Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-07-24

The Lewiston Journal of last evening gave the
following particulars:
The officers of the bank are reticcnt as TO the
amount Of plumber secured, but the village peo
pie think that SD 600 in bills and $40, 900 in t nit
ed States bonds is not an excessive estimate.
The bank is surrounded by stores and dwellings,
and is at the business centre of the village. At
| about one o'clock people in the reighborhood
were awakened by loud explosion This passed
for gun, or what not, and no alarm was given.
An hour later there another explosion, of
which more notice taken. At just three
O'Clock there was third and much louder noise,
which aroused everybody in the vicinity Five
minutes later three men were seen to issue from
the bank, one of them carrying pail. They went
rapidly up the street for about quarter of mile,
being seen by several residents from the windows
and being Intellectually pursued by one Or two
At shed opposite the church they had left COW
cred carriage, two driving off in this and a third
on horseback. The road taken was that towards
Lewiston, through Monmouth.
AT half past three the robbers seen driving
furiously through the latter place. The most sin
gular part of the affair is that the successive eX
plosions should not have put everybody in the
alarm. The burglars left behind them part cf
kit of tools
The explosion was Tremendous enc. 1t woke
people fifty rods from the bank, and must have
aroused the occupants of at least sixty houses. 1t
shattered the inner door, completely blew the lock
| into fragments, and even blew the sashe, out Of
| the windows dozen feet away
| The books in the upper part Of the safe were
not injured Many notes and papers Of value
were torn into shreds, and found in a badly but
not hopclessly mutilated condition. The flash
was plainly seen.
The burglars then re-entcrcd the bank, took
F; pail which stood there, emptied it of water, and
| filled it with miscellaneous plumber. They then
walked rapidly down the road, carrying the pail
| for about quarter Of mile, to shed back Of
the church, where they left a top buggy and
| saddle horse.
| The burglars were seen by quite number Of
residents, from windows, for the alarm was now
general, and were followed by one man, Mr..
| Woodward, who walked as far down as the de-
pot. Two of the three were dressed in light
clothes, and one was thick set. This last man had
| a heavy mustache. Two of the gang got rapidly
| into the buggy, where a confederate was await
ing them. The tn ird mounted the horse, and all
| left rapidly in the direction of Monmouth, where
| they were seen at Marston Hill by a lady, about
| 8 80 o'clock.
| II seems pretty certain that these men were not
workmen of the first class. 1t took them three
hours to open safe which did not present extraor-
binary obstacles to enter, to say the least. The
tools left behind show that the kit of the burglars
was not extensive, and was of a primitive nature.
The very bol,lness of the plan adopted. and the
manner in which the came to town and
showed themselves. would seem to argue that
| they were possessed Of Unprecedented GOODNESS or
| fell short of the expert standard by oonsdera-
| bic.
The parties who excited suspicion arrived on
| the 3 30 train. Two men descended from the
cars, ard were imme distey hailed by a third, who
| stood near at hand in a field at some dis
lance from the station. The three joined compa-
ny, and instead of walking toward the town, took
the opposite direction down the track The men
were next at about midnight when they
walked through the village on the way to the
bank. OF course they passed for nothing more
than tramp;, and no alarm then given.
As is always the case under such circumstances
it is difficult to get definite information from those
who are most directly concerned in the loss. The
heaviest loser is undoubtedly Mr.. c. M. Baily, the
we'll known oil cloth manufacturer, who was also
| President of the bank.
Other gentlemen who are said to have had large
amounts in government bonds in the safe, are
Chas. Wing, Esq, and Levi Jones, director Of
the bank but the bank itself is strong one, hay
ing large surplus, and no enc expects that its
credit will be impaired.
Probably the bulk of the loss in cash falls upon
the depositors in the savings bank, mostly girls
and operatives in the manufactures IN the village
$780, 900 is the general estimate of the amount
taken from the safe. The bank officers will hard