Blind News Dealer’s Stolen Dog Is Returned

Mar. 19, 1965 - Joseph Pepe, a 32-year-old blind news dealer, and his seeing eye dog, Gretel, are together again. The 90-pound German shepherd, missing since Wednesday, was found in Manhattan and returned shortly before midnight on Thursday by John C. Quirke, a mechanic, of Brooklyn.

Yesterday, master and guide were back at Pepe’s aluminum newsstand on Houston Street near Broadway.

Pepe’s wool and flannel clothes were laden with long, tan hairs — the kind that had once seemed merely a nuisance. Gretel was shedding profusely, but the thread-like strands now delighted her owner.

“It’s wonderful, just wonderful,” he said. “You know, I haven’t slept for two days, but I feel like a new person.”

Pepe said his faith in human beings — shaken by thieves who had stolen coins, papers, a radio, and possibly his dog — had been renewed because many people had expressed sympathy and quite a few had offered financial help.

Gretel disappeared Wednesday evening at about 6:30 while Pepe, who usually lets her run loose in a parking lot at the end of their 12-hour day in the stand, was closing for the night.

He heard a car draw up and stop, and a man’s voice saying, “Come, get in.” The door slammed, and the car drove off. After that, Pepe stood for half an hour in the snow and sleet and called the dog, with no response. He supposed she had been stolen.

Later that night, two and a half miles away, Quirke found the dog seeking shelter in a phone booth on 11th Ave. near 39th St. He took her home to his children, fed her a pound of raw hamburger, and tried to make her comfortable.

Yesterday, he learned that Pepe’s dog was missing. Mrs. Quirke called the police last night and reached Sgt. Henry Lamberton of Manhattan’s Fourth Precinct. The sergeant used the station’s switchboard to get Mrs. Quirke and Pepe’s sister, Connie, in a three-way conversation with him. The dog, found without collar or tags, answered to Miss Pepe’s description of Gretel and was returned.

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