Tag: Long Island history

Did Arthur Barry commit the Cosden jewel theft?

In the days following the capture of Arthur Barry, investigators were eager to pin a long list of Long Island jewel thefts on the gentleman burglar and his partner in crime, Boston Billy Williams.  One job authorities were especially eager to hang on the pair was the early morning robbery of the J. S. Cosden estate, where the Cosdens and Lord and Lady Mountbatten lost $125,000 in precious jewels to thieves during the Prince of Wales American visit of 1924.  

As the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on June 8, 1927, “Nassau County authorities investigating the $100,000 jewel robbery in the Kings Point home of Jesse L. Livermore ten days ago believed today that they had reached a solution of the sensational $250,000 jewel thefts from the Port Washington estate of Joshua E. Cosden three years ago…”  

Although Barry cooperated extensively with investigators, confessing to the Livermore robbery and a number of other area thefts, he did not confess to the Cosden robbery, much less reveal his alleged friendship with His Royal Highness.  

Reporting Nassau County District Attorney Elvin N. Edwards statements to the press following Barry’s arraignment, the Montreal Gazette wrote, “Mr. Edwards said that Barry had denied complicity in the robbery at the home of Joshua E. Cosden, near Port Washington, L.I.…Barry admitted other robberies so readily, Mr. Edwards said, that he did not see any reason to doubt his denials of these crimes.”

So, in late August 1927, when a burglar silently exited the Southhampton bedroom of Mrs. James Hastings Snowden with $100,000 of her finest jewelry as she soundly slept, the idea that other sneak thieves might be responsible for some of the high profile Long Island gem thefts became not just a real possibility, but a near absolute certainty.  After all, Arthur Barry and William Monahan were by this time securely behind bars, yet the plundering continued.

Having previously debunked Arthur Barry’s jailhouse tale of sneaking into the “small but jolly” Cosden party and sneaking off with the Prince of Wales in the early morning of September 4, 1924, it is now time to consider the likelihood of whether Barry carried out the Cosden theft. 

Everything that is known about Barry’s alleged involvement in the Cosden robbery appears to originate with Grace Robinson’s 1932 interview with the gentleman bandit.  Dean Jobb’s A Gentleman And A Thief relies heavily on this account, as well as on Anna Blake’s telling and that of Barry’s biographer, who, of course, received the story from Arthur Barry.

Barry’s interview with Robinson comes a full eight years after the Cosden robbery, allowing for no small amount of revisionism to creep into the narrative of his career as a gentleman thief.  In the November 3, 1932 edition of the New York Daily News, under the byline Arthur Barry as told to Grace Robinson, Barry first reveals his tale of how he became chums with the Prince of Wales.  “If I were asked to name the very pinnacle of my success as a gentleman burglar, I would mention my friendship with the Prince of Wales.  I met His Royal Highness in a New York night club when he made a sortie to Broadway during his famous Long Island holiday in 1924.”

This story of Barry’s first encounter with Wales is interesting because it contradicts what would become the accepted narrative that Barry first encountered Wales at the Cosden party.  

Barry goes on to say about his alleged friendship with Wales, “I make the admission reluctantly – it sounds like bragging, but I tell it in no boastful spirit.  It merely shows how far a gentleman burglar can get, if he brings look and manners to his profession of collecting jewels.”

Journalist Grace Robinson interrupts Barry’s narrative to provide some background information.  “Note:  Barry’s reluctance is not feigned.  He repeatedly denied knowing the Prince, and it was not until I confronted him with statements from persons who remember the incident well, that he confessed to having Wales for a drinking buddy in two exclusive hot spots in the smart Broadway of 1924”

Arthur Barry then makes another reluctant admission, “In this connection I may as well admit that it was I who pulled off the Joshua S. Cosden robbery.  That statement will interest the police.  For it’s never been hung on me.”

So up until 1932, more than eight years after the Cosden robbery, Barry denied a role in the theft and avoided revealing any connection to his alleged drinking buddy, Wales.  If not for Grace Robinson setting Barry straight on some of these details and coaxing the real story out of him, we may have never known about this historic encounter.

