San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-05-25
DON'T make rools 81 your

mouth, but heard not the slightest indication
that any one was inside The sheriff threw
down the door with angry impatience. What
nextG How were we to capture theml Should
we have to starve them out, or smoke them
outi
We divided ourselves into watches two
men were to stand guard for one hour, while
the others retired to the bank to snatch a lit
tie sleep, if possible. In the meantime several
policemen, having heard the firing, had come
to the vicinity of the adobe One of them
stationed himself in the passage and two
more took their stands in the street and alley
ready to spread the alarm if an escape was at
tempted Before leaving the watch to their
duty we fastened the trap door down Sc
curely.
From this time till $50 in the morning
nothing occurred. The watchers were regu-
larly relieved, and none of them had reported
| any signs of life in the tunnel But as the
banks business must go on without Interrupt
| ton, it was necessary to open the vault.
There was less chance Of the robbers try
ing to escape that way than by the other end
OF the tunnel When listening to them work
| ing, hardly supposed that they had got into
the vault. Besides, it was now broad day, the
streets were full of people, and the bold
| pared for them
| Half a dozen men gathered about the
vault door, fully armed and ready for any
emergency As was the one rlost familiar
with the combinations on the vault doors, it
was my duty to unlock them. did not rel
+ ish the position of first target for bullet
from the inside, but mustered up my cour-
age, said nothing, and went to work. The
outer door drew open without hesitation,
| the inner door was the one to be feared.
When the bolts of the inner hoor had been
thrown back | found that it scarcely
could be moved, as the stone under it was
raised more than before. At length three
Of the strongest in the party manage to
force it open. and the inside. of the vault
could be seen. No one was there But the
aoor showed startling condition Of things
The large stone in front, of the safe was
raised up at one side nearly two feet. 1t was
! supported by jack screws which had bcea
used to force it up In ten minutes more the
robbers if uninterrupted would have been i'll
the vault. Unfortunately for them in their
workings of the previous night they had ac-
cidentlv displaced the stone that ran under
the inner door, or their plot might not have
been discovered till too late to arrest it.
After few minutes of surmiSc ard speCu-
l2tion, MIR. AXtell stepped up to the hole and
shouted down the same proposition the sher
iii had made at the other end. There was
no response whatever. He then directed me
to open the safe. and proceed with the buSt
ness of the day as usual Two men were left
on guard in the vault, and the rest were sta
toned in the back room III who knew Of
the situation were cautioned to keep it to
themselves. and very few of our customers
Il
their feet.
At abont 1850 one of the men in the rear
room came to the door and called in Mr.. AK
tell. There he heard as bold proposition as
ever man made One of the guards had vol
unteered to 60 down into the tunnel! He was
a deputy sheriff, a Mexican named Jose
, Charez, who, becoming impatient that the
robbers did not show themselves determined
to stir them up in their own quarters.
He was a daring, reckless fellow, accustom,
ell oil his life to deeds of violence. He lived
Oh excitement and was ever restless when
not on the trail of some horse thief or muir
, derer He knew the risk of going into the
. tunnel, but said he had as good a chance as
the rObDers-aS a matter of fact, in such al
> encounter every advantage was on their side
and that was all he wanted. The rest OF
the men, brave though they were, shrugged
their shoulders, and declined underground
warfare
} Cbarez was to enter the tunnel through the
, barrel After locking the vault doors again
those Of Us who could leave work went TO the
, adobe house. The guards there had nothing
to report. We took the fastenings off the
f trap door and lifted it. The Mexican threw
f The light of a lantern down the hole, re
marked that no one was to be seen, made
ready his revolver. and quickly dropped
through into the darkness
, All of us trembled with excitement anC
listened with painful intensity. Before We
were aware what was taking place. we saw
. the Mexican reappear suddenly at the montl
p of the hole. and heard four shots ring out il
y quick succession. Then the Mexican bounded
4 up through the smoke, and pointing wildly
| to the floor near the hole shouted II sho
one of 'em under there"
n We waited for nothing further, but hur
1 riedlv pulled up the boards around the hole
q The floor stood some distance above thu
Y ground, and in this space was the body of
e man lying motionless We lifted him out
and laid him carefully on the floor. He wa
already dead.
+ Those of us who were unaccustomed t,
death in so frightful a form were entirely un
+ nerved by this sight; but the sheriff and hi
men did not forget even at such time tn
e business of the hour, and quickly searches
S under the floor for other robbers Finding
5 no signs of more of them, they came up t
b hear the Mexican's story.
i He said that he had taken a few steps for
k ward into the tunnel, when the hole began /
e grow smaller and smaller so that to procee