Piedmont Past: A Crime at Christmas

From the San Francisco Call, Volume 105, Number 39, 8 January 1909

ARREST REVEALS ILLICIT ALLIANCE

Supposed Wife of Former Depu« ty Constable May Be Charged With Burglary

OAKLAND, Jan. 7—The arrest of John R. Williams, a former deputy constable of Fruitvale, who has confessed that he robbed the home of J. I. Egan in Piedmont Christmas night, and his common law wife, who is in custody on suspicion that she was an accomplice in the burglary, has brought to light a tale of an illicit matrimonial alliance which, the police declare, was founded upon crime instead of love.

Williams and the woman lived together as man and wife- for many months, and it was not until the erstwhile peace officer was arrested that the true nature of their relations was revealed. The detectives who took Williams into custody escorted his consort to police headquarters immediately afterward, and it was found that she was wearing two of the skirts which had been stolen from the Egan home.

This discovery, coupled with the fact that the footprints of a woman had been found outside of the Egan home on' the night when the robbery was committed, strengthened the suspicion of the police that Mrs. Williams had been her husband's accomplice, and she was placed in detinue.

Williams was arraigned for burglary in the police court this morning but no charge has thus far been placed against the woman. A complete acknowledgment of his guilt has been made to the police by Williams, although he has gallantly refused to implicate the woman. Mrs. Egan's trousseau formed a part of the booty he secured. The police recovered it from his room, and it will be returned to its owner.

This article comes from the California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc. The collection has digitzed more than 400,000 images from newspapers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Images dated between 1846 and 1922 are in the public domain and not subject to copyright.

Spelling, capitalization and punctuation have been kept as they appeared in the original article.

Learn more about Piedmont's history and view the city's collection of historical photos at www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/history.shtml.

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