A TRUSTED EMPLOYEE OF A JEWELRY FIRM ROBS HIS BENEFACTOR--QUICK CAPTURE
OF THE THIEF AND RECOVERY OF THE LOOT.
The arrest of Fred Erfert, who had been a trusted clerk in the jewelry
house of John Bolland & Company, of St. Louis, occurred in the latter
part of 1892.
Erfert had been employed by the company since his boyhood. At the time
of his arrest he was about twenty-two or three years of age, and had
become a trusted employe, and carried the keys of the establishment. He
was the first man to open the store in the morning, and the last man out
at night, closing and locking the store himself.
The firm was rated among the first establishments of the kind in the
city, and was doing a large business. A large quantity of valuable goods
were mysteriously disappearing and could not be accounted for, and
finally the manager, Mr. Clarence White, called at my office one
afternoon, and stated the facts in the case as he knew them. He stated,
further, that Mr. Bolland had requested him to come and see me and tell
me of the state of affairs, and ask me to take the matter under
advisement, and that Mr. Bolland would call on me the following day for
a conference, which he did.
Mr. Bolland stated to me that they had been missing goods from time to
time for the past two years or more and that these losses had grown to
alarming proportions. In an effort to clear up the mystery he had
secured the services of another local private detective agency, at a
considerable expense, but who apparently had not been able to fasten the
numerous thefts on any person. He further stated that the losses seemed
to be increasing, and that he would like to have me make an
investigation and apprehend the guilty party, or parties, if possible.
He said that in view of the amount of money he had already spent in
attempting to locate the thief he did not feel as though he was
justified in spending much more money, but he wanted me to make an
investigation and see what I could do. He stated that he had also
consulted the Police Department of the city, but they had failed to
apprehend the thief. Mr. Bolland instructed me to proceed at once,
saying that he did not believe that they had any one in their employ who
was dishonest or disloyal, to which I answered, "It is evident to me,
Mr. Bolland, that you believe all of your employes to be honest and
faithful, or you, of course, would not have them in your employ." Mr.
Bolland replied, "You need not spend any time in looking after Clarence
White, Fred Erfert or (laughingly) myself, but you may use your own
judgment as to the other employes, although I want you to understand
that I have the utmost confidence in all of them."
A short time before this interview took place, the Bolland company had
purchased a large stock of jewelry at Sixth and Locust Streets, at a
bankrupt sale. On purchasing this stock the Bolland Company sorted out
the most desirable parts, which they removed to their own store, and
then culled out from the stock in the main store, stuff that was growing
stale, and placed it with the bankrupt stock. They then started to
auction off the surplus stock. They placed Erfert in charge of this
auction store, with a number of clerks and a professional auctioneer.
This auction was running full blast at the time of my interview with Mr.
Bolland.
Mr. Bolland stated to me that goods were also being missed from the
auction store, as well as from their regular store. So the following
day I instructed one of my operatives to carefully observe all that he
could about the auction store, from the time the store opened in the
morning until it was closed at night, which the operative did. After he
had spent the first day at the auction store the operative reported to
me that he had noticed a number of what appeared to him to be
irregularities, especially on the part of Erfert, the manager of the
place. He reported that on the evening of his first day on the job he
had seen Erfert and the other clerks leave the store. Erfert, being the
last man out, locked the door, put the key in his pocket, and the whole
party walked to the corner of 6th and Olive Streets, where they
separated, taking different cars presumably for their homes. He said
that Erfert, however, did not take a car, but walked west a block on
Olive Street to 7th Street, then north on 7th Street to Locust Street,
and east on Locust Street to the side entrance of the auction store,
where he unlocked the door, entered the store and immediately returned
to the sidewalk carrying a couple of large and heavy packages, which
were fastened with shawl-straps. He then went back by the same route to
6th and Locust, where he boarded a car and carried these two heavy
packages, one in each hand, to his home in South St. Louis, where he
resided with his widowed mother and his sister. He entered the dwelling
with these packages.
On learning this, I told the operative to carry out my instructions on
the previous day, telling him that in case Erfert doubled back on that
evening after closing the store, and repeated the actions of the
previous evening, that after he had emerged from the store the second
time, as he had the night before, the operative should then approach him
and say to him that I was in my office in the Chemical Building and
wanted to see him at once, and to bring him up without delay. I remained
in the office that evening, so as to be on hand in case Erfert repeated
his actions of the previous evening, and that is what he did.
It was in the winter time and dark about 5:30 p. m., when Erfert closed
and locked the store and left the other employes, apparently starting
for home. He accompanied the others, as he had the night before, to 6th
and Olive, then left them, they going home and he making a circuitous
route, the same as the night before, and went back to the store, letting
himself in, and emerging almost immediately again, carrying two heavy
packages, heavier than those he had taken the night previous, and
fastened with the shawl-straps. After he had locked the door and had
picked up the packages, which seemed very heavy, my operative approached
him unobserved, and touched him on the shoulder, saying, "Mr. Furlong is
at his office in the Chemical Building and wants you to come over and
see him at once."