Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-01-30
THE BENNINGHoFF ROBBERY
A Daring set Of Robbers--s2IO.O 900 Car
ried o1--Particulars of the Robbery.

DaIlhp SET OF hoDDcfA--NIlOsODDt tar-
ried o1--Particulars of the Robbery.
tFrom the Pitisburg Commercially
Our Pioneer correspondent tele-
graphed the fact on Thursday evening
that the dwelling ofJohn Benninghof,
on Benninghoif run, was entered by
robbers that evening, and robbed OF
$4,000. Mr.. Benninghoff's house
stands near the road, not frequented
much of late, either by travel or teams,
and the nearest neighbor is a quarter
Of q mile distant Mr. Benninghoff is
a Pennsylvania German, a plain, hard
working farmer, and about sixty years
Of age lie has n large family of
grown up children, many of them
staying at home. The old gentleman,
all of sudden, had riches thrust upon
him by the discovery Of oil on his ster.
lie acres, and is one of our petroleum
millionaries. We ebelieve the first well
wac struck on his farm on Pioneer
Run, in the fall of 1865; the produc-
ton of his whole farm for the last six
months was six hundred barrels day,
and ten new wells are now going down
on it, Mr. BIS income for December
last, was reported at $4,000, but his
sudden and dazzling fortune never
made fool Of him, and they say he
cares nothing for appearances, and
wants to live as frugally and work as
diligently as when he used TO eat his
bread in the sweat of his brow. But
he had taken the notion in his head
TO be his own banker, and to deposit
his bonds and greenbacks in his own
safe and house. The particulars of the
robbery are thus related by the Titus
vile HerdM of Saturday:
Shnrily after seven o'clock the fam
lily, consisting Of Mr.. John Benning-
hofi, his wife, niece and two hired
men. were sitting in the kitchen, when
the door was opened and four men
walked in. Three of these mon were
Of medium sizes and the fourth was
tall and heavy, and all Of them were
masked with handkerchiefs, cloths or
comfortors, On entering the room
the men drew pistols and presenting
them at the heads or breasts of the
family, threatened them with imme-
date death if they should make the
least noise. SO completely were tho
family taken by surprise that but lit
tie resistance was offered except by
Mr. Benninghoif, who cried out Justify
on their first appearance, The first
cry that he raised had scarcely left his
lips when he was attacked by one or
two Of the others. Mr.. Benninghoii
is now in his sixty y-sovonth year, but
Notwithstanding his advanced age,
he is still possessed of considerable
strength, and he exerted IL to the
utmost His strength was, however,
entirely inadequate to cope with that
of two or three middle aged men, and
he was soon thrown TO the floor The
ruflians then struck him in the face
and stamped on various parts of his
body, and then half dragged, half car
ried him to an adjoining bed room
All this time Mr. b. was by no means
idle, but was putting forth his best
cndoavors to escape, and to attract
attention from the outside. After
they got Mr.. B. somewhat under theiI
control, they tied his arms and legs
and throw him on the bed and wrap
ped the bed clothes tightly about him.
rhon they rihed his pockets and took
from one of them his pocket book
containing small amount OF money
and key to one Of the safes. After
soeing that the cords which bound his
limbs were fast and covering him more
closely with the clothes, they left him
in powerless condition.
While Mr. Benninghon was strug
Cling with two Of the ruiiians, the
other two had intimidated the two
hired men, and they were soon tied
in the chairs in which they sat at the
time when the robbers first made theil
appearance. These men offered but
very little or no resistance, and in q
very brief space of time they found
] AutuotlNfn W ~ nNllltoN NHlhlNlon
During the fracas, Mrs. Benninghof
managed to secure a revolver, which
she handed to one of the hired men
but he, through fear or some other
emotion of a like character, did not
use it, and Immediately afterward one
of the roughs got possession of it
Mrs. Benninghotf was seized, dragged
into an adjoining room, and bound
Mr. Benninghoff's niece was taker
into a room near the kitchen and fas
tened to a lounge.
After every person in the house wa'
securely fastened, and an attempt had
been made TO open a combination.locb
safe, two Of the party went up stairs
to the room in which an old fashioned
safe was kept, without asking any
questions, while the other two stayed
below and kept guard over the family
The key Of the safe on the second flool
had been taken from Mr. Bennington