Bridgeton pioneer., 1894-05-17
SHOE STORE ROBBERY.
A Bold: :'hfsfcD"es Clever work
Friday Nor ming.

A Bold: :shfsf:D"es Clever work
Friday Nor ming.
FridayEmorning about Q o'clc ok, a
bold thief effected an entrance In the
shoe store of Appelgate g. johnson on
South Laurel street, .and carried off q
number of pairs of shoes.
1t was about that hour when officer
Woodruff was coming along. on the
West side of South Laurel street. As
is his scustom, he was looking In the
stores andsas he reached point oppo-
site the shoe store, he saw figure
within the.establishment. II czszH
J Crossing over the roadway he
stepped upon the platform In front of
the door, and peered through the
glass door. "A bright light was shining
from a gas jet In the rear of the store,
and gave him a.clear view Of the large
room.
AS he stood there man came from
a pileiof boxesIin the rear of the store
and walked front. along the north.side.
He came pretty we'll toward the street
and then crossed over the room and
vent back on the south side of the
store.
Just at this time Mr.. and Mrs. Isaac
Bowers came down the street, ad-
dressed the officer and noticed the man
In the place.
The policeman was of the opinion
that the man was one of the proprie.
tors, thinking that it greatly resem-
bled Mr.. johnson. And the fact that
he went about the store without
a single suspicious act, made the
officer double certain that it must be
Mr.. johnson.
The fellow passed behind the pile of
boxes In the rear of the store and was
seen no more.
Mr.. Woodruff went down to the cor
ner of Warren and Laurel streets and
blew his alarm whistle. 1t was re-
sponded to by Special Officer Shull and
Woodruff asked him If Mr.. johnson
slept In the store. Mr.. Shull replied
that he did not. Mr.. Woodruff said
Then I'll blackguard him tonight
about keeping his store open all
night"
Both officers then went down to the
store, but could see no one. They
then thought they would go in the
rear of the establishment, and when
they got there they found that the
door had been forced open and a rob-
berry had been committed,
Officer Parvin had not yet responded
to the whistle call and Mr.. Shull went
out after him, returning again In a
few moments. After looking over the
door, Mr.. Parvln went to call Mr..
johnson, the junior member of the
firm.
It was clever robbery. The back
door is wooden structure, and was
locked and securely bolted. The fell
low had determined not to force the
door and make noise, so he brought
an inch augur In play. He bored a
line of holes directly across the door
just above the lower hinge. Thirty
five holes In all were bored, and when
this had been accomplished, the lower
part of the door was swung open,
leaving the upper part intact. This
also had the effect of fooling the Off
GERS, for looking in the store from the
front, the top of the door could be
seen to be closed.
The thief crawled through the aper-
ture he had made and bored cut four
holes in the money drawer, opening it,
taking therefrom thirty-f cents In
change. A gold ring left in the drawer
was not disturbed.
The thief took out from the
stock, six pairs of ladies' slip.
pers and eight pairs of ladies' shoes.
These were removed from the paste.
board boxes, and the boxes left in the
store. Another pile of boxes contain
ing shoes, had been taken from the
stock, but were not removed from the
store.