The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-06-13
THIEVES ARE OUT.
One Attempt at Safe-Crack1ng and
Three BUrglarfes in One
Might.

One very bunzitng attempt at safe
cracking and three burglaries that yielded
iittie were reported al police headquarters
yesterday morning. II was quite a shock
70 the police 20 know that the tr1ice which
has been IA force for some time had been
broken. bat they consoied themselves with
the fact that the burglars ana safe-erack-
ers experienced a still greater shock.
The ssfs-crackers wen: out 10 the White
Star laundry. on Second avenue. near The
corner OF Bell street, and after forcing an
entrance through the front door, proceed
Ell 20 attack the safe. They drilled one
hole and were at work on the second
when the drill broke. Then they drove a
punch In, with the intention of knocking
down the tnmbiers OF the lock. So skill
fully was the work done that the lock did
not experience the slightest danger
Either inexperience or a lack OF tools
made the brilliant crackers give up the
job. Perhaps they will feel better by be-
ing told in print that even X they had
opened the safe they would have only dis
covered that 1t did not contain cent
At O'Clock yesterday morning Merchant
Patrolman William Aountjoy was passing
along the alley between First and West
ern avenues and Marion and Madison
streets. The boards are loose, and per-
son makes considerable noise in walking
over them. Mountjoy noticed a man walk
but he did not pay much attention 10 the
matter until he discovered seven bolts of
cloth on Madison street. near the west
end OF the building at the northwest cor
ner OF Madison street and First avenue.
IL looked as il some one had thrown the
cloth down, expecting ii to fall at the side
of the walk. a post prevented the cloth
from falling, and left it in sight. The mer-
chant patrolman made a circuit of all the
tailor shops. but did not discover anything
wrong from the outside.
In the morning when Louis d Elias
shop at 1903 First avenue corner of Madi-
son street, was opened IL was discovered
that the trimmings had been disturbed
and some bolts of cloth were missing. The
burglary was reported TO the police. and
Detective Phillips Investigated. He dis
covered that the front door was securely
locked when the first man reached it in
the morning. and that the only other pos
sible means of entrance was by a window
al the back. which was open. but which
was three stories above the alley. TAX
ing the discovery of Mountjoy In connec-
ton with the burglary. ii is evident that
the back window was not used for two
reasons: IL was too far up in the air. and
because Mountjoy saw the man who un-
doubtedly dropped the cloth passing down
Madison street. The cloth was dropped
east of the alley. There is only one theory
left. and that is that the burglar had a
key To the tailor shop That is the the
DRY accepted by the police. and they have
some good clues to the identity OF the
guilty party. The cloth recovered Is
valued at 500. $500 being silk lining
Some tools were stolen from Miles. Ran
dali & Co.'S carpenter shop on Third ave
nue.. and some ievoIvers and kniyes from
Theodore Dechner's gun store. 1i01 First
avenue.