The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-04-04
BURGLARS.
Amateur Cracksmen Attempt tc
Enter the Vaults Of the First
National Bank.

An attempt was made last Sunday
night to enter the vaults of the First
National Bank which, though unsuc-
cessful, has rarely been equaled in
holiness, and was evidently deliber-
ately planned. The bank vault is
situated at the rear of the. counting
house, and is Joined in the rear by q
small room occupied by Mr.. H. D.
Hauser as a bed room, his bed stand
ing against the wall of the vault. A
door from the bedroom opens into
the back yard. At about midnight
Sunday night Mr.. Hauser, accom-
panied by Mr.. R%oudebush, went into
the bedroom, and found burglars
had been at work on the vault
wall and had succeeded in
making a hole large enough to adj
NIT a mans body Immediately over
the bed, upon which the cracksman
had evidently stood while at work
| with hammer and drill. The brick
and mortar which had been removed
from the wall were strewn upon the
bed, and a Ratchet, three much worn
| stone mason's drills and a gunny
SACK were lying beneath the hole, as
if they had been hastily dropped.
The character of the tools point un-
mistakably to the work of a novice.
The wall punctured, is only one, Of
the double wall which surrounds the
vault, and after penetrating both
walls the cracksman would have to
open a time lock, burglar proof safe
to get at the banks cash. It
seems evident that no experienced
brakeman would undertAkeso largea
lob with such insufficient tools. En-
trance to the bedroom was probably
gained through the back door, which
is believed to have been left open; as
there are no marks on the lock to in
dictate the use Of nippers. The job
was evidently deliberately planned,
as, aside from the knowledge of loca-
tons, and character of the vaults dis
played in the work done, a gentleman
who lives in one of the cottages in
the rear of the bank, says that last
Friday night about II o'clock, he
went TO his door and saw two men
stalding Oh The steps of the bedroom
door at the bank, and that upon
seeing or hearing him they ran
through the alley and out
on Quartz street. The men had but
little time to work, as Mr. Hauser
was in his bedroom between w
and eight o'clock in the evening and
returned again at midnight. At ten
o'clock Hon. w. Y. Pemberton and
DR.. F. 3. Gleason, who occupy offices
in the second story of the Bank
building, heard a continuous dead
ened pounding and concluded that
some one was putting down carpet
in the building. In the light of sub
sequent developments, they evil
IDENTIFY heard the cracksmen ham,
mering their drills, which were prob
ably covered with the gunny sack to
deaden the noise. No clue whatever
has yet been obtained as to the iden-
tity of the burglars. They were
probably some of the broken tramps
that have recently come into town,
who knew nothing of the con-
struction of the vault farther than
that it was built of brick. and after
getting through the first wall; and
finding another barrier of brick to be
penetrated they concluded they had
taken a bigger contract than they
could carry out, and gave up the job
in disgust. This probably accounts
for their absence when Mr.. Hauser
returned to the bank at IL o'clock.
This bungling attempt to rob a
bank in our city is no evil
dence whatever that the town
is. infested by an organized gang of
cracksmen, any more than was the
attempt recently made to burglarize
Jerry Sullivan's jewelry store.
Neither indicates more, than that
there are broken men in the camp
who would be burglars if they could.
In both cases the men worked in q
most bunglipg manner and virtually
without tools.
Siluar Row District Court