Police Find Allegedly Stolen Goods In Apartment of Former Secretary

Cambridge police are holding about $25,000 worth of allegedly stolen property recovered last week from the apartment of a former secretary at the University. Some of the property may belong to Harvard, it was reported.

Miss Margaret E. Canty, 34, was employed at Harvard from 1951-1957, and was allegedly dismissed in connection with the embezzlement of a large sum of money. The incident was not reported to police at that time because the University reportedly wished to avoid adverse publicity.

At least one item of Harvard property, a book entitled Treasures of the Earth, was identified yesterday by two professors of Mineralogy, police said. A small soapstone statuette of a "Modern Eskimo," probably worth at least several hundred dollars, will be examined today by a staff member of the Archaeology Museum to see if it was taken from the museum.

Police plan to obtain a search warrant today to recover other property from Miss Canty's Concord Ave. apartment, and it is possible that other Harvard-owned property may be included.

Contents of the apartment are said to include hundreds of books, some of them almost new, many works of art, and much expensive clothing.

Much of the recovered property, on display at police headquarters, has already been identified by store owners and others as stolen, police reported. Other goods have been turned over to police by people who said they purchased the articles from the woman.

Many items have allegedly been identified by friends of Miss Canty, including an oil painting and an antique Chinese chest reportedly belonging to a Marble-head woman. A $3000 pearl necklace reportedly belonged to the wife of a Law School student.

Police are also investigating a report that Miss Canty had a luxurious yacht on which she entertained numerous friends last summer.