The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-02-16


Cornpany's coal ofFce a. the shore end a
the bunksrs was blown open BY expert
crscksmen last night about 1913 o'csock-
The exact amount OF money stolen cannot
be stated with exactness. but R G Ca
honn. coal agent OF the oregon Improve
nent Cen pauy. stated that there was only
a small sum in the safe
The work was cleveriy planned. and ex-
eeuted with finish that would cal forta
praise from Old timers with the fuse and
dril Not 3 cine was eft behind. and when
IL i considered that the cracksmen were
in the house when the first man arrived.
this IS certainly a tribute 10 their sagaeity
and nerve
The Oregon Improvement coal Office is
located within the north shadow OF the
coal hunkers a short distance west Of the
corner Of First avenue south and King
street The Northern Pacific and Column
bia & Puget Sound railroad tracks pass
close 10 IL on the north The building is a
low. one-story frame. with two rooms.
The front one IS used for the general husi-
ness. As you enter the door there ia a
counter At your left. A long. high desk
runs 10 the wall at right angles 10 the
counter first mentioned. This makes
small square space. within which the
cashier transacts business. Under the
high desk is a comparatively small edosler
safe The telephone is directly opposite
the safe. At the right hand of the tele-
phone is a window.
The back room is used by Mr.. Calhoun
as a private office. Near the east wall OF
the office is a stove. and now there is as
pretty a hole through the floor as could
be made with an inch auger. This tells
the story OF how the crscksmen got in and
how they got out, even when their crime
was discovered.
The Office is closed al o'clock. The prac-
tice Is TO bank money every day so that
there 5 only a small sum in the safe over
night. II viii be recalled that the steam
collier Progreso has been loading coal at
the bunkers. She finished yesterday, and
1t is probable that the cracksmen thought
that some money might come into the Of
fee from her and be locked up in the safe
over night. There is where they We're
sadly fooled.
Every night the narrow gauge people are
busy backing coal cars up the bunkers.
They were busy performing that feat last
night when the job was done. and the
noise made helped TO deaden the noise
from the explosion OF the powder.
II was about 10:45 o clock that Engineer
Marshall and Fireman Davis noticed
smoke coming out of the east window OF
the coal office. They were on the top OF
the coal bunkers and as they did not hear
any sound supposed that the building was
on fire.
Fireman Davis ran over to the train dis
patcher's office and told Dispatcher W. L.
Specke.mire what he had seen. In the
meantime Engineer Marshall was hunt
ing up Q. =. Lee. foreman Of the bunkers.
Mr.. Speckelmire ran over 10 the Office.
which IS about fifteen rods distant. and
saw the smoke pouring out OF the window.
He smelled powder. and as ne went 10 the
door heard someone inside walking on
glass.
who IL in there?' yelled Speckelmire.
He received no answer. but heard peo-
pie moving rapidly toward the back Of
fee Speckelmire ran around to the back
window but could not see anything.
About this time Foreman Lee arrived and
unlocked the front door. The air was de-
cidedly smoky and smelled strongly OF
powder.
They rushed into the back office, but it
was empty 4 light showed them what
had taken place. There was big hole in
the floor. and through IL the people with
the hurrying footsteps had taken their I'M
cerem0nious departure.
out ia the front office, within the little
square place previously described. were
the evidences that told how another cleY-
or and successful Swallowing job had Ia
ken place
The outside and inside doors had been
torn from their hinges and thrown three
or four feet from the safe. \ few papers
were on the floor, but things were IN
fairly good order. The money drawer had
been removed from the safe ana It's con-
tents were missing. Scattered about were
a few silver pieces, amounting in all TO
40 cents.
The safe door in its flight had been
thrown against tall stool and smashed
IL. The front window had been wrecked.
In the meantime policemen ana detectlEes
were hurrylnE TO the scene as fast as tiIsE
legs would carry thcm. First came Pa
troluan Griffith. who was not Tar away
when the tob VAS done Then came Capt,
Horle. Patrolmen Crawford, Barbee ana
s,.ryaart Templeton. They appeared 70
snrine out OF the ground ana were SOON
hard at work trying TO get some clues that
would assist In running down the Do-0
knights OF the driL .,,,
7-bev searched the building. but could
not ind anything that assisted them IN
their search The bold operators had been
careful enough 10 carry away every TOOL
Tbev did not even leave piece OF burnt
fuse
close to the combination was quarter
inch hole bored as straight and clean az
fhar IL F. A. Bucks safe several weeks
ago Another hole had been bored near
TIE handle When the charge was ex-
ploded IL worked 20 perfection and tore
everything away that stood between the
cracksmen and the gold they thought TO
find. What ppointment 1t must have
been 20 find only small sum, and then
10 have some one interrupt them before
they could leave In quiet respectable
way.
Patrolmen Griffith and Crawford went
down under the building The tide was
out They found many tracks and also
could see where men had crawled In the
mud. Tncre acre pianks etc, under the
place where the hole had been made in
tho floor 10 had not been a difficult JOB
10 reach tho aoor They did q good JOB
with the suger. boring the holes on
straight line They went through two
floors and did not get much out q plumb.
either The hole was about sixteen inches
by twelve
GrlHta and Crawford found a small tin
box n was not omen. Two holes had
been iahbed iu the bottom bur the crack
ers had evidently concluded mat there
was nothing - value inside and had
thrown Il away.
Mr.. Speckes-uare telephoned 20 Agent
Calhoun and toid him what lad taken
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