St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-08-01
BURGLARS IN ST. JOHNSBURY.
Unsuccessful Attempt to Blow Open A
III. McLeod'S Safe.

II
III. McLeod'S Safe.
An unsuccessful attempt was made
early Wednesday morning to blow
open the safe of A H Mcleod at his
mill in Paddock village The burg
lars were frightened away by the po-
lice and have not yet been captured.
On Tuesday evening about II
O'Clock the police saw three strangers
around town and began to "shad-
ow" them. They followed them
around until the men reached the
Portland street bridge where they
disappeared. After the officers had
arrested man for intoxication they
started for home. Officers Frechette
and West were going toward Pad
dock village when they noticed a
light in McLeod's office. AS consid-
erail le business is done there nights
tfqxcircumstance at first awakened
no suspicion. But Mr.. West has a
memory as good as his famous
wrench" and he remembered that
three years ago he saw light in that
store and paid no attention to it,
and learned the next day that burg
lars had been there. At that time
the burglars were frightened away,
but not until they had damaged the
safe to the extent of 500.
The two men accordingly went up
to the mill and saw window open
and man walking around the of
flee. He appeared so much at home
that the officers thought even then
that he belonged to the mill Ac-
cording to Mr.. Frechette the light
was soon extinguished and three
men walked out of the door.
1t was then very dark and the Off
GERS could not see more than a few
feet ahead of them. Mr.. Frechette
are you?' At this the men all start
ed to run in different directions and
the police after them. 1t was so dark
that they soon lost sight of the
crooks" and as the train for Boston
came in few minutes after they
might have left town on that train.
The officers went to the other trains
but found no clue.
When Mr. Mcleod arrived at his
mill he found that he had left the out
side doors of his safe unlocked.
There was a combination lock on
these but the burglars simply opened
the outside doors and began to oper-
ate on the inner doors which were
locked with a Yale lock. The handle
of these doors was broken off and
the key hole plugged. One or more
charges of powder had been fired but
the safe had not been blown open.
On the floor was piece of iron from
a lathe, two chisels and bit stock.
The tools were taken from Jones &
Shields furniture store by prying
open the door early in the night.
On Wednesday morning the mill
was visited by many people and it
was several hours before Mr.. Nc
Leod could open his safe. He found
everything there all right, however,
and had the burglars succeeded in
blowing open the safe they would
have only found a few dollars and
some checks Mr.. Mcleod found
that the money till had been pried
open in his desk and change amount
ing to just So .55 taken. This was
his total loss and all the burglars Sc
cured for their trouble.
The police continued their search
for the burglars early yesterday
morning and found that they ran up
over the hill past the Ramsay place
and then down the fiat to the Port
land street railroad crossing. 1t is
now known that they could have
gone north on freight train which
was due here about that time. The
officers are still searching for them
with cOmmendable zeal.
Officer West returned from Canada
last night, and learned that three
men cracked a safe at Weys Mills a
few nights ago. The police think this
is the same gang, as both times they
made their escape in team. At ST.
Johnsbury they put up their team at
Bryant's stable, and said they had
come from Monroe to buy some ma
chimes of B. F. Rollins Soon after
two o'clock Wednesday morning a
team drove rapidly through Sum-
merville, and it is believed it contain
ed the burglars, who had taken their
team out of the stable several hours
before and hid it somewhere.
WHEELOCK.
Death of Mrs. II. J. Cree.
Mrs. 7. J. Cree died on Sunday in
her Seth year. On the night of July
II she received a shock of DaralySiS