Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-11-23
BURGLARS!
They Break into Ii. +. Truths
Store and Get Away with
Clothing.
The Peninsula Infested
With u Gang of Experienced
Cracksmcn.-M on
the Watch.

When Lieutenant Sidney X. Truitt,
salesman for his brother, b. L. Truitt,
came down stairs from his bedroom in
the second floor of the handsome store,
Thursday morning, an unexpected sight
met his gaze; clothing, shoes, hand
kerchefs, shirts, ties and boxes of fur
nishing goods lay scattered around
upon the floor, and he knew at once
what had happened-the store had
been burglarized. An investigation
revealed the fact that the burglars had
gained an entrance TO the store by way
of the cellar, having pried the door
open with small iron bar which they
left outside. 1t is generally believed
that two strange young tramps, who
passed Tuesday night in our Jail and
were around town all day Wednesday,
were the men who committed the bur
glary, for their actions were such dur
ing the day as to cause remarks. They
visited several stores and invariably
asked for some brand of tobacco which
our merchants did not sell or some
other kind of merchandise which they
were not likely to find here. AS soon
as it was known on Thursday morning
that Mr.. Truths store had been broken
into nearly every man who saw the two
tramps in town felt that they had some
connection with the job. Mr.. Truitt
telegraphed to all the neighboring
towns to look out for all suspicious
characters, and sent parties out to
search for them, but up to this writing,
Friday morning, he has not learned Of
the whereabouts of the burglars or of
their booty. As near as can be ascer-
tanned his loss was two overcoats, one
a military officers coat, belonging to
Lieutenant Truitt, one black suit, an
odd coat, and pair of pants, one
black and one brown alpine hat, two
pairs of patent leather shoes, two pairs
of pointed calf shoes, two suits of I'M
derwear. about two dozen silk handker-
chiefs, an umbrella, collars, ties, etc.
OF course the men may have taken
other goods from Mr.. Truths large
stock which he cannot miss.
During Wednesday Sid had put
some large paper boxes in the cellar
and these are now gone, so il is pretty
certain the burglars packed their booty
in these boxes. In the cellar was
found nit belonging to one OF them.
They left broken screw driver by the
money drawer, which they pried open
and got ten cents out Of An old
overcoat and II bull's-eye lantern were
found in the rear of the out house. In
the pocket of the coat was = saw, the
mate to the glove found in the cellar,
and some hard biscuits.
An incident happened in connection
with the burglary which does not make
Lieutenant Trhitt feel too comfortable
He remembers now that his bedroom
door was wide open in the morning
although he is positive he closed it as
was his custom when he retired. The
impression is that one of the men stood
by this door watching him while his
partner attended to business down
stairs. If Mr.. Truitt had been aroused
there is no telling what might have
happened to him. for he would have
had to deal with professional burglars
and it is probably best that he slept
soundly and was unconscious of what
was going on.
4 few nights ago Jacob w. Camp.
bells grocery at North East was
broken into and robbed. About fifty
dollars worth of goods and three or
four dollars in pennies were taken. A
gold watch was also taken.
Burglars again visited Smyrna de-
pot this week. An entrance was
effected by breaking open the back
door The lock of satchel was broken
and an overshirt taken. The burglars
then wen, to work on the safe and
with hammers and chisels broke off the
combination and drilled several holes
in The safe door. They were evidently
scared away as they left all the tools.
The hardware store of Hargrove &
Coolidge was broken into on Thursday
night, and 20 razors, revolvers and
800 pocket knives taken, the money
drawer was rifled OF the small change
that was in it, about 81. The thieves
took the razors out of the cases and
knives from the boxes and left them
at the stove. The loss will amount to
about s300-.Seaford Neus.