The herald., 1896-06-26

clusively that they had reached the de-
sired spot.
Before going further it may be well
to state the method of construction OF
the vault Of the First National bank.
1t is two-story affair, the lower vault
standing on a level with the street, the
upper one on top of 1t. In building
the vault President Elliott had the mas
sive safe placed on an arched founda.
ton so that besides being able to see all
| around it and on top. the bottom might
| be inspected at any time. anticipating
) an effort to reach 1t by tunneling: I'm
der the vault there is an arched brick
| room, or chamber, about 2OXl0 rect,
whose thick walls and roof serve to sup
port the massive strong boxes ana still
allow of an inspection whenever needed.
There is no door to close the entrance to
this arched room, such not being de-
sired, as 1t might sometime afford con-
cealment to just the persons 1t should
not.
| 1t was into this arched brick chamber
that the burglars broke when they
reached the end of their tunnel. and it
was the foundation walls of such that
were outlined by the three concluding
! chambers of the tunnel. The Soom has
a cement floor very thick and hard, but
in the west end, nearly in the center,
a hole foot and a half in diameter had
been cut, and the crooks were at last
directly under the vaults which held
what they had toiled so long and pa
tiently for. The brick chamber was used
by the bank officials for the storage of
lot of old books and papers of little
value. and among these, piled on the
floor. the hole opened.
The manner of breaking through the
hard cement floor was ingenious and
showed that the men were prepared to
use any means or machinery to effect
| their purpose. When the officers crawl
ed through the hole and reached the end
they found in the first. or principal cham
Der, directly under the hole in the floor.
\ a huge hydraulic or spirit jack, COM
monty called a whisky jack, which had
been used to open the aperture. By
means of this jack slight pull upon
small lever can be made to exert lifting
force of tons. The instrument weighs
neary 200 pounds and must have been
| dragged through the hole with infinite
labor and trouble.
Once in place. and a sharp pointed
wedge was placed on the top of the jack
the lever was pulled and the wedge was
forced through the cement floor as If it
had been putty. Lying around in the
different corners We're number of tools
drills. chisels, brace and bit, oil can
and smaller screw jack similar to the
one found in the cellar. There was also
big bundle of dynamite fuse. several
several small wires. The tunnel itself
is in places not over two feet square, but
at the ends in the three chambers is
enlarged to about two and half feet
high, and there is plenty of room for two
men to work. albeit a trfle cramped.
When they had perforated the floor
of the brick vault and come out under
the goal of their ambition the biggest
part of their job still remained, that of
piercing the roof of the brick room, and
thereby cutting into the floor of the
main safe. This had been undertaken
however, and the first layer of bricks
in the crown of the arch removed when
the work ceased. The thieves evidently
expected when they commenced their
tunnel to find the vault sitting directly
on the ground and We're not prepared
TO come out into an open room as they
did. Nothing daunted. however. they
went ahead until they saw that discov-
cry was certain, then they departed for
pastures new. over the hole in the
floor of the room they had placed a huge
ledger, which, lying among the pile of
books would not be noticed and COM
pletely hid the hole. Upon the under
side they had braced a board on top of
the huge jack, SO that it was only by
knowing that a hole was there that one
could find it. The work on the crown
of the arch where the bricks had beer
removed could not be hidden. however.
but all the debris had been thrown down
into the hole. Anyone glancing cursor
lily into the far end of the dark apart
ment would never have noticed the
shattered brickWork, as no litter lay
around to betray the work that had been
done.
Yesterday afternoon. when the detec-
tives were investigating the place the
entire force was on hand and a thorough
examination was made. After Auble
and Bradish had made tie discovery on
the 18th they disturbed nothing and laid
in wait for the return of the men. Ev-
cry minute since then the place has been
watched al both ends of the tunnel but
the birds had became suspicious and did