Los Angeles herald., 1892-05-09
WILMINGTON BURGLARS,
They Blow Open a Safe and
Steal a Horse.
A Whole Lot Of Money Which They
Failed to Get.
An Adroit Piece OF Work-How the
job Was Done-Major Hines
Loses Horse and
Buggy. Nh

Information was received in the city
yesterday that successful safe robbery
occurred about2 O'Clock yesterday morn
ing at Wilmington. At that hour sew.
eral persons heard an explosion, but
paid no attention to it. and it was not
until early in the morning that it was
discovered that the safe intJoe Silva q
general merchandise store, on Main
street, had been cracked. When the
proprietor reached the store the door of
the safe was discovered blown to pieces
and about 500 missing.
The store is divided about the middle
OF the room by partition, and there is
q saloon in the rear end behind the
partition. Two main counters run along
the sides OF the store and at the end Of
one OF the counters adjoining the parti-
tion was the location of the safe. II
stood close to the wall. Scattered around
on the floor and counters several black
smith tools were found-the imple-
ments with which the Job was done.
They included brace and bit.
crowbars, chisels, pieces of iron and a
sledgehammer, which had been stolen by
the burglars from blacksmith shop
near by. A hole had been cut in the
lower left hand corner of the safe door,
into which a charge of powder was in
serted and exploded, tearing the door
from its hinges, and breaking it into
several pieces. The money found by
the cracksmen was in the open compart-
ments of the safe, and they failed to
open the burglar-proof drawer at the
bottom, which contained $4,000 in
money. On the counter near the safe
was a bottle of whisky, half emptied,
which showed that the burglars
smoothed their work by pulling at the
bottle. They went to the till in the sa-
loon, and removed the bottom, securing
several dollars which had been left
there. Beyond this and the 500 moth
ing else appeared to have been touched
either in the store or the saloon.
The robbers effected an entrance in
the rear of the building. They first
pried off staple to a gate back of the
: building, and then pried open window.
The work seemed to have been done by
cool hands at the business. They left
no traces behind them as to their iden-
tity, but the sheriff's Office is of the
opinion that they are the same crooks
who have been operating Of late in the
country COWnS.
Saturday was busy day in Whining
ton, owing to the holding of Democratic
primaries, and there were a great many
people in town, amongst whom the
burglars passed unnoticed. There was
considerable hilarity at night, and they
were enabled to make their arrange
ments for the job without attracting
attention to themselves az strangers.
George Hines, ex-collector of the port,
was sufferer during the same night,
having had valuable horse stolen. Il
10 thought probable that the same per-
sons who robbed the safe did like
favor for Major Hines, % the theft was
characterized by the same coolness as
the first job. The horse, which is
worth $400 or $500, was in pasture
near the residence. Major Hines lives
about half mile from Joe Silva's store.
The thieves caught the horse, led him
around to the stable, and proceeded
deliberately to harness him. Then
they rolled out buggy and hitched up.
They drove away without attracting any
attention. and the loss was not discov-
cred until morning.