Three men broke into the Cathedral rectory tonight

05/05/1892 |

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Tonight, three men broke into the episcopal residence on Farmington Avenue and attempted to burgle valuable items there.

Three men entered the rectory while confessions were being heard, hiding in the rectory until everyone had gone to bed.
A few minutes before midnight, the three men began to “ransack the house.”
Upstairs in his room, William Harty heard someone “stealthily pass his door” and became suspicious.
Harty roused his brother Andrew, who got a revolver.
William and Andrew left their room and followed the sound of footsteps ahead of them.
They reached the first floor and saw

two of the men exit through the open door the priests used to get to the cathedral
one of the men go through the door to the basement.

Andrew rushed to the basement door and threatened to shoot the man downstairs if he tried to move.
The other occupants of the rectory woke up, and someone called for the police.
A patrol wagon left at once, and picked up police officers along the way. In all, one lieutenant and six officers would go to the rectory.
Police found the man in the basement crouched near the refrigerator, in his “stocking feet.”
The man surrendered immediately and identified himself as Frank Harris of New York.
The police searched the rectory, the grounds, and the surrounding properties, but they did not find the other two men.

Harris claimed to be a laborer employed by the United States.

There was no direct statement as to when the three men entered the rectory. That they entered during confessions may have made the most sense to the reporter, as the rectory would have been open to visitors during that time.
The presumption was that the three men were professional (or at least experienced) thieves who were there specifically to steal sacramental objects that had been sent from New York for consecration and dedication of the cathedral on May 8, 1892.
The article also assumed that Harris had had a gun, which he had thrown away.
That there were three men appears to have been the account of the Harty brothers.

Earlier today, gold chalices and other vessels for use during the ceremony to consecrate and dedicate the Cathedral of Saint Joseph arrived at the rectory.
The sacramental objects had not been unpacked yet and were not apparently discovered by the three men.
Two of the police officers planned to continue the search during the night.

The sacramental objects supposed to be the object of the crime were valued at $40,000.

“There were three burglars in the gang, and they were evidently experienced New York crooks, who were posted in the city about the treasure that was waiting for them.”
“The priests were so crowding the fleeing burglars that the rear one, in his mad effort to escape, plunged through this door and found himself, instead of free in the open air, a prisoner in a dark basement.”
“The burglary was planned for a big stake and the men involved in it were no novices.”
“Harris is a man 40 years old. He has a keen look and is too shrewd to talk.”

The three men were white. During this period of time, the Courant would have described them as “colored” if they weren’t white.

Today, the sacramental objects would be worth $1,380,523.08.
William Harty became suspicious because he knew that “every one had retired.”
He and Andrew Harty shared a room, and Andrew had gone to sleep before William had.
I have so far resisted referring to the brother priests as the “Harty Boys,” and I believe I deserve some credit for my restraint.
“Other occupants”: not everyone in the rectory would have been priests. Previously, women servants had also lived there.

Unattributed. “Burglars on the Hill,” Hartford Courant, May 6, 1892, page 1.

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