Woman Finds, Returns Stolen Pieces Of Jewelry
When Mary Marple saw the pearls hanging off a piece of paper in a garbage can, she knew it wasn’t an ordinary aluminum can-picking day.
She started digging.
The pearls were hooked to a necklace. She sifted through papers and old bagged lunches, and found rings and watches and bracelets in the garbage can in Coeur d’Alene Park in Browne’s Addition. She stuffed the jewels in her pocket and went home, also carting her one aluminum can of the day.
“I had the stuff two days and I called police,” said Marple, who made her discovery last Wednesday. “I figured it belonged to somebody.”
It belonged to 73-year-old Dorothy Kelly, whose nearby home was hit by burglars April 10 as she celebrated her 51st wedding anniversary.
The burglars kept her silver wedding and engagement rings, along with some other valuable jewelry. But they tossed the rest in the garbage can, where it was found later by Marple.
“This was so wonderful for her to do this,” Kelly said. “If she hadn’t called us, and we hadn’t called police, we would never have gotten our stuff back. I just can’t believe it. I never thought I’d see any of it again.”
She can now wear her three-strand pearl necklace, two gold necklaces, two watches, a watch ring and about five other rings.
After handing the jewelry over to police, Marple went a step further, tracking down the rightful owner. She called the Kellys after hearing about their burglary from her brother, who read about it in The Spokesman-Review.
Andy Kelly, Dorothy’s husband, picked up the jewelry Wednesday morning.
“You know, they have that detective series. Well, here’s Miss Marple doing another good thing,” Andy Kelly said. “Miss Marple does it again.”
Marple’s no Miss, but a former Mrs.
She’s 51, and she usually sorts through garbage cans in the park daily, looking for aluminum cans to give to her roommate. Last year, he sold enough cans to recycling centers to buy car tires.
Marple would like to live on her own, but she can’t afford it. Still, she said, she wouldn’t think of keeping somebody else’s jewelry.
“I thought they should get their stuff back.”
, DataTimes