Watches, Money Stolen From Five Unlocked Rooms in Business School

A thief broke into five unlocked Business School rooms yesterday morning, and took several watches and sums of money up to $60.

Captain Matthew J. Toohy of the University Police said last night that the robber is very likely the same burglar who earlier in the year raided rooms in Dunster and Leverett Houses and Hastings Hall. All four of these cases took place in unlocked rooms early in the morning, and involved the loss of watches and money.

Yesterday's robbery followed a month-long lull in the robber's activities around the University. Toohy said last month during this lull that the thief was scared, but probably would return because of "unusual success" in his past thefts. There is little evidence concerning the identity of the criminal, he added.

The robber made his thefts early in the morning, Toohy said, "because the laws are harder on criminals who act during the night."

Dunster Robber Ten Times

Toohy at the same time urged all students to keep their doors locked between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. in the morning. The boys think, the police captain said, "that because they're in their rooms they are safe from disturbance." Actually, he continued, many thieves do their work at this time.

Hardest hit in the unusual string of University thefts was Dunster House. The House has been robbed ten times since the middle of January with losses estimated at $200. The robberies at Leverett House and Hastings Hall, a Law School dormitory, also involved substantial amounts of money.

Toohy said that there seems to be little chance of a link between yesterday's robbery and last March's theft of two typewriters from Thayer Hall. The latter case, he explained, did not involve a loss of cash.