The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-12
THE wATCHMAN At GUTTFsRMAN
BROTHERS TAKES A. SHOT AT
A BURGLAR.
VISITOR BUSHES UP STAIRS.
POLICE SURROUND THE BUILDING
AND SEARCH TT FROM TOP To
BOTTOM.
NOT A TRACE OFF RoBBER FOUND.
Excitement Furnished ON On Quiet
Sunday Night for Officers of the
Central Detail.

An attempt at a wholesale burglary
| Of Guiterman Brothers mems furnish
ing goods store at Fifth and Sibley
streets was frustrated shortly before 10
o clock last night by the discovery Of
a burglar in the place by Night Watch
| man Adler. The Waterman fired one
| shot at the burglar, but missed him.
ana at once notified the A D. T. COM
| pany, whence the alarm was sent to
| the central police station. The patrol
| wagon was Immediately ordered out, IN
charge of Sergeant Heating, but by the
/ time 1T had reached the store a mes
senger boy had found Officers McElIi-
| strom and Jack Hennessey on their
| beats and dispatched them to the scene
OF the attempted burglary. In a short
time the big store was ablaze with
lights and policemen with drawn re-
volvers, searching from garnet to cellar
| for the robber, but found only an open
| window on the fourth floor, by which
ne mad evidently escaped down the
nre escape. A second round Of the
building half an hour later strongly
confirmed the theory that the thief had
gotten away, as the closest scrutiny of
every possible hiding place failed to
discover the intruder. Notwithstand-
Ing the close search, however. It Is not
wholly impossible that the thief may
have still remained in the store and
escape when the employees come to
work this morning.
The reason for believing that a rob-
berry on a large scale was contemplated.
is that Saturday, when the porter was
washing the windows In the rear OF
the store. which an hn
found circular piece of glass cut out
just above the catch and only held in
place by it's close fit. In addition to
this suspicious circumstance, when
Nightwatchman Alder discovered the
burglar he had just returned from the
alley where he had been attracted by
a peculiar noise at the window. He
had met the merchant policeman. John
Gibbons, and found no one was seen
i'll the alley, but was uneasy, though
he went about washing off a desk on
which he had been engaged when he
went outside. Suddenly he heard some
one descending the stairs which lead
from the second to the first floor. It
was dark in the store but listening, he
could plainly hear footsteps
Who's there" he suddenly cried
No one answered.
who's there" again asked the
Waterman. and a voice answered,
Me"
What are you doing in this store
and what Is your name?" inquired
Adler, drawing his revolver.
John Gerber" replied the voice while
stealthy footsteps denoted a movement
on the part of the owner
Without further parley Adler pointed
his revolver toward the steps and fired
The burglar ran up the stairs and
Adler hurriedly rang the A. d. T.
burglar alarm which brought the police
to the scene.
Half dozen officers were shortly on the
scene and while Merchant Police Gobbons and
Patrolman Holland guarded the fire escape
in the alley, officers McEllistrom and Hem
nesSey searched the store. On the Fourth
floor window leading to the fire escape
was found open, showing where the thief
mad entered Crawling through the window
he found himself in a machine shop apart
from the manufacturing department, but Sc
cured clear access to the whole store by
opening door which locked the inside.
Placing chair against the door so that he
could quickly escape, the burglar made his
way down stairs. He evidently did not
stop on the third floor but went to the Sec
ond, as three boxes Of underwear found on
the staircase where he had been stopped by
Nightwatchman Adler had been taken from
this floor.
Messrs. A. L. and A. Guiterman were noti-
fed Of the attempted robbery and visited the
store in time to assist in the second search
for the burglar They were positive nothing
had been taken from the store, and stated
that in their opinion, the burglar was some
one acquainted with the place, though no one
could be named the probable guilty per-
A. L. Guiterman stated that when the
rear window found to have been tam
pered with Saturday, heavy iron netting had
been placed over all windows on the ground
floor a safeguard. but he felt certain that
last nights robber had entered on the fourth
floor, which he had reached by means OF
the fire escape The fire escape is about
twenty-five feet from the ground but could
be easily reached by an agile or experienced
climber, while beside this ladder recently
Sed nv wO 10
at hand in the alley in the distance be-
tween the ground and the fire escape could
be overcome in no other manner.