The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-01-04
BOLD ROBBERY.
The Post Office Broken Into and
Robbed Of Over $4,000
Re~arsI OF 500 oGerea BY The Mar,

u Nt0t OF we DDttASSL anu lllttSl
r6bberies that has taken place in tt5JIs CITY
for long time past vas perpet}afe1 at the
Z General Post Office betweGpTI o,ciock SAT-
urday night and o eli5ck SUNDAY morning.
The binding W entered, the two safes
opened aj an ,0jG 10 in gold, silver and
certiij>5SIes carried oil. The first to diseoy-
eebfl1e fact was Mr.. I. r. Peterson, Assist
ant Postmaster General. 1t appears that
he had been working III the office until II
/ O'Clock Saturday night THAT hour, after
locking up his safe. lac left the office and
/ walked to the corner OF Nuuanu and King
/ streets, and then tool, an express aud went
/ home About five O'Clock Sunday morning
/ he entered the Post Office on the Eva side
! in company with native named Kamailoa.
+ lie noticed that the safe was opened and
that some money and papers were lying on
/ the floor. He at once went to look at the
safe in thcother part Of the office and found
It also was open. He closed it and then
telephoned up TO the Police Station.
/ The safe used by Mr.. Peterson stands in
/ the rear corner of the building on the
/ Bethel-street side, in the registered letter
/ department. 1t IS somewhat Of an old safe
4 and bears the name OF The Auberlin and
r. Ehman, San Frarcisco." IN it, when
! he left, was 1922 u in gold and silver, most
! ~ small coins. The safe appeared to have
been opened without any force whatever
The other safe stands on the Waikiki
side OF the building between the first and
second windows Mr. Nathan Willfong.
/ the money order clerk has charge of this
safe. 1t is a Magneso Calcite Fire-proof
! Company safe, manufactured in Boston.
/ When Mr.. Willfong locked it up on Satur-
day it contained 81 ,372 in gold, $3.50 % in
/ silver, $50 in certificates, all belonging to
the Government, and $3.50 in gold, silver
and certificates, his own property, all of
which is missing The total amount there
fore taken from this safe was 50, 1914 %, but
\ 500 must be deducted from it, as a certifi-
cate for that amount was found at the foot
of the steps leading to upstairs later on.
The combination on this safe would not
work until a locksmith had been sent for,
as there was small dent on it, On ia
bic close by was found one OF the drawers
belonging to the safe quite empty, and on
the floor a number OF letters and drafts, all
of which were found complete.
Entrance appears to have been effected
| by one OF the two rear doors by forcing off
the catch. On examining the screws
which kept the catch on it was noticed
that the head OF the top screw was bright, as
if a serewdriver had been recently applied to
it, The catch was found on the floor iii the
next room some distance from the door,
was also tool used in picking locks. The
door which leads to the yard III rear of the
building from Bethel street was found
open.
When Mr. Peterson telephoned to the
Station House. officer Akau soon arrived
on the spot, and no one was allowed to en-
ter the building. His Excellency Charles
T. Quick, Minister of the Interior, arrived
at the office at O'Clock, and gave special
instructions to the police, and later on he
handed the building over into the posses
sion of the Marshal. 1t was 8 O'Clock be
fore the latter heard Of the affair. His
| Excelency The Attorney General also Wis
tied the Office during the morning, and with
the Minister of Interior, was engaged in
! vestigating the occurrence until late hour
| in the afternoon.
! I POSTMASTER General Whitney had been
IEaway on Hawaii ali the week and only ar
riEed home ut O'Clock Sunday morning
4 on the Kinau when he heard the news.
He at once FASTENED to the office, and
| found that it was only too true.
During the morning one of the drawers
! of the safe used by Mr.. Willfong and bag
! which had contained his private money,
/ were found in the yard in rear of Frank
| Brown & Co.'S store. Upon close in
! vestigation ii was found that some person
or persons had climbed over the fence
/ which leads into Pierce & Co. 5 yard, for
/ on the mauka side was barrel with box
1 on top, and on the makai side board had
been placed against the fence for the pur-
! pose of aiding in getting over. There
were fresh marks on the board, and the
top Of the fence was dented as if.by boots.
Near the safe used by Mr.. Peterson
stood a table and desk In one of the
drawers locked up was $500 in gold belong
ing to one of the clerks, G. L. Desha, which
was overlooked Some loose change in a
drawer in the desk was unmolested as was
also a small amount left on a table il the
| room upstairs.
As yet no clue has been obtained to the
perpetrators of this daring robbery Mrs.
/ Jackson, who resides in the house in rear
/ OF the Post Office on Bethel street, states
that about 3 O'Clock Sunday morning she
! heard two persons talking in n low tone of
voice for several minutes. shortly after
she heard carriage drive up, and after
/ standing a little while it was driven up IL
| the direction OF King street. SIR. John
Cassidy was up ut twenty minutes past 4
o'clock. and on going round the Post Office
corner noticed a brake containing, as he
thought three persons, coming from the
/ Bethel street side of the Office on to Mere