El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-04
VIGOROUS SEARCH
is Being Prosecuted For the
Thieves, But As Yet
With No Pro- pect
Uf Success.

One of the most daring and success
fun burglaries perpetrated in this city
for many months came to light this
morning when Mr.. Walton opened ~
the store of the Ell Paso Saddlery COM
pany.
AS soon as he got inside at $50
O'Clock he discovered that the estab-
lishment had been entered by burglars
sometime during the night and fire
arms to the value of about $500 carried
Off
The police were notified and thor
ough investigation was commenced at
once.
Two fine shot guns, five Winchester
rifles and thirty or more pistols were
missing The revolveds were nearly
all six shooters of the Colt pattern.
There was a show case full of them
and it had been cleaned out. The cash
drawer contained little or no money
and had not been tampered with.
The burglars are supposed to have
been a man and a boy. 1t is the be-
lief of the police that the boy was
placed inside the store and that he
handed the booty to his companion on
the outside.
How 1t Was Done.
Entrance to the store was effected
through the rear window, which faces
a back yard. This window is protect
ed by solid iron bars which stand per-
pendicular about five inches apart. The
burglars used a heavy piece of iron
as lever and bent one of the bars
aside. forming an opening large enough
to- admit the body of a small man or
boy to the interior of the store.
The back yard of the store is admi--
rably adapted by it's surroundings for
just such a robbery as was committed
last night. O The interior of the yar.f
is surrounded by high walls and cut
off from the alley by a shed room,
whose door. opening on the alley. IS
kept securely locked at night. So well
is the interior shut off from observa
tion without that thieves might work
for hours therein without molestation,
for even were a policeman patrollins
the alley, he would be unable to dis
Germ what was going on within the
inclosure at the rear of the store.
Last night the shed room door OPEN
ing on the alley was locked as usual.
The burglars evidently swung them
selves down from the rear stairway
of a rooming house to the top of the
shed and then descended to the ground
inside the yard. Once within, their
task was not a hard one, for no one
was sleepeing in the store and they
could not be seen except from above
That the burglars were not profess
sionals was shown by the manner of
their work. The window bar Was
pried open. not with the mechanical
device used by professionals to bend
apart the stoutest window guards. but
with clumsy iron lever. which might
have beeen picked up in the yard. The
opening between the bars was in
creased to probably eight inches and
lars entered. 1t is supposed that ne
went direct to the place where the
fire arms were kept and passed them
out by the armful to his compadre.
The entire weight of the stolen
property is estimated at less than 100
pounds and it would have been NO
trouble for the lnieves to have placed
their booty in sacks and carried it on.
The theory advanced is that two
men robbed the store, but one only
might have done the work.
After completing their task the burg
lars unlocked the shed door opening On
the alley, passed through. taking the
paddock with them, and disappeared
The Only Clue.
The only clue this morning which
CONTINUED on Fifth Page.)