Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1898-12-17
THE BOLD Bid burglar.
THE GROSTEIN & BINNARD STORE
WAS ROBBED LAST NIGHT.
DETERMINED EFFORT 70
OPEN THE SAFE
Robbed BY Stowaways.
The TiliS were R0Nbei. The work
Of Professionals. Escape Through
a window After Trying to
Open the Iron Doors.

he regular nsrtlupOitau burglar
r found wa to Lewiston. IN all
years rast II lat tu"k would protect
Il fortune from the local hobo but IA
charge has come over the country.
last night the t't0Sieiu and Biunard
store WAS entered by two or more pro
lessioual burglars. The tills were roh-
bed; determined effort was madr TO
open the safe,
1t j. believed the ruuhers entered
during the day and hid away in the
basement or in the upper room. The
big iron doors and shutters make ell
trance difficult when they are all
closed, There i. evidence Of an at
tempt to open these doors from the in
side perhaps to afford ready egress
The big window in the office was
tina'iy opened from the inside and the
shutter was then easily unlatched and
swung open, 1t was through this
window that the escape was effected
The only loss reported and which
left IN the two t'i!S These repositories
were pried open and the content. ap.
W"irlated which amounted to about
len dollars. IT il Impossible to de-
iermlne whether any of the stock was
taken OF not. The clerks have not
missed anything, but III such a large
stock II loss might not te readily
detected
Mr Harris, one of the clerks, closed
the store about 10 o'clock and retired
to his room in the building on the
second floor. He heard 30 disturbance
and knew nothiI g of the enterprise OF
the prowlcrs till the store was opened
! at 1880 thus morning There was little
disorder, only the hloken t'lls and the
steel drill chips from tho safe on the
office floor. Fonr or five drill holes
We're started in the hard surface Of the
steel safe Two If these entered to u
depth IF two inches or more. The
| work is evidence of AN effort 10 find IL
| cavity inside the shell OF The safe into
| W hich al explosive could he injected.
This would have been accomplished
without doubt only for the breaking Of
"a drill III one Of tho holes, aud IN flc,
two drills were hrokcn which probably
was all they bad. \ drill point was
found on tho floor,
Tt!erc was large sum oc money Ia
| the safe. E!oStein g. Hinnard are
closing out large stock of goods AT
cost and their daily sales are large
The imperfect equipments of the bur.
gers saved the safe and its conteuts
| The fact that the merchandise WAS not
mCleoted Is evidence that the opera
| tor- were professionals. Their work
too displayed no little professional
kuoW'edge.
| The boldness of the attempt to blow
al u safe in earshot Of vigilant officers
and in building in which man was
sleeping, is the best evidence that the
robbers are professionals.
There is no clue to the identity oi
the burglars. TIE officers have been
working carefully on the scraps Of evi'
dence left behind but they express DC
hope Of detection. The nroprietors
and managers of the big store congrat
ulate themselves uInn their escape
from II great possible loss. The hiding
away % the eriminas In the store was
facilitated by the imperfect lighting
system which has been improvised
pending Improvements of the electric
light system in this city.
This daring attempt to rob vii
arouse the guardians ofthe peace in
this city TO realization of the fact
that bad floating element of popula
ton has concentrated here and that NJ
pains must oe spared to protect prop
erty ana even life In the future,