Barry avoids going into detail about the Cosden theft and returns instead to his first meeting with the Prince of Wales.  “On a night which was shortly before or shortly after the Cosden robbery I was drinking champagne in the Deauville Club … .Suddenly without warning, the Prince walked in.”  After Barry and Wales ordered more champagne and “everybody became chummy,” the two parties “pulled tables together, and I was introduced to His Royal Highness as ‘Dr. Gibson.’” 

This admission is astonishing because in the very first paragraph of Dean Jobb’s book, A Gentleman And A Thief, we are told that Arthur Barry introduced himself as Dr. Gibson to Wales and company as they exchanged pleasantries around the Cosden punch bowl.  How is it that Barry is claiming to have first met Wales at the Deauville Club?  

Once again, Grace Robinson has to call a timeout and interrupt Barry’s account to provide some much needed clarification.  “Note:  At this point Barry, who was speaking in the presence of six policemen, refused to tell more.  From friends out of Barry’s past, we have an amazing story which differs from his own account.” 

Apparently someone forgot to tell Barry how he actually became pals with Wales, and now Grace Robinson sets the story straight.  Robinson then delivers an account which, more or less, lines up with that of Jobb’s book, revealing, “The next night, Barry, now familiar with the ‘inside lay’ at the Cosden home, perpetrated his notorious job there.  Two or three nights later occurred the meeting in the Club Deauville, which Barry has related above.”

Only it wasn’t the next night that the Cosden jewel theft went down, it was five nights later.  The night before the Cosden break-in, the royal entourage attended a party at the home of F. Ambrose Clark.  The night before that Wales attended a dinner of 48 guests at the Piping Rock Club, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, and “After the dinner the Prince embarked on the sort of little party that he likes best.  He did not go to a New York dance, nor did he seek out a tremendous monied palace, but instead he went to the simple little farm retreat owned by Henry Alexander at Glen Cove….There were 25 couples of the young people and the Prince and the young men and girls danced and strolled about the comfortable little homey place under the light of a brilliant moon.”

The more Grace Robinson and Arthur Barry try to construct this tale of Barry crashing the Cosden party and befriending the Prince of Wales, the more the pieces bump up against stubborn reality.  Any investigator hearing this account would have to conclude that Barry is lying, and Grace Robinson, in her zeal to land a great story, is leaning into credulity and trying to help Barry along.  Additionally, anyone today, who claims to be interested in the truth and who uncritically accepts the Arthur-Barry-as-told-to-Grace-Robinson narrative, is committing the sin of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.      

However, just because Barry is fabricating events after the fact doesn’t mean there couldn’t be some truth to his tale.  It is possible that he committed the Cosden robbery, but the real story is a bit more mundane.  It is also possible that Barry encountered the Prince of Wales at the Deauville Club, and even chatted with him, but never became his friend and ‘drinking buddy.’  However, since Barry’s story contains so many falsehoods and contradictions, it becomes difficult to believe any of it.  Instead, it makes more sense to default back to the position of investigators at the time of Barry’s arrest and believe his claim that he was not responsible for the Cosden break-in.  Almost all the information that later emerges either turns out to be unverified or provably false.  Add to that that there were high profile jewel thefts before Barry became active, and the thefts continued after he was locked up, and it’s clear that Barry’s operation was not the only game in town.

Arthur Barry did not accompany Prince of Wales on ‘little lark’ to Manhattan

The morning of September 3, 1924, the Prince of Wales slept until past noon at the Long Island estate of James Burden, where Wales lodged during his royal visit to the United States.  As was becoming a routine, Wales partied late the night before and didn’t return to his lodging until between five and six in the morning.  Press reports reveal the prince had dined at the home of Henry R. Winthrop of Woodbury the previous evening and danced there until 2:00 a.m.  Following the Winthrop affair, Wales and a small contingent of revelers led by Mrs. Vincent Astor motored to her estate on Hempstead Harbor to prolong the gayety.  

