Los Angeles herald., 1890-08-07

The sensational robbery of the Cali
ifornia Loan and Trust Company as men
toned in yesterdays HERALD has
caused widespread comment.
Mr.. M. N. Avery, the secretary of the
company, man of unquestioned in
tegrity, yesterday made a full frank
statement of the matter at his Office in
the Phillips block as follows:
''The story published this morning is
in the main correct" he said = "There
was in the safe $500 in coin, Mrs. Croft's
jewelry consisting of a pin and ring of
opals surrounded by diamonds, and the
diamond earrings belonging to Mr.. Car
rams client"
On July 18th at the close of business 1
balanced the cash and put it in the bur-
glar proof box in the safe. The jewels
were put in drawer and locked up.
locked the cash box myself. Mr.. w. M
Sheldon locked the steel inner doors of
the safe and the outside DOORS"
'Were you the last one in the
office? ?''
''No, Mr.. Parke was the last one
here. No, he did not know the combi-
ndClOnS VI I1c SAFE. w ucH lolI, Vui.
Sheldon and Mr.. Parke were both here.
staid until Monday morning"
bery?"
"When 1 came down on Monday
morning."
"Had no one been to the Office be-
tween Saturday and Monday?"
eyes, Mr.. Sheldon, our President
stopped in on his way home from church
on Sunday, and opened the safe to get
description of some property which was
in the books. When he opened the safe
he found the key of the inner door in
the lock, where we usually left it. On
Monday, when we opened the safe, that
key was gone, and was found in drawer
of the safe which was locked, and the
steel door was locked as well. There
were two keys to that drawer. One was
found in the drawer when it was opened.
The other was on Mr.. w. M. Sheldon's
key ring. Mr.. Sheldon's brother NJ. N.
Sheldon had the only other key to the
steel door. He went to Santa Monica
on Saturday and did not return until
Monday"
{" How did you discover the robbery?"
"When l came down on Monday
morning we found itIout. The circum-
stances were as follows: M. N. Shell
don before I came down had told his
brother to open the safe and get some
notes out. When 1 reached the office,
President Sheldon went with me to the
safe. He said to me, Didn't you put
the cash in the burglar box on Saturday
night?" 1 said eyes, that is how l
came to go to the safe. We then found
that the money and jewels were gone.
We Immediately notified the police"
Z" Was Mr.. Baker in the city on Sun
day."
1t was on Saturday that Mr.. Dam
ron visited your office?''
Yes. l first visited him at his Office
and collected $50 from him to apply on
the Lindley note. Saturday he came in
and paid us $40 more. 1 then sent the
note to the district attorneys office"
"Did he not think that you were
going to keep the notes ?"
:" suppose go. He did not know that
we had sent them over to the district
attorney"
1T looks very much as if one of you
four men who knew the combinations to
the safe must have stolen the jewels and
money does it not %
" Yes it does. 1 can prove that did
not do it, and l trust the others can.
No, can say nothing about my sus-
picions."
President Sheldon declined to make
any statement. In the course of con-
versation he showed very plainly that he
suspected some one. He mentioned the
fact that some time ago the combina-
tions to the safe had been written on
piece Of paper. This might have been
mislaid and found by the person who
committed the robbery. He declined to
mention the object OF his suspicion for
fear of doing him an injustice.
While the affair on its face is mex
plicable, some very skillful detective
work has been done on it, and several
facts discovered which cannot yet be
made public, but which will very prob
ably lead to an energetic prosecution Of
the criminal. The district attorneys
office will be heard from very soon.