Daily Republican., 1881-08-01
AFTER THE CITY'S CASH
AN ATTEMPT TO BURGLARIzE
THE TAX OFFICE.
Robbers, After Entering the BuAld
ing, Blow open the Safe
bus Miss q Cool
$4,000.

could not open the uOOr. Liz uooi ~do
partly opened, large crack show
ed itself between the jam and the door,
and the marks upon the woodwork in
dicated an attempted burglary. Il
The astonisheu clerk hurried around
back of the building and effected an en-
trance through one of the windows look
ing out Oh the City Hall yard. When
he got inside a surprising state OF affairs
rmet his gaze. The room was Uttered
and full of smoke and little lnvestl-
CATION showed that an attempt hau peeh
made to blow open the safe in the room.
Tax Collectors Edmund PROVOST and
Do mis- Kane were at once informed anu
| went to the Office, and thorough ex-
animation was made.
| Very little examination served to
show that the work had been done by
professional crib crackers, but its bung.
ling execution was quite plain. The
rascals had entered the Office by forcing
the front door. To gain entrance d pow
erful "jimmy" had been brought into
play. "A heavy wooden strip, which
held the lock and which was nailed up
against the door Jam had been partly
forced OFT, which ha allowed the bolt
to shoot out of it's place. The door then
swung open very easily. After the
burglars had entered they closed and
fastened the door, so as to prevent the
break ny III being noticed from the
street. rhr fastening was done by
means OF two screws, and these were
sun in the wood WORK when Mr..
Mealy made the discovery
BLASTING THE SAFE,
The safe in the tax office stands close
to he door, and on the King street side.
lit il between the door and large win
|dow. The safe is an old one of llerring's
manufacture, and has been IN the once
for some time. 1t was Old Wheii pi'1ceu
in the office. On this the rooperS direct
ed their efforts. Three holes, one pe-
low the other, We're bored INTO the IRON
where the doors meet, and i'll the neigh
bnrhood of the lock combination. ms
part of the work was done i'll IL bungllng
wav, The holes were llneVehly
made, and the boring showed that the
fellows had gone at their task III very
clumsy way. A blast of powder iao
been inserted in the aperature they
formed.
The hole inside showed the traces of
burnt powder, and the window frame
was scorched, either by the flash or the
fuse with which the blast was set OFT.
The safe, however, had not yielded, the
charge not having been OF sufficient
force, and it was closed us tight when
: the discovery was made as 1T was when
: the Collectors left the office on Saturday
8 night.
The burglars did not make second
attempt to blow open the safe, having
e, identity been frightened away.
Tnev left behind them fine new pock-
. ct knife, which was found above the
!, door, ard silk umbrella nearly new.
' The umbrella was wrapped in paper
and lay in the back part OF the room.
i, 1t is plain that the robbers did their
. work early this III orning. Mr.. Provost
was in the Office at nine o'clock last
night, and nothing was disturbed at
that hour. The fact that tue room was
full of smoke at I o'clock, when Mr..
i Mealy entered the otii e would indicate
e that the blast had been set OFT but
4 short tire before. Whether they were
!. still inside, when he was trying to get
in at the front door, and made their es-
cane at that time is not positively
known.
Eliza Frazer, the old colored woman,
+ who cleans and looks after the build
g ing, tried to get into the office between
q , and 8 O'Clock this moIning, but her
# kew would not open the door. The bur
: glars must have been inside at tht
e time working away quietly at the safe
a Mrs. Frazer saws she noticed u mar
+. standing at Sixth and King streets III
e front of he law office of Levi Z. BIRD
V Esu., while she was trying to enter the
Il building. He was watching her intent
", and When she passed oil down Sixth
street toward the new city building, ne
retreat,d so silently that she could
not hear his footsteps. 81 can't say
g what kind of looking man he was,
10 said she, to IA REPUBLICAN reporter to-
= day, "only he was not very tall. ne
Il walked as if he had something on his
>, feet that lie, him walk easy. "
~ Strange to say, no one i'll the neigh
: borhood heard any noise, and the po!
" ice, not half square away, knew noth
d. inr of the attempted robbery until i'll
formed by the tax Office folks.
WHAT THE THIEVES MISSED.
~ There is no doubt that the thieves an
- ticipated making "a splendid haul. lh'
receipts from city taxes ON Saturda.
- amounted in round numbers to abou
81 $40, 600, that being the last day the Jul
IT, rebate could be taken advantage of
. The collections of Mr.. PROVOST wer'
+ $50, ,467. % and of Mr.. Kane about ~
u 600. The following item in the las
issue of the SUNDAY Star is thought u
t. have started tie robbers at work;
or "Yester,lay City Tax Receivers toot
Or in city and school taxes 10 the amouh
70 of $50, 900, the largest day srtcelpts dur
IN ing the emonth 1t was the last DAY 10
the allowance of the five per cent. re-
= bate, hence the rush. The tax dupll
s. Gates this year amount to about S25O,
= 900, and total collections for the monti
of July will probably reach S2lO,Ooo.
u They broke in expecting no doubt u
" come across this nice little sum III tn
% safe, but the collectors had wisely de
y posted the largest days receipts in TIN
bank on Saturday evening: Therefore
~ they would have been almost empt.
or handed had they succeeded in opening
II the safe. 49,,
The safe contained very little casl'
be and some 81 800 in checks, which Cal
e. only be negotiated by the collectors
al Mr.. Kane, county tax collector, had .
in his desk in the same room, but thi
was not disturbed. The total amoun
>; of collections for July are as follows
u, Mr.. Provost, upper district, Sl32,OOl
81 Mr.. Kane, lower district, Sll9,OOO.
Is 1t Possible
~ 'st that remedy made of such common
~, in,.la nlnnta ~ Hons RuChu, Man