The Washburn Times

February 9, 1911

“Rodents Hoard Much Gold.”

Office Boy of Chicago Jewelry House Solves Mystery of Disappearance of Valuables.

Chicago. - A piece of gold chain three inches long sticking out of a hole in the floor solved a big mystery in a downtown wholesale jewelry house. The manager for the company had been missing watches for three months. He suspected that some employee was taking them, but there was no clue. More watches disappeared, the manager’s worries increased. He called his chief aids one by one into his private office and whispered to them that he would give $100 to the person who discovered the culprit. A month passed. The thief was not arrested. More watches and other jewelry were missing. Two detectives were hired and ostensibly put to work among the help. The officers watched every move of every person in the place, but they got no hint of the identity of the robber. Watches, lockets, rings and gems kept going.

Finally, an office boy sighted the chain and the hole in the floor. He pulled on the chain and the watch popped up through the hole. A great light broke in on the whole force when he reported his find. A carpenter was called in and the floor was ripped up. From the recesses were recovered 17 watches, seven lockets, 14 bracelets, 19 stickpins, 27 rings, four hatpins and 13 bales of wire. Further search revealed a hole in the bottom of a case in which timepieces and other jewelry were kept. Rats had been at work for months carrying off the stock of concern. The hole in the floor was not large enough to let a watch through flat, but the rodents had head enough to work them round sidewise and thus accomplish their purpose.

What they proposed to do with the gems nobody had an idea. There were only occasional marks of teeth on any of the stolen stuff, and they were made in dragging it away. Only a student of animal life can say why a rat, with a fine appetite for all varieties of cheese, should waste his time lugging away gold, silver and dross.

“Historic Oddity Headlines” showcases actual articles written about truly odd occurrences that took place and were published within United States newspapers back in the 1800s-1900s. The articles posted here are written exactly as they appeared during their original publishing date.

-The Pine Barrens Institute

Want more historically strange stories in your life like the one above? If the answer is yes, then make sure to check out our book ‘Monsters In Print: A Collection Of Curious Creatures Known Mostly From Newspapers’, available from Amazon!

Make sure to also check out our shop for official PBI shirts, totes, buttons, and stickers!