The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-29
FACED DEATH IN A BANK.
The Waterman Slept and His Stolen
Rest Cost Him His Position.


when He Awoke He Was Looking
Down the Muzzles ofTwo Revolvers.
Then He Watched the Safe Drilled.
While a Gag Prevented Him From
Talking-When the Explosion Came
Two Robbers Killed, a Third Badly
Injured and the Watchman Blown
From the Chicago Times.
The attempt to rob the Second National
Bank, of Huntsville, was such a neat
niece of work, as looked upon from the
crooks standpoint, and the failure was
brought about in such a strange, tragical
manner that the story, as a.whole, will in
terest YOU. A year before the occurance
I was appointed night Waterman at the
bank All banks of Importance have a
day and a night Waterman, though the
one on day duty is generally spoken of as
porter l came on duty at o'clock IN the
evening and the very first thing to be
done was to see that all the doors and
windows were secured. Then l began in
the presidents room with my broom and
swept and busted and put 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 had to try the
door of this to see if it was locked.
At the rear of the building was the
vault, inclosed by iron work extending
from floor to ceiling. The door opening
into the vault had heavy lock and the
door of the vaultitself, which was steel
cage about 12xl2 in, size, was provided
with a lock supposed to be proof against
the wileS of the most Skillful burglar
Inside the vault were two large fire and
burglar proof safes to hold the cash and
valuable papers, and being thus doubly
secured, with a well-armed Waterman
ranging about, the bank officials did not
worry about burglars. But there was
still further protection. A burglar alarm
connected with doors and windows and a
special wire ran from the bank to the
police station. was required to send in
a signal over this wire every thirty min
utes The code of signals ran thus One
push on the button, "All is well here :"
two pushes, Il am ill;' three pushes,
Help wanted at once"
BY o'clock in the evening [ was
through with all my work, had sent in
my signal, and was seated in the presi-
dents room with book in my hand. l
would read until midnight. After send
ing in the signal would fall asleep and
sleep for exactly Twenty-Five minutes.
When the IL 80 o'clock signal was sent in
l would slumber again until a minute to 1
o'clock. You may think this bit odd,
but venture to say that eight watchmen
out of ten do the same thing. After
had firmly impressed it on my mind that
l must wake pat a certain moment it
was easy enoughto do so. From IL to
o'clock | had twelve twenty-nine minute
maps Sometimes l awoke five seconds
too soon and sometimes five or six sec
onds past the twenty-nine minutes, but
never varied over seven seconds at the
farthest. My sleeping was not exactly a
dereliction of duty, as the burglar alarm
could bedepended on to wake me up, and
the signal at every half hour was proof
that everything was all right in the bank.
HANDY MAN WITH PEN.
About the time of my appointment the
suite of rooms directly above the bank
were vacated by lawyer, and a dentist
moved in Before the bank would rent to
him, he being stranger, he had to Sc
cure recommendations and thoroughly
identify himself, He claimed to hail
from st. Louis, and he produced letters
from half dozen well-known residents
OF that city, all of which were afterward
found to have been forged The man
gave his name as o. M. Hildebrande, and
ne htted the rooms up very handsomely
and was soon established in bust
ness. The fellows real profession was
burglary and bank robbing, and his
real name was Ed Williams. He did not
know one dental instrument from another,
0ut hired fresh graduate to do all the
work which came to him. There were
TOUR rooms in the suite. The front room
was the parlor, the second the operating
room, the third storeroom and the
fourth a bedroom. This bedroom was
q -r,nnl nj ba 4 r,F
the bank, which was used as cloak and
wash room. In building the bank the
ceiling of the first floor had been made Sc
cure by filling the spaces between the
Joists with brick. Over the vault there
were plates of iron as further protec-
ton
Williams hired the rooms as a part of
plan to rob the bank. There were three
men in the plot, but the other two did not
appear until the last moment. After oc-
cupylng the rooms for nearly year, do
ing business with the bank and making
himself solid all around, he was ready to
spring the trap All his work was done
In the daytime. He cut hole in the floor
OF his bedroom and removed brick and
mortar until only crust remained. 1t
was slow work, and he had to exercise
great cafe. He knew of the small room
below, and he knew of the burglar alarm,
the police wire, and the half-hour signals.
lie could not know of my habit of sleep
Ing after midnight, though he probably
suspected it. At any rate, at quarter to
O'Clock one October night the three burg
lars in the job broke through the thin
crust of the ceiling lowered themselves
down by means of rope, and at ten min
utes to l a strong hand clutched my
throat, the muzzle of a revolver was
placed to my temple, and l opeued my
eyes to see three men standing before me.
Now, then" said Williams as he let
go Of my throat and stepped back, ''let
us understand each other We have come
TO rob the bank. You cannot prevent it
and SO you may as we'll save Your skull
from being cracked. We are going to
olnd and gag you, but unless you make
TOOL of yourself you will not be hurt. Do
you savey2''
Il do" replied. "You have got me
9ead to rights, and it's no use. to kick,
out make up your minds that don't
answer any questions"
We shall ask none, )" replied Williams
as he proceeded to tie me hand and foot,
ana insert ready-made gag.
PLACE NOT YOUR TRUST IN LOCKS.
Just as the clock struck / he stepped
over and pressed the button to signal the
police that all was well. How he got
onto the signal we never could under
stand, but he uSed il correctly. and then