The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-07-23


i1e uansoEe was as plain as Il II had been
made in sofs mud. On the discovery os
fhss eysdsHce. which may lead 20 the cap
ture and conviction OF the guilty persons.
steps were Immediately taken TO preserve
tae fooS6rlnts intact-
Tue footprints on the stairs are those
OF two nen or one man and q boy OF IL
The foot of the larger OF the two meas
urres le'. inches IN length. the foot prob
ably taking a No. s shoe. The smaller
foot Is si4 inches long. equal 70 No.
shoe
A most important INK in the chain os
evidence was discovered in the room O.
caspisi by the men in the light depart
r7ent IN the basement or lower foor OF the
building. There are four OF these rooms.
Ore of them Is or the outside % the
building. and IL IS through this room thai
the burglars entered the city hall Elec-
triciaH Bsscheiet says the door leading o..
from this room remains unlocked all
night. From the room into tae basement
OF the hall and 70 the foot az the stairs 5
doorway, whach had been covered with
flooring nailed loosely on Inspector
Woods sais 70 Detective Assr5y that re
had noticed shout three weeks ago that
half OF the boards had been taken OF
and replaced loosely by leaning them I'D
against the door jamo The robbers evi-
IDENTIFY entersi the building through this
room.
TIE ballots stolen were not cast in The
precincts where specific allegations ara
made by Mr.. Orr's complaint. The vote in
the precincts named was as follows.
Second precinct. Third wara. Orr Is.
Fagcett C.: First precinct. Sixth ward.
Orr Is. Fawcett IS: Second precinct Sew
enih ward. Orr g Fawcett Is: First pre-
eluct. Eishth ward. Orr IS. Fawcett is.
In the four precincts Orr received 20
os4I
cincts missing Fawcett has a ma iorify OF
10 instead OF ?. as was shown bv the re-
turns. On the face Of the returns, as can
vassed by the council. Fawcett received
e.ss3 and Orr s.ss1 votes. Counting the
ballots that remain. providing no great
changes are made from the totals re-
turned by the election boards Fawcetf
VIII have 2.57i and Orr z.fSI votes. II Is
believed that the ballot thieves tore open
those boxes that were handiest TO reach.
The envelopes containing most OF the bal
lots We're on a shelf five or six feet from
the floor. The boxes were on the floor.
easy TO get at.
OF course the showing made. by which
Mayor E'aweett Is placed 10 votes ahead
of Mr.. Orr, will not detraet from the opln-
Ion which prevails generally. that the
robbery Was committed in the mayors
interest
What VIII be hardest for Mayor Fawcett
and his men to explain is the action. or
want Of II, OF Commissioner Doherty and
Day JanItor blanchard. The latter's story.
told To the Post-intel.igencer correspond
ent today. is as follows:
About ten days ago I happened TO
open the door leading from the fourth
floor hallway into the staircase running
20 the basement. I had no KNOWLEDGE OF
tdis staircase. and often wondered where
the door opened into. At the head OF the
i thought the fiud strange one. and de-
termlned to ask MIR. Robinson. the man
whom / relieved. IL he knew who owned
the tools. / sent word to him to call and
see me. but received no reply. Several
times / opened that door. and always the
Two bars stood where / had first seen
them. On Saturday last I again opened
fhe door. and this time there We're three
bars. TWO crowbars and short one. or
Jimmy. On Sunday ] again opened the
door. and this time the tools were COW
cred with brick dust. NV suspicious were
aroused from the first time l had seen
the tools. and | had determined 70 watch
and see 10 whom they belonged After
making the discovery on Sunday notified
Commissioner Doherty. and together We
went and looked at the tools. Doberty
expressed the opinion that they belonged
TO rhe electricians, whose quarters were
az the bottom OF the stairs. That was all
that was said az the time. When looked
for the tools today they were gone"
The TWO crowbars and the Jimmy were
found In a closet off from tae work room
OF the men in the iight department IN the
basement.
The stairs leading from this room TO the
fourth floor hallway were built for taking
prisoners from the city fail to the munici-
nal courtroom on the fourth floor. II was
found too narrow for the purpose. and
was used only a short ime Since then
the prisoners have been brought I'D on the
elevator.
In the work OF opening the hole through
the wall. which is a foot and a half thick.
many OF the bricks were broken up into
small pieces. The floor In the office OF the
civil service commission shows plainly
traces OF sand ard brick dust. swept Into
the erevices between the boards The
inside OF the Dashboard where the opening
Is located bears marks Of the use of the
Jimmy that pried Il Off, although Com
rs1tsstcners Teats and Sahu. as well as At
sorney Carroll. for the mayor. pretend
Ell 70 think there were no evidences of
the use OF crow bar from the outside
OF the vault. Their theory. which was
quickly taken up by Mayor Faweett. was
that some one in orr's interest had enter
Ell tho vault through the door and had
stolen the ballots. digging the hole
that the crime had been committed in the
interest 81 the administration. or course
the finding OF the crowhsrs and Jimmy.
and the plain imprint of bare feet on the
dusty stairs, completely disprove this
theory.
Where was Night Janiior Wakefield
when the thieves were drilling that hole
through the thick brick wall? Is a question
that IS being asked on every hand. That
shN night tanitor worked TIL midnight
cleaning up the rooms and then sat around
waiting 10 be relieved IN the morning.
without hearing the thieves at work with
their heavy steel bars. IS one or the mys-
teries Of the crime.
Up TO July two policemen stood guarI
over the vault. ore during she day AMI the
other at night. The day officer was ]. r..
Bark ard tire ntShs guard Charles Hsr-
rfngtan When the police force was re-
duced Coy the last ordinance the men were
dismissed.
Navor Favvcett s. much cut uu over the
AFFAIR. TFe says he regrets the commFs-
sion ot fhs crime and feels his position
kseuly fIa said tonight that no friend %
his al1 The sob or was instrumental IN hav-
inx 4 done he admitted that public opin-
ion Eosiha hold his administration rsspon-
slhle for Tho crime. seeing as he himself
wouia he benefited hy the loss of fhe hai-
lots Mayor Fawcett tonight offered n
reward 81 500 for the arrest ard eonvsc-
ton of the burglars.
The attorneys on aoth sides are ~ zea
as 90 what shall 20 done wifs1 THE case.
Tonight afrrray & Chrsstiar. Mr. Orr's
Nttorneys. we're digging up aatsoritles
bearing on the case I: IS their Intention
70 ro right ahead with the ease. To6ayss
testimony Vas glvsn 20 show that the
ballots were placed IN the vault and sealed
ssp intact ~ Comptroller BeuAAm.
The detectives w-h5 are working on the
casa agree that the smaller CO tna rob
tAr-s entered the hole and distracted the