Connecticut western news., 1901-08-08
BIG SHELTER L0OTED.
I hieves Carry Of a Quarter Of =. a Million Tn Gold.
DUG A TUNNEL INTO VAULT.

DUG A TUNNEL INTO VAULT. Cleverly Executed Robbery Near san
 FrsnciSco Bamex the PoIice-WorL
 Done In the Night-Track. Covered
 by Red Pepper.
 San Francisco. Aug. T.-Gold bullion worth S2S0.0o0 was stolen from the works of the Selby Smelling company the bay shore 30 miles from San Fran cisco, some time during Monday night The theft was discovered by the fore man early yesterday morning, but thieves
 The main booty consisted of four fine gold bricks. all stamped with num- Der, weight and tineneSs, as follows: No. 1.236, 1.190.37 ounces: No. 1.237. 1.l2T.I3 ounces; No. 1.23s. 1.l2322 ounces. and No. 1.239. 1.0I3.I9 ounces. Each brick was 10 inches long. wide and about 4 feet high. was .ElS fine and was worth S206o an ounce. There were also stolen 1000 ounces of gold in various shapes and some silver.
 For weeks the robbery must have been in preparation. The thieves must have been experts. X boat and per haps launch are considered to have been necessary to the plan. These were not brought upon the scene of the rob bery. according to the police theory, until a tunnel ten feet long leading un- der the wall of the building and be. heath the steel floor of the vault was completed.
 The metal flooring once reached, a drill was used. A ring of borings was made IS inches in diameter, but the door was not punctured. A thin ring of steel was left for the final break. A few blows with a sledge or the pressure of a hydraulic jack soon fore ed the circle of plating out, and through the opening thus made crawl ed the thief. who handed out the gold stacked within the treasury room. Pepper to Blind Pursuer.. Scattered about the tunnel and vault were broken drills. a quantity of red pepper to blind those who might have interrupted the robbers and few pieces of burned paper. Not brick or bar of gold was left behind. but on the bay shore near the shelter wharf were found two bricks worth S5o,Oo0. The robbers in their haste left these behind. but they secured the rest of the plunder, amounting to S2S0.Oo in gold. without any difficulty.
 It is supposed that the gold was car ried along the water front to steam launch that was in waiting. Knowl- edge of the whereabouts Of this launch. its identity and its destination is vital to the search for the robbers. and the officers of the two counties are bending all their energies to make these ques- tions clear.
 Superintendent von Der Ropp thinks that the robbery was planned in san Joaquin state prison and executed by accomplished safe breakers. Dick | Phelan. formerly an employee of the works. who was recently released from San Joaquin. where he served q | term for murder, Is reported to have been seen recently in the vicinity of | the works. It Is the theory of Von Der Ropp that Phelan either found accom- | plices in the place and laid out the plot | to be executed on his release or gave
 the necessary information to other criminals to enable them to accomplish | this gigantic robbery.
 All who have seen the tunnel through | which the burglars made their way to | the vault declare that 1t must have re- | quired several weeks to dig out such a large quantity of earth without at- | tracting the attention of the numerous l employees of the shelter. The digging could have been accomplished only at I night, and the earth as 1t was removed was undoubtedly taken aboard a small | boat In sacks and dumped into the I running tide of the bay.
 Tunnel Hid by Grating. The tunnel Is semicircular. dipping | from the front of the smelter wall suf- | ticiently to pass under the foundation | and come up under the steel vault. | Over the outside mouth of the hole was placed a light but strong grating | of wood. over which, when a nights | work was completed. lot of earth and | rubbish was thrown so that the en- | trance could not be distinguished from | solid ground. Scores of workmen pass | ed and repassed over this framework. but no one noticed by the sound that he was treading upon a fiimsy struc- ture. Across the grating were fastened | couple of sacks to keep the dirt from | falling into the tunnel. but had any | weight of more than 300 pounds been | run over 1t it would have given way | under the pressure. A heavily laden truck was run close to the spot only yesterday, but escaped the hole by sev-
 eral feet.
 The robbery is supposed to have been | committed some time between mid
 night and s o'clock in the morning.
 shortly before midnight rounds were
 made of the building. and at , o'clock
 the steamer Sunol came alongside the
 dock to receive the shipments of gold, as 1t is not customary to leave precious
 metal at the shelter longer than neces-
 sary.
 The stolen metal was part of a con- signment prepared only Monday and Il
 shipment to the smelter office in this
 city.
 The Sunol's men made ready to truck
 the gold out. and one of the stnelter
 men ran forward to open the vault
 door. It held fast. He used force. but
 still the heavy door stuck. Then bar
 was used as lever. and the wedge
 that held the door in place slipped and
 the wrecked strong room was revealed
 empty.
 Cresceus agsIn break. Record.
 Cresceus. champion of the trottinG
 turf. added more laurels to his fame by
 trotting a mile in 2:02A. reducing by
 one-half second his week old record oi
 2:O2s.. made at Cleveland last Friday
 The first half was trottcd in O:59s4 | the first tim. that the distance has