The evening times., 1899-04-10
BURGLARS FOUND q
4 LOADED SAFE
Exploded When They Blew
Open the Door.
Cracksmen Have a Narrow Escape
From Death.
Lost Their Kits lin the General
wreck-Psrsued by Deputy
Sherins.

Richmond, Va:.i April 10.-An excellent
plan for the protection of safes contain
ing valuables has been discovered acci-
dentally by Moseley Bros. who have o
large establishment for the sale of gro
ceries and everything else a country store
keeps at Moseley Junction A gang" Of
burglars who came into collision with the
Moseley safe protector. to their great dis
aster. are getting away from this locality
as fast as they can,t followed by deputy
sheriffs with pistols.
The safe in the store generally contains
a large sum Of money. and has always been
looked at with awe by the neighbors. None
of the local cracksmen, who rarely get
higher up in the plunder line than chick
ems, had the skill to open It. however
much they hankered after its contents.
The cracksmen who attacked it on FRI
day right must have come from afar. for
they had the most improved burglars
drills and up-to-date appliances. They
bored hole in the front door and then
poured through 1t enough explosive to
blow the door Oh. The firing was done
with fuse.
The Moseleys sell dynamite to farmers.
who use it to raise tree stumps. The dy-
namite they keep in the safe over night.
SO that 1t may be out of harms way. When
the burglars called there were six sticks
Of it in one of the money drawers.
The explosive Of the burglars set of the
Moseley magazine. and there was blow
up that stirred the whole country. The
safe was shattered into small pieces and
the entire floor was wrecked. The metal
money was twisted and broken and the
Spfn pinnQS
burglars fed in di.may, just In time 10
dodge the fire department and everyone
else in town who came running up to see
what the matter was
The crcaksmeu got nothing at all and
lost their kits. which are now on exhibition
in what is left OF the store windows Inc
Moseleys, although they are out many hun
dreds of dollars. are jubilant
We shall always keep dynamite in our
safe hereafter" they say, land We shall
advertise the fact far and wide. We are
CORY that there were only six sticks IN
the safe last night. After this We shall
store at least two dozen of the largest
sticks We can find, and perhaps some nitro
pIycerin on the side. IL will blow our
place to pieces il the burglars fool with
IL, but we are public-spirited people, and
if we can blow a few burglars into bits II
will be a benefaction for which we are
willing to pay.
The idea seems good one and may be
generally adopted by the banks and gro
cery stores of Virginia. The merchants
would like to hear from experts on explo-
sives as to whether the method can be
adopted with absolute safety. They do
not know whether dynamite Is the best
substance to use. AS all OF the burglar
iZing' of strong safes is done with the aid
of explosives the general opinion here Is
that the adoption OF the plan to fight dy-
Mantle with dynamite in a few years will
make the safe burglar as rare as the mas
tadon or dodo is in this section.
1t is not known whether Moseleysi burg
lars were hurt. but the general impression
Is that they must have been seriously
wounded. Perhaps the wish is father to
the thought. The sheriff holds up any citi-
zen found limping or wearing bandages.