The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-19
A. A. LAWSON, NORTH ST. PAUL
MERCHANT, HELD UP BY
HIGHWAYMEN
WITHIN A BLOCK OF HIS HOME
PAIR OF BANDITS GET $500 IN A
SINGLE RICH
HAUL.
DID NOT WANT A BAND CONCERT
Thieves Were Particu ,rrIy SOIici-
tOus About the maintenance of
Close Silence

A bold and very successful hold-up
was perpetrated at North ST. Paul
Thursday evening, and as yet there is
no clue to the guilty parties. The vic
tim of the encounter is A. A. Lawson,
one Of the most prominent business
men Of the place, who was relieved of
nearly $500, by two masked men with
wicked looking gums" Mr. Lawsons
store is situated on Seventh street and
only two blocks away from his resi-
dence.
1t was about $50 Thursday evening
when he closed and locked his place of
business for the night, and fifteen min
utes later he had been touched up for
nearly $780, The hold-up occurred
near the Charles street crossing Of the
Wisconsin Central, which is only about
three hundred feet from Mr.. LaWson's
house, and the identity of the two men
who perpetrated the deed will ever re-
main mystery so far as recognition
by Mr.. Lawson is concerned. He is
not able to give any sort of a descrip-
ton OF the parties, other than that
they wore masks and had good healthy
looking guns. The occurrence is best
described in Mr.. Lawson's own words
to G l e reporter, last evening:
Il was detained at the store a little
later than usual last evening"" said
Mr.. Lawson, "on account of some bust
ness transactions, and as has been my
custom for some years, took all the
money from the till, some $500, and
placed it in my wallet. 1 am not sure
as to the exact amount I had in cash
but it was in the neighborhood of $500.
This was all in bills Of different de-
nominations, with the exception Of
about $25 in silver The wallet con-
tanning the bills 1 placed in my inside
vest pocket, and the silver in my right
hand coat pocket. 1 go into these
close particulars that you may under
stand the accuracy Of the hold-up
artists in ascertaining the exact Ioca-
tlon OF my money. After placing the
money thus, I repaired to the rear of
the store building, and locked the back
door. AT the time, I heard some little
noise like some one walking on the
rear steps, but thought nothing of it
at the time. AS events TRANSFERRED if
would have been better perhaps that
L should have investigated the COM
motion. After locking the rear en-
trance, L went to the front door, taking
my DOCKS under my arm and turning
out the lights, locked the front door
L stood on the front steps a few
, moments, and then: strolled down
Seventh street to the corner Of Charles
and down Charles toward my home
AS L neared the Wisconsin Central
DI.f,C 5J0C I
the corner had been eXtinguished and
although L thought nothing of it at
the time. in view of later events, it
must be concluded that this was done
by the hold-up artists. Just as l was
nearing the crossing, l saw two men
coming toward me, but in the dark did
not notice anything peculiar in their
actions. AS they came closer, [ stepped
Off the narrow platform to allow them
to pass, but as they got just abreast
OF me they turned, and presenting re-
VOlvers at my head. exclaimed: MI
Lawson, we do not want any noise; all
we want is your money. II you keep
still we will not hurt you" Even be-
fore [ would have had opportunity to
make any resistance. if l had so in
tended one of them sprang to nv back
and placing his arm around nv throat
to keep me from making any outcry.
tCld his partner to complete the work
in hand. This he proceeded to do with
an alacrity which l have seldom wit
messed in any worthy enterprise. His
left hand went into my inner vest
pocket where the wallet was located
and at the same moment his right hand
was in my coat pocket, gathering to-
gether the silver. In two minutes or
less time, they had completed the work.
and then marched me up the track in
an opposite direction from my home.
until we were nearly opposite the Ear
hun Piano factory. Here they con-
siderately turned me loose with the
injunction, accompanied with sundry
threatening movements with the guns.
which ] did not admire, to keep NOV
ing and make no noise I did as
was bid. and never stopped running
until I reached my home. I did look
around once, but the villains had dis
appeared from view
After telling my wife of the occur
ence, [ went over to Mr.. LOudy's house
and procuring the assistance of his son
Ralph Loudly, went in search of the
marshal. We found him in few min
utes, and the three Of us made a trip
up the track q short distance but could
neither hear nor see anything of the
fellows who decamped with my coin.
They had disappeared as completely
as if the earth had opened and swal-
lowed them. and l almost wish it had.
Iii CIle udYHSnt, we again secured the
country Whereabouts, but the rain our
ing the night had completely effaced
any footprints that might have been
left by the highway robbers
Mr.. Lawson is evidently having his
share of hard luck. Within two years
his grocery store has been broken into
twice by thieves, and a goodly amount
Of goods and chattels stolen He has
lost considerable money through the
failure of local banks, and now ne
loses the result of q months credit
business. What appears to be excep-
tionally tough on Mr.. Lawson is the
fact that he had been to st. Paul dur
ing Thursday with the intention of
depositing this money in the bank, but
owing to some delay in arranging his
business affairs. the bank was closed
before he could make the deposit. When
seen last evening, Mr.. Lawson had
recovered from his nervousness of the
previous evening, and with his wife
and children at his side. laughed and
joked little at the accuracy Of the
hold-up artists in locating his wealth
Marshal Newman is investigating the
case, but has not much hope Of recover
ing any of the cash. A comical part of
the performance. was, that after the
thieves had taken the wallet and it's
contents and examined it. they returned
the wallet to Mr.. Lawson, together with
few small checks.
MISS BROOKS WILL SPEAK.