River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1872-11-01

not. He took him away and placed
him in dark clothes press, and cover
ed him up with bed clothes, and closed
the door on him, and then went down
stairs again to where the men were at
work on the safe. All the time they
were in my room they were very
polite to us. They got pillows and put
under our heads, and when l asked for
my little boy, when they had taken him
away, they assured me that he was
safe. 1 asked one OF the men how
he got into the house, and
he said it made no difference.
They got in, and were there for
money, and would get it before they
left the house. During this time some
of the men were in the hall, some in
the room, and one was lying on this
sofa, but he soon got up and placed HE
pillow in tie doorway. He wanted to
know what time the milkman came
along, and told him about half-past 7
in the morning. He told me that ]
knew / was lying to HIM when said
that. Another asked me when my
butcher came. told him we did not
have the butcher come to the house.
We had to go to the market for our
meat. After they had got all through
down stairs, they came up and COM
menced to gag us. One sat down on
the side of the bed and deliberately tore
the sheets into strips, and made gags
which they put into our mouths. They
also tied our feet with cord rope They
first rolled some of the torn sheet,
around our ankles, so the cords
would not cut them. After all this had
been done they closed all the room
doors and went out. Shortly after
they came into the room and took Mr..
Vanh@venburgh out, one of them ask
ed me for the revolver. I told him 1
didn't know where it was. He said.
"You did not get chance to use it,
did you ~ After they got through
riding the bank, they came up to the
men in the hall, and all went out
They had not been gone over a minut
or two before l heard MIR. Vanh@vene
burgh trying to get out of bed in the
next room. I called to him the best l
could to be still or they would murder
him. I soon heard him 60 down stairs
to alarm the neighbors. My daughter
Sarah cut the strings which bound my
feet. The handouts had to be filed |
off,"
Miss Sarah Vdnh9uenburg's state
ment-I sleep in room alone. The
first I heard was o loud noise. Il
thought l was dreaming. When I
came to my senses there were two men
in the room beside my bed. One of
them placed his hand over my mouth,
the other placed the steel handouts on
my hands, after he put my hands be-
hind me. They let me remain where 1
was at first, and finally took me into
my mothers room and placed me in
bed with her. then remained quiet,
as they did not harm me. After the
man placed the gag in my mouth, hav-
ing first placed it in the pitcher of
water on the table, he patted me on the
cheek and told me not to be fright
ened. My ma said she was sick, and
he said that was too thin. He took
one of the cuffs off her hand. and made
her lie down. She had been sitting up
in bed before. When they left the
room I slipped my hand out of one of
the cuffs, and got knife and cut the
ropes which were on my feet, and all
the ropes from the feet of all the
others in the house.
The burglars treated the other
daughter in the same way. While the
men were In the house no name was
mentioned. One was heard to ask for
"No. g." This is supposed to be the
number OF men in the house, but there
were probably some in the yard out
side who kept watch, and did not come
in. The yard is surrounded by high
brick wall. All the doors in the house
were locked and bolted. When they
got ready to go out they compelled
Mr.. Vanh@venburgh to unfasten the
front door and let them out into the
street. He did not see in which direc-
ton hey went. Some of the neigh
bors say they heard wagon on the
street about 4 o'clock in the morn
ing. A man who was getting his
horses ready to go out drawing sand,
about quarter to o'clock, said he saw
team with wagon load of men go up
the street in the direction of Cohoes. |
Another man said he saw several men
dressed in dark clothes go over. the
Waterford bridge. 1t is supposed that |
when they left the house they separat
ed and went in different directions. |
When the burglars left the bank they
took with them everything that would
lead to their detection. They all wore
masks of various kinds till after they
left the bank. All that was found were
two dark lanterns and lot of new
steel handouts, which were taken pos
session of by the Troy officers who
went up to work up the case. The
bank vault was completely Quilted. The
books, papers, and everything they did
not want to take off they scattered over