Delaware gazette and state journal., 1899-05-11
BOLD WORK BY BURGLARS
They Blow Open and Rob the Safe al
the BaYarian Brewery.
AND A BREWER BOUND

ENGINEER AND A BREWER BOUND
Terrorized With RevoIvers by
Masked Men. M
BURGLARS ESCAPE POLICE IN PURSUIT
One of the boldest robberies in the
history of Wilmington was committed
by party of armed masked men at the
Bayarian Brewery. Fifth and du Pont
streets, between and 3 o'clock Tuesday
morning. The two employees on duty
at the time, Frederick Testing, the
engineer, and Ament Mayer, brewer,
were bound hand and foot and the safe
was blown open and all of its contents
of any value stolen. According to
Eisenminger, president of the COM
pany, tho plumber consisted Of s463 in
money, S79l IN checks on different
banks, the deed for the brewery
property, all of the insurance papers,
the certificates of stock of John Eisen-
minger and Jacob Seiman, Pennsyl-
| vania railroad mileage book 10 the
name of A. j. Kooch, outside manager,
and a number of other valuable papers.
| All of the plumber is not enumerated
in the complaint lodged with the
police, and, while the loss is placed
at S1,275, it is the general impression
that the actual loss will aggregate
several times that amount. The com
pany's books, which were in the safe
at the time were not carried off or
damaged sufficiently to impair their
usefulness, although some of them
| were burned and considerably mutt
| lated, A representative of the company
| said there was no loss in this direction,
| as all of the books can be used. The
safe was damaged to the extent of
about $50 and some glass in the office
was broken, but the damage there
was trifling and will not exceed $40 1t
is thought that drawers in the desks
| in the office were ransacked, but as far
as is known nothing of great value was
taken from any of them. At an early
hour Tuesday morning the office had a
| dilapidated appearance, the safe being
canted ON one side, with the door
hanging open and parts lying about
and books and papers scattered all
over the floor. When the day force
went on duty, however, the safe was
moved to the engine room, which 'ad-
joins the office, and the office was put
in good shape without difficulty.
Shortly before 2 o'clock stranger
appeared in the boiler room and Epgi-
neer Frederick Testing, who was
shoveling coal into the boiler, asked
| him what he wanted, but Testing had
scarcely spoken when he was seized by
four masked men, who bound him
hand and foot and, pointing revoIvers
at him, told him that.sif he spoke q
word he would never see his family
again. They hustled him to closet,
where he was made a prisoner, the
door being partly closed and man
with revolver standing guard over
him.
At the time Testing was the only
man about the place, but he expected
Ament Mayer, night brewer, to
arrive at any time, being due at 2
O'Clock. He could hear the men
moving about, but could not tell how
many there were. He could hear them
at the safe, but could not see them, as
the safe was in the office and he was
in the boiler room.
At about O'Clock Mayer put in an
appearance. When he arrived at the
4 gate four masked men jumped at him,
and placing revolvers at his face, COM
manded him to keep silence. He was
also bound and carried to the engine
room, which adioins the office. He was
compelled to stand in one corner, while
two men stood over him with revolvers.
lie was near the office door. and,
although there is partition between
the Office and the engine room, was
only about five feet from the safe,
which was on the other side of the
partition. He could hear the men
boring the safe, but could not see
them. They were talking in low tones
and he could not tell much about what
they were saying, but knew what they
were about.
While the robbers, who were evi-
IDENTIFY expert machinists, were at work
at the safe, tho boiler whistle began to
blow, and Testing, knowing that the
water IN the boiler was getting low
and realizing what the whistle meant,
remarked to the man who was standing
over him that if the boiler was not
given immediate attention it would ex.
plode and all would be killed. This
alarmed the burglars, and, loosening
Festing's hands sufficiently, they COM
manded him to fill the boilers, which
he did, all the time being covered by
revovers. As soon MS he had attended
to the boilers he was rebound and
taken back to the closet where he was
kept until tho men were ready to leave
the place.
The robbers would not permit either
| of the two brewery employeS to saw q
word or watch their operations, the
closest guard being kept over both OF
them. The drilling of the safe, which
was completed in about an hour, when
plosive, presumably dynamite, and at
about 80 O'Clock, the office and nd
jacent rooms were shaken by an OK
plosion, which, however, was not suf.
ticiently loud to arouse the neighbor-
hood. Several people living close by,
who were seen on Tuesday, said they
did not hear the report, although
others who were awake at the time,
distance. 1t is evident, however,
that precaution had been taken to
muffle the sound as much as possible.
Immediately after the safe had been
blown open the men, who were far
enough away to escape being injured
by flying pieces, collected about the
safe, and, gathering up the money box
and what papers andg other things Of
out of the building, and, from what
can be learned, evidently ran up du
Pont street q short distance, where
| ono ~ ,,,Dra oorrianos ,para ~, it,,,e,