So as morning broke on the third of September, Wales was in no condition to participate in any of his usual princely activities.  As Frank Getty reported, “Wales was scheduled to follow the hounds in one of the fashionable Long Island hunts, but since he got in from a late party only after 5 a.m., he called off the hunt plan and slept instead.” 

William Woodford wrote of the canceled hunt, “Wales did not stir, nor did the bugle sound the chase.  Instead he was slumbering, as he still was well after noontime, heedless of hounds, horses or even of his favorite game of polo.”

However, Wales did heed the call of the polo grounds that afternoon, attending the British team practice at Meadow Brook field followed by the American workout at W.R. Grace field, Westbury.

That evening, September 3, 1924, Wales again enjoyed the camaraderie of the polo crowd, attending a stag dinner at the Piping Rock Club at Locust Valley.  An orchestra provided music, many toasts were made and Will Rogers delivered a 20 minute monologue that “made a great hit.”

“Leaving the Piping Rock Country Club at about midnight, the royal visitor went with his cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Lady Mountbatten, and Lord and Lady Milford Haven to the home of J. S. Cosden at Sands Point, where a jolly and small house party kept the fun going until the sun sent its first rays over Long Island.  Then the prince went home,” The Buffalo News reported the following day, September 4. 

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle provided a similar description of events following the Piping Rock Club dinner.  “It was another dancing party which kept Wales out all night, this time at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Cosden at Sands Point.  The party was a small but jolly one.”

Grace Robinson wrote on September 4, “After the stag, the prince went to the Cosdens where he danced until morning.”

Accounts of Wales’ whereabouts the evening of Wednesday, September 3 through the early morning hours of Thursday, September 4 all agree that Wales danced the night away at the Cosden estate and only left at daybreak to return to his Long Island lodging.  None of the contemporary descriptions of the “small but jolly” Cosden shindig contain any mention of a secret royal excursion “to one of the white light jazz palaces of Broadway.”

While the Prince of Wales’ movements are unanimously agreed upon the night of the Piping Rock stag and the Cosden party, the following day’s itinerary is a little more shrouded in mystery.  

Following his daybreak return from the Cosden festivities, Wales slept for about five hours at the Burden estate.  Upon rising the morning of Thursday, September 4, Wales immediately headed for the polo field.  As Grace Robinson reported, “The prince, having slept all of five hours, was at the private polo field of John S. Phipps promptly at noon….He seemed fresh and eager for the sport, while journalists were still nursing headaches following all night duty on the Piping Rock dinner and the Cosden dance.” 

Later in the afternoon, after polo, Wales returned to the Cosden estate where other members of the royal entourage were staying during the visit.  As John K. Winkler reported, “Late this afternoon he motored to the Cosdens after his polo game with Rogers and members of two scratch teams and had a try at golf.”  

The Cosden’s gardener appeared to verify this account, telling reporters that Wales “had shot a few holes of golf” on the Cosden’s private links.

While differing on a few details, Grace Robinson’s reporting on Wales’ late afternoon activities lines up with other accounts.  “He inspected the oil man’s nine hole golf course, but did not play.  He sauntered through the beautiful shaded walks…enjoying the wild scenery.  Finally he walked down to the private dock, where the Cosden yacht, the Crimper, was lying at anchor.  H.R.H. stepped aboard a speed boat and was soon speeding across Long Island sound toward Greenwich, Ct.”

The speedboat getaway from the Cosden estate during the late afternoon or early evening of Thursday, September 4 caused the press to lose track of Wales until the following morning.  Whether he ended up bar hopping in Manhattan that night or simply returned to the Burden estate was the cause of a great deal of frenzied speculation in the papers the following day.  

One thing we can know for certain is that Arthur Barry did not befriend Wales at the Cosden party and lure him away to the white light of Broadway, as Arthur Barry bragged and Dean Jobb would have us believe in his new book, A Gentleman And A Thief.  Barry was indeed a thief and a con man, and his latest con is to convince a modern day audience that he was once the Prince of Wales’ wingman.