Daily Republican., 1879-11-07
MARKED BURGLARS,

Masked BURGLARS.
Two Foolish Old Chester Count,
Fariners.-A Fortune StO wed A wa,
. in an Old Safe, And Falls siPrea,
to the Burglars.
The following particulars have jus
been cleaned of robbery by masked
burglars on Wednesday night at Tag
CARTS Corners, two miles north of Kennel
Square, Chester county, Pa, that tn,
largeness of the sum taken and the
audacity .of the thieves exceed any.
thing of the kind that has occurred in
the eastern part OF the State. In &
lonely farm house near the cross roads
lives George e. aud John Bailey, al
invalid sister and young niece.
These were the only occupants of the
house, and their lives were as unevent
full as possibly could be. The brothers
were very secretive in disposition and
penurious. they were known to have
ready money when large interest was te
be gained by the letting of it. With
out being miserly they were exceeding
" close. Their heighbors had not
however, given them the credit fol
being the capitalists which this morn.
ing's tale discloses. The house was
two stories in height and all the win
dows and doors were firmly secured with
bolts and bars.
| DETAILS OF THE ROBBERY.
For forty years the three old people,
brothers and sister, had been expecting
the advent of burglars. Patience gener,
ally has its reward, and they came We'd
nesday night. The elder brother slept on
the first floor, while the other brother
had his room at the head of the stairs.
The invalid sister and the young niece
also had their rooms on the second
floor. They retired early and about l2
o'clock Mr.. G. Bailey, who slept on the
ground floor, was rudely awakened by
a shake and told to get up and find the
key of the safe. Sitting upright in bed,
he saw three maseed men before him,
two Of whom brandished revolvers and
the third held a.light. Like diplo-
matist the old man, trembling under
the burden of age and deadly terror de
clared that he did not know where the
key to the safe was. As matter of
fact, the key lay on the top of the safe
itself. The safe was an antiquated af
fair, and when the burglars took look
at it as it stood in the corner of the old
mans sleeping apartment they told its
owner that they did not want the key.
OPENING THE SAFE.
The old mans head was soon envel-
oped in a blanket, and one Of the trio
standing gnard over him to enforce
silence, the two others went to work to
make thoroughfare to the contents
of the "safe." An outer lock was
wrenched off with a 'jimmy," and,
boldly attacking the hinges, the front
door was torn open after about fifteen
minutes work. Within the safe were
found $ll5,000 in notes, mortgages,
railroad bonds and other securities,
SO, 500 in bank bills and small change
and SO, 900 in gold. The bonds and
securities were all taken out and care.
fully examined, the greatest part of
them being rejected. Some West Cbes-
ter railroad bonds were taken how
ever, together with the greenbacks
and national bank notes. The bag con-
tanning the gold, after inspection, was
set down carefully at the side of the
safe where it could be taken up after
the overhauling of the securities and
papers, but strange as it may appear
The burglars left the house without it.
After they had completed their search
N the safe they rihed the old mans
pockets, stealing fine gold watch and
I'll his loose money. They then left
he house, leaving the wretched old
nan almost dead with fear. 1t was not
Until nearly four o'clock that he could
ummon courage to crawl up stairs and
.waken his brother and the rest of the
amily.
AN uNAvAGLISG PURSUIT.
The alarm was carried to the nearest
Ieig bors, aud in the early morning
light a band ofusually peaceful country
olks, armed with flnt-lock guns and
'runlng knives, might have been seen
astening villageward in pursuit of the
Dbbers. The tracks of the men could
o plainly followed in the newly fallen
now until they neared Kennett Square. !
nce in that village the burglars had
droitly walked on the walks, a
'hich were covered by awnings, and !
v doubling on their tracks had oblit-
rated all traces-at least so say villa
ers and country people who, had they
,et the scoundrels, would have taken 4
lem dead or alive. There are those Il
nchartable enough to say that, like a,
IL hunters in the fable, they looked II
ally for tho tracks and not for the bur- !,
lars. :,
Notwithstanding his momentary ter +
n old Mr.. Bailey is confident that he
N recognize the men. Speaking of
eir personal appearance, he says:
The one who stood by my bedside was G
| elderly, gray-headed man, probably &c
xty years of age, shortish and thick "
t. The lower part of his face was +,
vered with whiskers, and above that W
wore kind of narrow bandage
ross the mouth and nose. The one
no opened the safe was younger-I
ould think about 40-and the third vi
Is tall, slim young man, and these Sc
o latter also had deal of whiskers pr
their faces, which l think were false. je'
ter riling the safe they asked me if
at was all the money had. told
Dm it was and they then went away. ,
The burglary was altogether very ed
ngling affair, and it is the general 90
nion that it was the work of local gr
,peradoes. Ou the other hand, five Col