The morning news., 1897-08-16
NEGRO FOUND IN A BANK.
BROKE A PANE or GLASS N MAX
ING HIS HASTX EXIT.

Believed TO Have Had AecompItces
in a Systematic Effort to Loot the
VauIts-CIaims That He Was Not in
the Bank at AII-StranseIy Climbs
over the TransOn in broad Open
day Time-Says He Was sick and
Acts Like a Man of Insane Mind.
Shattered window panes on the Con
gress street side Of t1e Chatham Bank
yesterday marked the sudden exit Of
negro who had been spending The fore
noon OF the SABBATH within, worsaipPins
al the shrine Of Mammon, while all good
people were supposed TO be b3wing ia
heller temples
The negro was seen climbing out Of the
bank through the traHsom about I-5o
O'Clock. ana Mr. Waller Gross VINO was
Al work across The street iu Mr. Dorsetts
real estate agency. determined 10 capture
hin. The negro had scarcely leaped 10
the ground before 1Ir. Gross had made
& bound for h.1- and chasing him across
the sree- he held MIN fast and called
for a policeman. Meanwhile a great crowd
OF people eoeke1 20 the scene The me-
gro was q TALL mulatt0 clad in overalls,
ar1 appeared a. BE a railroad fireman or
g uac1lu.st- IL made no statement fur
ther -nar 10 deny thar be had been in the
barE He declared trst he was simply in
the streets passing the bank. and account
e. for the bre king o. the window glasses
by saying that somebody had thrown a
rock and broken the pane while he was
standing near the place. Mr. Gross,
however. Is authority for the statement
that the negro was climbing out of the
bank through the transom when be first
saw him, and he says that the man be-
came entangled and In his efforts 70 free
his clothes from the hitch IL the tran
som he had kicked the window pane and
broken the glass. 3ir. Gross states that
he had seen the negro all the while try
ing to get out Of the bank
The negro stated that he was sick. Il
is not known whether he Is crazy or
whether he was drunk, but all who wiz
messed the arrest OF the man declare t1at
he acted queerly and seemed 10 ~ ont o
his right mind. Whether THIS was a
game Of bluh or not IS uncertain The
policemen took the man into their COS
tody soon after Mr. Gross had captured
him, and will look further into the case.
It Is believed by some that the negro
dressed in his overalls. was the forersn-
ner Of others. who had perhaps made up
their minds to make raid on the bank
vaults and safes. Il is stated that the
negro had been seen on the corner close
beside the bank at 2 o'clock yesterday
morning. One Of the officers on the beat
saw him there and demanded an explana-
tion of his hanging around the place. The
negro told some story and moved on and
was not seen there after that hour by the
policemen. although they had watched him
before, and had noticed that he was lin.
gering about the place with some pur-
pose in mind, apparently.
whether he had accOmplices or not who
might have been frightened away by the
approach Of the officer, or whether he
was out of his mind and did not know
what he was doing. belongs to the mys-
tcry Of his entering the bank 1t was
clear that he seemed out Of his sound
mind when the arrest was made. The Off
GERS made a close search 10 see If he had
secured any money from the bank, but
failed to find anything In his pockets He
did not have with him any tools, and !
seemed TO have been poorly equipped for
such an undertaking as rObbng a bank
The pockets Of his overans contained !
nothing that would be expected TO be con-
cealed in the pockets OF a burglar and
the negro made the remark when the DO
licemen arrested him and began their |
search Of his pockets that he had nothing
In his pockets that would justify any sus-
picion that might be entertained against
him. He was taken to the police bar
racks.
The mere fact Of his making his escape
from the bank In the broad open daytime
when the streets were more or less crowd
ed with people in front OF Hicks restau-
rant argued In favor % the theory that
the darky was not Of sane mind ana that
be had not been actuated b. burg glarious
intentions In making his entrance into the
bank. Nevertheless there we're great
many VINO believed mat the negro was
aiiied Nlth a systematic effort - rob tae
bank.