The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-02-10
carr..uondenes ofMs Mtw York Herald.

Correspondence ofhe Ntw York Herald.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass, Jan. 26, 1876.
One of the most d ing and best
planned bank robberies on record occur.
red al the proverbially quiet town Of
Northampton last night.
The particulars of the affair, as gather
ed from the bank officers and others, are
as follows 1T seems that about mid
night last night band of seven men, dis
guised, appeared at the house of John
Whittlesey, cashier of the Northampton
National Bank, on Elm street, and speed
lily took possession of it. Mr.. Whittlesey
was awakened by the grasp of a mans
hand upon his throat, and his wife, lying
by his side, was aroused by the hands OF
another man at her throat. Man and
wife were both quickly handcuffed, but
were assured that if they did as they were
told no harm would come to them. Mr..
Whittlesey was taken to lower room,
one of the gang held pistol to bis head,
and another standing by with paper
and pencil, they demanded his keys to
the bank and bank vault, and proceeded
to question him as to the combinations of
the locks of the vault doors; and here
their coolness and skill were displayed in
an :traordinary manner. Mr.. Whittle-
sew was told to answer correctly and rs
rapidly as possible the numbers of the
combination on the outer vault door, the
inner vault door and of the locks on the
inner safes in the vault. He answered us
directed, but gave false combinations in
each case. But no sooner had he gone
through the list than the man who had
taken down the numbers given ordered
him to repeat them. This, of course, he
was unable to do; and it thus being evil
dent that he had lied he was then obliged
to give the true combinations, being
prompted to haste and accuracy by a say-
age dig in his ribs and an evident dispo-
sition on the part of the burglar who held
the pistol to summarily shorten his earth
ly career, his personal injuries being
really painful, although not dangerous.
But although forced to give the true COM
bination of the lock Mr.. Whittlesey as.
sured the burglars that it would be of lit.
tie use to them, as he had but one of four
KEYS necessary to move the combination
of the outer vault door. After getting all
the information they could from Mr..
Whittlesey they gagged him, as they hac.
previously gagged and bound the other
members of the household-his wife, a
servant girl and visitor, Miss Matte G..
White, of Williamsport, Pa, and also, in
the other part of the house, T. B. Cutler,
printer, his wife and Maria Benton, an
invalid boarder, making seven persons in
all, the same number as in the burglars
gang.
THE ROBBERY.
Waiting till four o'clock, the time at
which the two or three watchmen North
ampton possesses, including one whose
special duty is to look after the safety of
the banks, were accustomed to go home,
five of the burglars proceeded to the
bank, which they found no difficulty in
entering. The bank officers this morn
ing found the dials of the lock of the
outer door of the vault broken, so that
they have been unable to get into the
vaults and have been in suspense all day
in regard to its contents. Some have
been inclined to the opinion that the bur-
glars gained access to the treasure, and if
they did they got magnificent haul, and
that they then closed the vault door and
broke the dials to prevent the bank Off
cials from knowing the details of the loss
and thus securing one day in which to
dispose of their plunder without danger
of detection. The majority, however, are
of the opinion that the dials of the lock
were broken in the attempt to get the
door open, and that the burglars were
obliged to leave before they had accom-
plis6ed their object, and this theory is
most likely to be the correct one. When
the two burglars who were left on guard
at Mr.. Whittlesey's house went away,
about five o'clock, they left all the in
mates gagged and bound. But MIR. Whit
tlesey and Miss White soon succeeded in
getting rid of their gags, and by their
calls attracted passers by, who came in
and released them. While waiting at
the house the robbers were careful to ap-
propriate Mr.. Whittlesey's gold watch,
worth $3.50, and also what money they
could find, amounting, however, to no
very large sum. There is plenty of eyi-
dence that the job was put up by gang
of professionals, but very little idea as to
who they were. Six strangers got upon
the first train for this city this morning at
Northampton. Five of them had tickets
and the sixth paid his fare and inquired
what time the train left this city for New
York. These were undoubtedly the bur-
glars, who by this time are, doubtless, in
safe hiding in New York. There is also
good evidence that they have been in the
town for some time planning this and
perhaps other like burglaries.
The beauty of having a bank vault
locked, with the keys of several parts dis
tributed about the town, in keeping of
different officials Of the bank, is illustra-
ted by the attempt of these burglars.
The officials having the other parts of the
key, all of which were necessary to give
entrance, live, some of them, a mile from
the cashiers house, and to handcuff and
gag all of the four families would have
let out the game. Beyond tho frig ght of
the various persons gagged and hand
cufed no serious personal injury was sus-
tanned, though the invalid Miss Benton
suffered so much from excitement as to
be quite ill to-day, and fatal result is
even feared.
An entrance was effected to the vaults
of the Northampton Bank, by the bank
officials, about midnight, when it was
found that the burglars had indeed been
there before them, but just how much
they got for their pains is still uncertain,
but it is thought it will prove large sum,
although much of the securities which
were carried off is of kind that burglars
will find it difficult to turn into cash.
The bank officers and safe folks are COM
pletely thrown aback at the success of
the burglars in getting into the vault with
only one of the four keys, even although
they had the correct combination of the
safe, the makers having claimed that no
living man could open the vault doors
without the four keys. That the gang
was "crack" and one who well under
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