FARMER VAN DYKE'S HOARD
Found by a Thief While the Old Man Was Away to Market

At one blow Farmer Albert Van Dyke of Mill Lane, Flatbush, has lost the profit of a whole year's husbandry. Seven hundred dollars were stolen from a box in his bedroom early yesterday morning, while he was on his way home from Wallabout market. The thief didn't have to force an entrance into the old farm house, for when he tried the front door it swung open on well oiled hinges. As a matter of fact, that door had not been locked in twenty-five years. There wasn't a soul in the house. The thief found everything wide open and he leisurely ransacked the place from garret to the cellar, but almost overlooked a common wooden box standing at the head of the lonely farmer's bed. He probably kicked it over and when the lid flew off a pile of crisp, new silver dollar certificates tumbled to the floor. They represented a year's hard toil, for Mr. Van Dyke works a fifty-eight acre farm with the assistance of only a colored man. He also makes his own bed and does his own cooking, being an old bachelor who never has been able to spare the time to go in search of a wife. The police opened their eyes wide when Farmer Van Dyke admitted that he never locked his doors. He said that he never found it necessary. Detectives Betts and Kennedy of the Twenty-third precinct are after the man who took Farmer Van Dyke's money. The Flatbush Hawkshaws are convinced that the money was stolen by a man who once worked on the farm and knew where Mr. Van Dyke kept his treasure box and that there was no lock on it. Farmer Van Dyke says that hereafter he will lock his doors. He may also set some gun traps. He takes his loss philosophically. A few weeks ago an Eagle reporter interviewed a number of Flatlands farmers and was told that they were losing money on this year's products. They now ask, 'Where did Van Dyke get his $700?'