Sacred Urn Reappears in Dunster; Samovar Snatchers Elude Justice

The Straus Trophy, stolen nearly a month ago, mysteriously and miraculously returned to Dunster House early yesterday morning.

The ornate silver samovar was discovered wrapped in swaddling clothes of Gordon linen towels inside a Coop laundry bag.

Lloyd I. Rudoloph, Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Dunster House, the first to notice the weighty laundry bag, said last night that there are no clues to the identity of the culprits. "The laundry bag had no number on it, which indicates either great luck or great cunning," Rudolph noted.

A jubilant Alwin M. Pappenheimer, Master of Dunster House, credited Cambridge's only responsible breakfast table daily with the trophy's return. "The CRIMSON flushed it out," said Pappenheimer.

No Comment

Detecto-journalists at 14 Plympton St. declined to comment.

The circumstances of the trophy's return would seem to substantiate suspicions that student pranksters were responsible for the theft. The pranksters were being sought by Cambridge police detectives for grand larceny. University officials said, however, that they would not press the search.

Dunster will not get to keep the trophy for very long. Kirkland has reasserted its interhouse athletic supremacy and Dunster will present Kirkland with the trophy sometime next week.