The Portland daily press., 1895-06-11
MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY.
Fifty Thousand Dollars Disappears
and Leaves No Trail.
CLEVER THIEF MAKES A HAUL AT
LOWELL, MAINE.
james f. Hutchins Loses Savings of a
Life Time-Efforts Being Made to
Trace the Securities-The Safe RelocIx-
ed After the Robbery,


Trace the Securities-The Safe Relock-
ed After the Robbery.
Lowell, Me-, June 10-One of the most
mysterious burglaries in the history of
Maine was committed in this village last
Thursday night. when the safe in the
store of James E. aHutchins was opened
and cash. stocks, bonds and securities to
the amount of 500 900 stolen.
The securities were in small tin box,
and for several years Mr. Hutchins had
kept it in the big safe in the country
store which is run by his grandson, c.
i. Hutchins
Friday morning young Hutchins opened
the store as usual. Not thing had been
disturbed in the establishments and not
until the storekeeper had opened the safe
did he know that burglars had been at
work. The tin box, which for number
OF years had been in one corner of the
safe, was missing, and a diligent search
failed to reveal it's whereabouts.
The safe had been opened by the combi-
nation lock- and after the securities had
been removed the safe had been relocked.
IOullS lubCIllnS nOblQeQ his
uncle, who in turn notified the authori-
ties. After a consultation it was deemed
best not to make known the amount
stolen, and the newspaper men were told
that the store had been burglarized and
notes stolen.
The officers thought by so doing they
might be able to get some trace of the
quiet, but so far have been unable to get
the slightest clew as to who the guilty
parties are. A detective has been engaged
by Mr.. Hutchins, and he also has been
unsuccessful.
Suspicion points to certain parties in
the village who have been hanging
around the store considerable of late 1t
was certainly some one who had learned
the combination by seeing Mr.. Hutchins
unlock it.
The store is the same as in every
country halmet and Hutchins keeps
everything from paper of pins to a
plow.
AS is customary, there were a large
number OF people who loiter around the
place from early morning till late at
night.
1t was supposed by Mr.. Hutchins and
| his grandson that nobody knew that he
kept the tin box containing the securities
| in that safe.
This morning Mr. Hutchins stated that
in the box were a small amount of cash,
government bonds, stocks to the amount
of number of Thousand dollars and
many other securities of great value The
| total cash value of the contents of the tin
| box was more than $50. 600. There were
| among other things nearly one hundred
notes for various amounts and his bank
books.
J. E. Hutchins is retired cattle
dealer and is quite wealthy. He is one of
the solid men of the village and takes
prominent part in the affairs of the town.
He formerly resided in Saco, and came
here number of years ago.
This morning he left for Saco to see
his old friend. Sumner c. Parcher,
cashier of the York National bank, and
see if he could trace the notes and bonds
Some of the stock was that of the Saco
and Biddeford electric road, and he
thought perhaps he might get some trace
of the burglar through this stock.
The people of this village We're greatly
surprised when they learned that Mr.
Hutchins's loss amounted to over $50, ,0O0