Richard C. Murphy, counsel for the Jewelers' Security Association, said yesterday that some of the diamonds stolen in the $50,000 Wiss holdup could be identified. Murphy said he expected the thieves to dispose of the games with a "fence," a receiver of stolen goods, at about one-third of their value. Persons furnishing information leading to arrest of bandits will be entitled to rewards of from $100 to $5,000 from the association, Murphy said.
...tion. The spot where the car was found is an out-of-the-way street a few blocks north of the store.
The blitz holdup was staged as the store, one of the best known in New Jersey, opened for business at 9:30 A.M. Police, who missed the bandits by a matter of seconds, immediately fanned out in the area in a check of transportation facilities and parking lots.
Toll roads, tunnels and ferry boat stations were alerted and police of nearby communities were called by telephone to be on the lookout for the bandits, but, to no immediate avail.
It was Newark's biggest jewel theft since November, 1925, when
Police cars sped to Wiss Sons, Inc., scene of yesterday's $50,000 holdup, shortly before 10 o'clock last night when a burglar alarm from the Broad street jewelry store sounded in the Newark District Telegraph office. A short circuit had set off the alarm. The store was closed at the time.
bandits carried away $50,000 worth of gems from the William H. Taylor Co. plant in Orchard street.
The holdup was described by Detective Captain Thomas F. McHugh as a "well-planned job by out-of-towners." Newark police were in touch with New York authorities, who keep an extensive file on known jewel thieves.
The value of the missing Wiss gems was estimated by Victor Paul, vice president and general manager of the firm.
Captain McHugh said this is the retail value of the gems, which were in two felt-lined mahogany cases known as jeweler's trays. The exact number of stones taken was not immediately established.
As the investigation got under way, police checked buses which had been in the vicinity at the time of the holdup. Police also searched public lockers in Public Service Terminal, across Military Park from Wiss's and other spots where they thought the stolen gems might have been cached by the fleeing bandits.
A report that a large car headed north in Park place, had drawn up to the curb near the Wars of America Monument, paused and then moved on, was being investigated by police as a possible lead to a getaway vehicle.
Police also sifted a report that a group of men, apparently "marking time" at a nearby restaurant from 9:15 until about 9:30, may have had some connection with the incident. The cashier of the restaurant, however, said there was no basis for the report.
The holdup occurred at a time when there were relatively few policemen in the area, due chiefly to the fact that Saturday morning traffic is light until about 10 A.M.
On other weekdays, however, policemen are on duty at nearly every block in Broad street. Their function, however, is chiefly traffic control.
Wiss employees, admitted at the front door of the store by William Rutan, a shipping clerk, were completing normal preparations for the day's business when a bell, signifying the start of business, rang. Rutan unlocked the front door for the public and was unlocking the side door in West Park street when the bandits entered the front.
The bandits, all wearing white cloths over their faces, were described as well dressed. One stationed himself at the front door while the others walked into the interior of the shop. The men were described by store employees as all stockily built but one shorter than his companions.
Employees said the short bandit seemed familiar with the store layout and walked directly to the place where the diamonds were kept during business hours. "He knew exactly where the tray was," one employee said. "He walked right over to it like he was Mr. Wiss himself."
The diamonds were taken from the counter manned by Alfred Rose of Verona after one bandit shoved him aside and muttered, "Don't move, or we'll let you have it!" Police said that as the bandit stooped to gather diamonds from the small, open day-time safe beneath the counter, Rose reached behind and pressed an alarm button.
The entire robbery was estimated by store employees to have taken less than three minutes from the time the bandits entered until they departed. One woman employee, taking off her coat and hat as the opening bell sounded, said the bandits were going out the front door by the time she strolled into the showroom.