The San Francisco call., 1897-06-02
ROB THE SAFE OF
PROVIDENCE i MINE
Two Masked Men Get
Away With a Sack =
. Of. Amalgam.
Bind an EmpIoye of the Mill
to a Chain. While They
Are. atWork.
Noise OF the Machinery browns the
Clink: of Their Tools Upon
the Strong Box. Fl. =:

-NEN ADA. CITY, CAL, June 1.-Two
masked men broke open the safe at the
Providence mine last night and took all
the amalgam it contained. The monthly
cleanup had not been made, the amalgam
in the safe coming from the daily brush
ing of the. plates and amounting to about.
$250O Before the robbers began work on
the safe they went into the mill and sur
prising Peter Seth, who was in charge Of
the concentrators, bound him to a chair
Then they carried on their work without
Interruption: -.
+. Seth had been on the upper floor taking
look at the screens TO the batteries, as is
customary at regular intervals during
each shift, and having descended TO the
lower floor where the concentrators stand
was walking toward the end of the room,
where there is a stove. His lunch hour
had arrived and he was about to sit down
in chair near the stove and enjoy his
meal. He had nearly reached the chair
when something cold touched his ear.
He whirled around in surprise to find a
masked man presenting two pistols at
him, the muzzle of one passing under his
nose as he turned. BY the side of the
man with the pistol stood another masked
man, the latter being armed with rife.
Seth was briefly commanded to throw
up his hands. He obeyed. One OF the
robbers threw over his head a piece of
denim cut from the leg OF a pair of over
alls. Thetwain then led their prisoner
to the chair, bound his knees and feet,
tied the cloth down. over his head and
bound the chair to the ironwork OF the.
concentrstors. ~. ~ '.@s
"lf you move within two hours we will
blow you TO pieces, said one of the rob-
bers.
Then they left him to his meditations.
They nextlasiened the door eading into
the mill from the road by placing shovel
againstl 1t as brace.
Seth heard aUoYe the clatter Of the
mill the hammer blows as the robbers
proceeded to break open the safe in the
malgating-room, thirty feet from where
he sat. he slyly endeavored to wiggle
out of his fastenings, and at the end of
an hour he got one of h2s wrists loose
Finally he got the covering off his head,
and, after further effort, succeeded in free
ing himself entirely. He rushed up: to
the hosting wfrks and notified Engineer
David Richards OF the robbery. BY this
time the masked men had escaped Two
men We're called up from the nine and
sent to town 10 notify Superintendent
Mcktnlav, Sheriff GetchelI ana others,
and by ) O'Clock mum Der of people had
/ gone out from Nevada City.
Ibe county, township and city officials
are vigorously hunting for the traditional
tall and short man who committed the.
crime, but they have no definite cIew
Three shots were heard by employees at
the Champion mine, just across the creek
about tile time of the robbery. There was
pause after the first shot and@th two
were fired fnra pid succession. This shoot
ing occurred, as near rs can be reckoned
after the robbers had finished the cracking
OF the safe, and NAV have been a call to
contederates stationed not far away.
Three or four nights ago two rough.
looking rangers were lettering around
the Summit mine, near the Providence,
and were finally driven out. From What
one of them said it is evident that they
thought the hoisting works had q miiI
connected. On Sunday one of the men
was again seen around the mine. 1t is
hardly probabe however, that the rob-
tery at the Providence mine was COM
mitted by. strangers, as The: outlaws ap-
peared to be familiar with the mill.
A trackwalker on the narrow-gauge
railroad this orning met three men walk
ing: along the track beyond Town Talk
aud gong toward Grass Valley. They
were strangers to him..
The directors of the Providence Com
pany have been teleSraphed 10, and it is
expected that some OF them will arrive
from San Francisco tomorrow morning.