The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1868-01-31
A Daring Set of Rbbers-s2l0. 900
Carried off-Particulars Of the Rob

berry.
! F ON the Pittsburg Commercial, January 90.
| Our Pioneer correspondent telegraphed
! the fact Thursday evening that the dwell
/ ing Of John Benninghof, on Benniughoff
Run, was'entered by robbers that evening,
and robbed of 100000 Mr.. Benning-
| hoff- house stands near the road, not fire.
auented much OF la.e, either by travel or
teams and the nearest neighbor is a quar-
I ter of mile distant. Mr.. Benninghotf is a
| Pennsylvania German, plain, hard work
ing farmer, and about sixty years of age
He has large family of grown up children,
many Of them staying at home. The old
gentleman, all of sudden, had riches
thru st upon him by the discovery of oil on
his sterile acres, and is one of our petrole-
UNI millionaires. We believe that the first
we'll was struck on his farm at Pioneer Run,
in the fall of 1865; the production of the
whole farm for the last six months was six
months, was six hundred barrels day, and
ten new wells are now going down on 1T
Mr.. B s income for the month of Deem
Der was reported at $40 900, but his sudden
| and dazzling fortune never made fool of
! him, and they say that he cares nothing for
appearances, and wants to live as frugaly
aud work as diligently as when he used to
earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. But
he had taken the notion into 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 re-
lated in the Titusviile Herald OF Satur-
day:
Shortly after seven O'Clock, the family,
consisting of Mr.. John Benninghof, his
wife, niece, and two hired men, were sit
ting in the kitchen, when the door opened
and four men walked in. Three of these
men we're of medium size, and the fourth
was tall and heavy; all of them were mask
ed with handkcrchiefs, cloths or comfort
ers. On entering the room the men drew
pistols, and presenting them at the heads
or breasts of the family. TIN eatened them
with immediate death if they should make
the least noise. SO completely were the
family taken by surprise that but little re-
sstance was offered except by Mr.. Ben
ninghoff, who cried out Justify at their fist
appearance. The first cry that he raised
had scarcely left his lips, when he was at
tackled by one or two Of the others. Mr..
b. is now in his 611th year, but notwith-
standing his advanced age, he is still pos
sessed of considerable strength, and he ex
erted it 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 ruff
fans then struck him in the face, stamped
on various parts OF his body, and then
dragged, half carried him to an adjoining
bed ROOM All this time Mr. B. was by no
means idle, but was putting forth his best
efforts to escape, and to attract attention
from the outside. After they got MIR. B.
somew hat under their control, they tied his
arms and legs and threw him on the bed,
.and wrapped the bed cloths tightly around
him. They then riHed his pockets, and
took from one of them his pocket book,
containing a small amount of money and
the key to one of the safes. After seeing
that the cords which bound his limbs were
fast, AMI covering him more closely with
the cloths, they left him in powcreSs con-
dltion.
While Mr.. Benuineh hoff was struggling
with two Of the ruffians the other two had
intlmidatcd the two hired men, and they
were soon tied in the chairs in which they
sat at the time the robbers first made their
appearance. These men offered but very
little or no resistance, aid in very brief
space Of time they found themselves in a
helpless condition. Duriug the lracas Mrs
Benningho hof managed to secure a revolver,
which she handed to one of the hired men,
but he, through fear or some other emotion
of like character, did not use it, and i'm
mediately afterward one of the roughs got
possession of it. Mrs Benninghoff's niece
was taken into room near the kitchen and
tied to lounge
After every person in the house was sc
curely fastened, and an attempt had been
made to open combination lock safe, two
OF the party went up stairs to a room where
an old fashioned safe was kept, without
asking any questions, while the other two
stayed below and kept guard over the fam
lily. The key of the safe on the second
floor had been taken from Bepninghotf' s.
pock book, and the villains succeeded in
opening the safe without difficulty One
drawer in the safe was overlooked, but the
rest we're thoroughly ransacked. The safe
contained nearly $225, 900, and the villains
succeeded in taking S2l0,000. OF the
$2l0, 900 therc 8are S2O, ,000in government
bonds, and tie rest in greenbaeks and ma
tional currency. The drawer that was over
looked contained a quantity of gold and
silver coin, amounting in all to compare
lively s,nal sum. In the haste of the
search after plunder, package containing
81 900 was laid among qaantity OF papers
near the safe and left, and in another part
of the house package contaiDing nearly,
$4,000, was dropped.
After ransatking the safe, the whole par
ty returned to the kitchen, and after ascer-
tanning from member of the family that
Mr.. Joseph Benninghoff had gone to
church, and that no other person would be
likely to visit the house during the night,
the villains proceeded to make themselves
comfortable. During their stay, which
lasted about an hour, they appeared to be
waiting the return of Mr.. Benningh hof
and they consumed quantity of bread and
milk
Finally, the villains concluded to leave,
and makir G slip moose, they put it round
the neck of one of the the hired men, and
he'd him to the barn and forced him to har-
ness horse to cutter. The man was
then led back to the house and retied l.
Two other horses were taken from the barn,
and the whole party started off at brisk
pace. As soon as the last man left the
house, Mr.. Denninghof' niece managed to
loosen the cords with which her arms were
4 e.. Al