10/6/2009:
A diamond thief from Chicago was imprisoned in the Cass County jail on this date in 1896. Implicated in a sensational jewelry heist in the windy city, the man was caught in Neche by Marshal Cronan after months of evading the authorities.
The man went under the alias William Smith, but was in fact named Gilbert. Before he turned to crime, Gilbert worked as a successful jeweler in Chicago for the firm Smith, Pratt, and Company. Gilbert worked under commission, signing out pieces from the firm's stock, selling them, and then returning the profits, keeping his commission. During the summer of 1896, Gilbert signed out a particularly large lot of items, valued over $7,000. It was this valuable lot that the jeweler "forgot" to return, forcing the Smith, Pratt, and Company to report the items as stolen. Chicago authorities began searching for Gilbert, but by this time he and his wife had fled to North Dakota. Upon reaching the state, the couple changed their name to Lyons, but despite the fugitives' efforts, they did not find North Dakota as welcoming as they had hoped. In the first place the couple settled, a group of thieves befriended them and eventually discovered their story. Hearing about Gilbert's valuable cargo, the group stole the goods, the money, and even the clothes of the jeweler and his wife, leaving the couple only a small handbag filled with toiletries.
Facing the prospect of a penniless future, the fugitive couple headed to Gretna. Gilbert was soon thereafter nabbed by Marshal Cronan while picking up mail in Neche. The marshal was amused to hear the ironic tale in which the thief's stolen goods were stolen, but also disappointed that the jewelry had been lost, again. He escorted Gilbert to the Cass County jail, where he remained with his wife by his side, until Illinois authorities could retrieve him.
Source:
The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, Tuesday (Evening ed.), Oct. 6, 1896: p.4.