The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-12
SAFE BLOWERS, TOO
ST. PAUL SEEMS TO BE BEsET
BY ALL KINDS OF
CROOKS.
PORTER GAGGED AND BOUND
IN A SALOON AT EIGHTH AND
BROADWAY BY FOUR BOLD
THIEVES,
WHO THEN DEMoLIsH THE SAFE
And Loot 1t of the $I2O Which Had
Been Left There for the
Night.

The most high-handed depreciation
perpetrated by the gang Of alleged
police protected criminals infesting the
pity occurred shortly after o'clock
yesterday morning, when a quartette
of cracksmen entered the saloon of
John Froehlingsdorf, at Eighth and
Broadway streets, beat the porter into
lnsensibility, bound and gagged the un-
conscious man and proceeded to demol-
ish the office safe, from which they Sc
cured $12O. The sensational robbery
occupied fully half an hour, during
which the burglars worked within a
few feet of the sidewalk, where men
were constantly passing to their places
of employment, and even the police
officer was patrolling his beat, but so
contemptu0usly does the organized
gang Of night workers regard the fee
BILE efforts Of the police to stop their
carnival of crime, that the only pre-
caution taken by the cracksmen was
to lock the saloon doors, when they
literally smashed the safe to pieces,
while one of their number stood with
drawn revolver over the unconscious
porter, lying in a pool of his own blood
in a rear room, where he had been
dragged and tied to a table.
The robbery was undoubtedly the
consummation of we'll laid plans and
committed by desperate, determined
men. Arnold Nievenheim, the porter,
sleeps at the saloon and opens u
every morning at o'clock for the early
trade. A few minutes after he un-
locked the side door opening on Eighth
street and the front entrance yeSter-
day morning, two men came in from
the side door. Nievenheim started to
go behind the bar, thinking the visitors
were customers, but he was immedi-
ately disillusioned, as one of the men
sprang to his side and with a revolver
leveled at his head ordered him to
throw up his hands. At this juncture
two more men entered the saloon from
the front door. Nievenheim realized the
situation and says he grabbed the bar
rel of the revolver and grappled with
the man holding it. Instantly, however
he was felled to the floor by a blow
from a slung shot, and while dazed
says he was dealt two more severe
blows, after which ne remembered
nothing until he came to nearly half
an hour later.
Locking the doors the burglars pull
ed down the window shades and then
dragged the porter to q rear room.
where he was gagged with blue and
white dotted handkerchief and tied to
the leg of table. To make sure that
NieVenheim could not cry out his
apron was taken from his waist and
securely wrapped about his head. Then
three of the thieves went to work on
the safe in another part of the saloon
With a fifteen-pound sledge hammer
the lock was battered and hammered
until it fell away in small pieces. Next
the knob was pounded and twisted out
of place. Then came the skilled work
with the steel drills Three holes were
bored with a professional precision
over the lock bolt and as many strong
punches" inserted, when another
series of blows from the heavy sledge
completely demolished the safe mech
anism, and the door swung open. There
were two packages of money in the re-
ceptcale, but in the rummaging among
papers and receipts one containing 500
fell under the safe, where it was re-
covered after the discovery of the rob-
berry. After finishing with the safe the
burglars broke open the cash drawer.
where several dollars were secured and
Joined their companion who was guard
ing the senseless porter in the rear
room. Here gray overcoat belonging
to Mr.. Froehlingsdorf was taken AS
the robbers clustered about Nieven-
helm he began to recover conscious
ness, and one of them took the gag
from his mouth while another united
f1oO oh |, to
room was dark Nievenheim could not
discern the features of the men, and
still half dazed he heard them take
their departure by way of the side
door. After several trials Nievenheim
staggered to his feet and ran to
the home of Mr., Froehlingsdorf, S35
East Tenth street, and informed him
Of the robbery. The porters head is