Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-21
Burglars Try to Rob Court
House Offices at Noon.
GET BUT hITTLE MONEY
Treasurer's and AUDITORS Omces Are
Entered, but Only Small Change
Taken Most OF. the Money
Was In the VAULTS
prom Fridays Daily.l.

=. -. J.
A bold attempt was made no rob the
county treasurer's office between 1915
and 1:25 today. The thieves also en-.
tered the auditors Office, forced the
money drawer, but only got perhaps 80
cents for their pains. They tried TO
work the combination of the vault door
1 in the treasurer's Office. but failed.
i The detailed story OF the affair is as
follows:
Treasurer John Spry took the money
/. drawer in his Office out of its, place,
under the counter, ahd put it in the
vault on the top of the safe and left
the building ,abouts IL o'clock, leaving
both Doors tos the office locked, bit
leaving the key TO the door that leads
from the adjoining supervisors room
in the lock. He came back at o'clock
and found the heavy plate glass in the
inside door broken, the door standing
silently ajar and the fragments of the
glass from the door scattered over the
{ floor, He Immediately examined the
. vault door and found that the combin-
alton had been thrown on, he having
left the An6inter of the combination at
certain number. Nothing was taken
from the office and the tax books We're
not disturbed. Had the thieves gotten
into the vault they would have Sc
cured over $3.50, all told, including the
amount locked in the time locked safe.
Z The practice of the treasurer is to
lock both doors leading into the room,
the one from the. corridor and the
: other from the supervisors room, but
( leaving the key in the lock of the latter
on the inside. He also makes it rule
to take the money drawer from its po-
sition under the counter and put it
In thesyault, but not inside the safe.
locking the inner8 door. to the vault
and turning, the combination ION the
outside door to a certain point, n prac@
zee generally ind lgedF in. to save work!
ing an intricat es corlb iinaSi On each day
aud the practice today was no exception
to the, rule. Had it been otherwise.
AIR. .Spry would have been the loser
to the extent of probably $3.50.
The thief or thieves, il. is not known
how many there; were OF them, pre-
sumablySeame into the building by the
front door, which is not locked at any
time during the day, and going up on
the second floor where the offices are.
located, walked into the supervisors
room, which was not locked, and pre-
sssasassssbl suts=sd- the auditors Office
first by the side door, which was also
unlocked. They forced the money
drawer with a large chisel, at least the
marks on the drawer would Indicate
that it was n chisel about four inches
broad, and took the change it contain.
! ed, leaving eight cents in pennies. DepN
uty Auditor Harry Hammond said he
did not know ther-exa amount, bur!
: thought it-e could not be more than 60
cents. No marks were visible in the
vault door in this office, and it is not
known whether or'not they attempted
to enter it. The outside door withSthe
combination on it was not closed, hut
the inner door was closed and locked.
and had the thief succeeded in getting
inside would have succeeded in getting
In the neighborhood of 800. IT is pre-
sumed thethieves next turned their at
tention to the door lending into the
treasurer's Office. from the Supervisors
room, which. is between the two offices
entered, and taking a heavy oak char
broke a hole in the heavy plate glass,
largesepough for a man to put his arm
through, and turned the key in the
lock.
H. j. Wing, deputy. clerk, left the
building ats12:10, as near as he can rec
ollect, and to dinner. L. NJ, God
ley came back from dinner and was at
work in the supervisors room, which
is bstwsen{ the two offices entered, at
about u 2S, thus leaving only about Is