The sun., 1893-12-17
coon STORIES or rnE PRESENT DAK
Ts. Tragedy hs, o,.r,sos . Trio ss n.uh
HurGiarr.

The attempt to rob the Second National
Bank Of Hartsvlle was such a neat piece OF
work. as looked upon from the crooks stand
point, and the failure was brought about In
such strange. tragical manner. that the story.
a. whole. will interest you. A year before
the occurrence was appointed night watch.
man at the bank. All banks Of Importance
have . day and night watchman. though the
one on day duty is generally spoken OF as a
porter. l came on duty at o'clock In the
evening, and the tery first thing 10 be done
was to see that all doors and windows were se-
cured Then began In the Presidents room
with my broom and swept and busted and nut
things to rights all through the place. This
took about an hour Just to the left Of the
cashiers window was small fire and burglar
proof safe, and I had to try the door Of this o
see II II was locked.
At the rear OF the building was the vault. en-
closed by iron work extending from floor to
selling. The door opening into the vault had
aheavy lock- and the door OF the vault itself.
which was steel cage about IL by II In size.
was provided with lock supposed to be proof
against the wiles OF the most skilful burglar.
inside the vault were two large fire and bur-
Rlar proof safes to hold the cash and valuable
papers. and being thus doubly secured. with q
well armed watchman ranging about, the
bank officials did not worry about burglars.
But there was still further protection. bur
Glar alarm connected with doors and windows.
and q special wire ran from the bank to the
police station. | was required to send In
signal over this wlro every thirty minntoa
The cods OF signals ran thus: One push on the
button, All il we'll hero;" two pushes. am
I'll" three pushes. Help wanted at once"
By q o'clock in the evening l was through
with all my work. had scnt in my signal and
was seated in the iresldents room with a
SsS IN er % sShGnF 1O The rsH sSna Sp' would H
fall asleep. and sleep for exactly ~ minutes.
When the 1850 signal was sent ip. would
elumber again until a minute to ] o'clock.
You may think this a bit odd. but l venture to
cay that eight watchncn out Of ten do the
on Iny mind that m ust wake un at certain
moment Il wSsensy enoush TO Dc SO From
Sometimes ] woke five seconds too soon. and
sometimes Ave or ak seconds past the ~ min
the furthtst.. My sleeping. wa. not exactly
dorelction .; duty, MS the burglar alarm could
be depended on to wake mo IN, and the signal
at every half hour was proof that everything
was all right in the bank.
Of rooms directly above the bank we're vacated
by lawyer. and dentist moved In. Before
strsngsr. he lad to @ secure @ mmendations
and thoroughly identify himself. He claimed
rom hai H IozSn ws Known me- p'q resS.nss df
that city oil OF which were afterwari found
to 9ays Hssn The nan P gaSe his name
up very handsomely and was soon established
In business This fellows real profession
real name vas I'd WiiiamS. lie did not
know on- dental instrument from another, hut
came to him. There were four rooms in the
suite. The front room was the paror. the Sec
room. and the fourth a bedi Dom. The bed
room WAS just above small room at the rear
washroom. In building the bank the ceiling
Of the first floor had been made secure by nll-
ing the spaces between the Joists with brick.
over the vault there were plates OF iron n
Williams hired the rooms as part of plan
plot, but the other two did not appear until the
doer With h
ready 70 spring his trap. All his work was
OF his bedroom and removed bricks and mortar
until only crust remained, 1t was slow work.
burglar alarm, the police, wire and the hall
OF sleeping after midnight, though he probably
suspected L. AZ any rate a. i2;t5 one
broke through the crust Of the ceiling lowered
themselves down by means Of q rope; and ut
throat, the muzzle OF arovolver was placed to
my temple, and ope ed my eyes to SEQ three
cnanE aheG sssSfS saS Williams as he e. 20 b,
and :seRped back us h H1SsrstHId ,S
You cannot prevent it, ana so you may as well
save your skull from being cracked. We are
Ps snS YOU w 9 not bs hS SGs
,"idO:" replied, You have got me dead to
your mind. that don I answer any ,Iuessionss
We shall ask none" replied Williams as he
ipst az the clock struck he stepped oyer
that ali was we'll. How no got onto the signal
wegever could understand but he used 1t cor
rectly and then turned and said:
" Well, boys its on with our coats and go to
york: Our FIRST ioh is to get into the vault;
Two Of them carried me along in my chair.
placed me to the left Of II the he door. lighted two
gets and began GorE on p, the lex e. ths
Sasst DEAL a Ga Grnssns ssh 'aS aSoae Ssn ths iosE
and iopdly imagined the burglars would be
sselrTed ni geo S ns,t hour by IL IL %sr h done
was one OF the sim pissf cheapest locks he. had
Of the vault rrOpss % | was a "a dIisrent mi mater, ter
however: II was massive mas affair the material
which hsi % :. set a esrf%jP 6GaSrs before !
come into play. Each OF the three men care
fgl!y examined the lock In turn and then Will
We'll boys. what do you think Of irF"
At hsli-past | O'Clock the AN is we'll"
work. They used what Is called a blacksmith's
drill the frame OF which mad been smuggled
into the dentists ofice and lowered down and
put together, Al Of them seemed familiar
with it's working, and they had brought along
no less than si different drills for the Achine.
Work was begun lust under the lock. the men
spelling each other at intervals OF ten minutes.
Whom the . o'clock signal was sent In, they
had made very slight I'm press lon on the hard
metal, but at ha!i-past the signs were more
encouraging. The fellows must have had the
Idea that when they got into the vault the
money would be at hand, but after they had
worked ON the door for an hour a sudden
thought occurred to Williams, He came over
10 me, removed the gag and asked:
l. there safe inside the vault 2"
shall answer none ot your questions"
humping to humble YOU"
" IL you WAntto thump. | can't help myself.
I am here as n WAtchmRn Of the bank. IL |
hadn't been asleep you wouldn't have got n.
AID I'm not going to make matters Wogsr bY
giving away any secrets"
Well, odds is the difference whether tn. -
. safe inside or not" he growled. as Ia o.
placed the gag.
At O'clock the trio were delighted with the