives had been
near the scene, but they hadn't spotted
the burglar.
Family Weekly. Augutt 4. lit)
"We've missed something," said
Capt Higgins. He studied the files for
hours, then called in the detectives.
"Maybe this is a woman. Go back and
ask the servants if they saw a woman
they didn't know."
This produced results. Several serv
ants told of encountering a nurse who,
when spotted, always had the same
story: "I'm taking care of a patient in
the apartment upstairs. I guess I got
mixed up coming in the back way and
got in the wrong apartment They all
look alike from the rear."
Several servants who had found the
woman entering different apartments
gave the same description. They said
the woman was of medium height,
about 30 years old, and dressed in a
nurse's uniform. Her hair was dark
and luxuriant, done in a long bob, and
parted on the right. Her face was
round and full, and her features were
attractive. She had long lashes and big
brown eyes. She had a flashing smile
that revealed even, white teeth.
"Memorize that description," Capt
Higgins ordered, "and try to find her."
Detectives haunted the buildings of
the Gold Coast, but several more days
passed before one of the detectives
spotted her. The woman was arrested
and identified herself as Mrs. Grace
Hathaway, a practical nurse. She con
fessed taking furs, jewels, and other
articles worth more than $300,000,
most of which she had sold for only a
fraction of their value.
IN HER WORK as a practical nurse,
she had noticed that maids often
left back doors open for tradesmen.
She had found it easy enough to slip
in on the thick carpeting, pilfer the
master bedrooms, and walk out. On
the few occasions when she had been
detected by a servant, her story that
she had wandered into the wrong
apartment hadn't been challenged.
New York City police also wanted
Mrs. Hathaway on burglary charges,
and warrants were forwarded to Chi
cago. But she was sent to prison in
Illinois late in 1957 and the New York
charges had to wait
Had it not been for the alertness of
Capt. Higgins when he studied the re
ports, police might have continued to
look for a man and Mrs. Hathaway
could have moved on to another city.
The case well could have gone into the
unsolved files.
But when Capt. Higgins noted that
one of the items taken was a half-filled
bottle of perfume which would have
no cash value and would be of no use '
to a man he knew then that the bur
glar was a woman.
Family Weakly, Augutt 4, 1961