Stenthing Providence and Cambridge police wound up their two-months' hunt for the snatcher of valuable Peabody Museum masterpieces by pouncing on alight, 25-year old Theodore Oleson in the Rhode Island capital yesterday.

Whisked back to a Belmont jail by local police to await formal arraignment today, the Cambridge youth faces several charges of house breakage in this vicinity.

When the quivering criminal who was nabbed in a pawn shop told investigators he "knew something" about the robbery here, the Providence force got in touch with colonel Apted who dashed off with a staff of witnesses to identify the victim.

Alarm Warns Apted

An alarm which rang at 4:12 o'clock in the afternoon of December 31 startled the Lehman Hall office into quick and decisive action. Meanwhile the dauntless burglar was helping himself to priceless South American trinkets from the showcases of the Museum.

At 4:17 prowl cars and policemen were closing in on the building but the elusive thief managed to get away. The boy admitted yesterday of having sold the objects in New York, Hartford, and Providence further revealing he had melted some of them to sell as old gold.

Immediately detective departments were put to work in an effort to trace the criminal through recovery of art objects as they were sold. Through various channels, the University said last night, it had found only a dog's head and a crocodile.

A caretaker at the Peabody Museum was the only one who saw the thief on the day of the crime. He later described him to police as 5 ft. 9 in. tall, and weighing about 150 pounds. The ornaments, including jade vessels and gold jewelry came to the museum five years ago and had been placed on display during the Tercentenary.