The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-09-21


Actions Were strange-what Press
Reporters Learned.
The man who was arrested Saturday
morning on Commercial street shortly
after the safe OF the Maine Provision and
Cold Storage company was blown open
by burglars is now in the Jail. He gays
his name at the police station as George
Murray of Pittsburg Pa, aud said he had
just arrived in this city on the II o'clock
freight from Boston. He is charged
with breaking and entering and burglary
and suspicion strongly points to him as
one Of the gang who attempted to rob
the Maine Cold Storage and Provision
company's safe. His stories. on investi-
cation, have some of them been proven
false and the police are reasonably sure
that they have captured the right man.
Murray claims he did not reach this city
until II O'Clock Friday night. Conductor
Paul Barrie, of the Portland & Cape
| Elizabeth electric road, the clerks in the
Maine Provision and Cold Storage COM
pany's office and others say
| they saw Murray during Fri-t
day afternoon and Conductor
Barrie is willing to swear that he rode
on his car with another man on Thurs
day night.
The break at the cold storage office was
made shortly before one O'Clock Satur-
day morning when one of the night
| GLASS of the patrolmen was at the police
station for lunch. Entrance was obtained
to the oompany's office, which is on the
ground floor and on the corner of Union
and Commercial streets, through a mar
row transom over the big double doors
opening out onto Commercial street.
This transom is so small and so high
from the ground that 1t requires
athlete and very active man to climb
through the marrow space but this was
done and the doors then opened from
the inside. At the left of this door Ae
one enters the outer office of the company
is the cashiers and bookkeeper's office
which is partitioned of from the mai;
office. There is one window in this small
office aud it looks out onto Union street,
being strongly protected by heavy iron
screening. The safe Is under the cashiers
desk and is one of the most modern make
and almost burglar proof. Once inside
this small office the burglars went to
work in regular professional manner.
They drilled hole down through the
outer door of the safe and prepared
TO FIRE THE BLAST.
But they were unable to find anything
with which to deaden the sound of the
explosion and SO fred the fuse without
taking this customary precaution. The
result was startling to the burglars as
the roar of the exp osion was greatly in
tensified on account of the narrow space
in which the safe stood.
The explosion tore the outer door of the
safe completely of it's hinges and SO de-
ranged the mechanism o the inner door
that it came open at once and without
drawers within the inner door but both
of them were locked. Before the burglars
had time to force these open Patrolm en-
Heating and Cousens who had heard the
sound of the explosion while on Fore
street were heard by the burglars rum
ming down Union street towards the
police signal box which stands on the
opposite corner from the cold storage
company's Office. The burglars probably
extinguished the light in their dark Ian
terri and crept out towards the double
doors on Commercial street. They appar-
entity heard the patrolmen pull open the
box and tell the signal officer at the po-
lice station about the explosion. The
burglars knew that discovery of the
blown safe would quickly follow this
announcement and they opened the door
on Commercial street and ran. 1t was
soon afterwards that Murray was arrested
while walking towards the Grand Trunk
station.
AS soon as the clerks in the cold stor-
age compauy's store got around Saturday
morning they were sent up to the pulice
station to see if they had ever seen the
man under arrest hanging around their
office. The moment Manager George A.
Hatch. George D. Colley, Rupert c.
Parker and Q. e. Wood, all employees of
the cold storage company, saw Murray
they identified him as a man who had
been in their office on Friday afternoon
to have bill changed.
Cashier Rupert G. Parker thus told bis
story Saturday aftarnnon tn a PRESS re