Arizona republican., 1902-02-20
BLEW OPEN SAFE
And At Same Time Wrecked Office of
 DeMund Lumber Company.

The office of the DeMund I.umber company at Madison and Fourth ave
 nue was wrecked yesterday morn ing by burglars in effort
 to blew open the safe The ei-
 fort was thoroughly successful. for
 there was never q safe onelad any
 wider and the contents of it were st
 the disposal of any man who migh,
 happen to come along. The extraorCi- nary noise of the explosion which was heard for blocks frightened the burg lars so that they did net return.
 There was about $I0 in the safe \ little Of the money was found on the floor. but the most Of it was still in the cash drawer. The books were uEin- jured. but that is more than can be said of anything else about the office. which looks as if it had been bombarded with six-inch shells. The men who did that joh certainly do not stand very high in their profession and have a great deal to learn about explosives.
 The safe stood on the east side of the office facing the Fourth avenue en- trance. IL was an extraordinarily strong safe. made by the Hall Safa and Lock company. The door was blown off and all the attachments were sepa- rated from il. The outer steel shell was torn and twisted and blown into several pieces. One Of these pieces six inches long and nearly as wide was hurled through a partition with such force that it cut clean hole and was buried in a wall beyond. A partition running parallel with the direction of the explosion was wrecked and a chim- hey was left tottering. or the Fourth avenue door. standing directly in the line of the main force O. the explosion. rothing was found but flew srlinters thrown half way across the street. Two picture frames were wrecked and near ly every window glass in the office was shattered. Thore was a window just behind the safe. There is nothing there now but the hole Parts of the sash are indistinSuishable splinters and the ground in the vicinity is covereI l Tn many places the walls look like a pCroupine. they are so filled with pine spliutars.
 There is enough of the outer shell of the safe door intact to show that the burglars are not familiar with the mechanism of safes and that their op- erations in drilling into the door were directed by guess work. One hole had been drilled nearly through and was then abandoned for another at the cage D. the combination. The explosive used lltlss nsiN- if-t--l lillI tf-iil4"- .li- l,nob and combination seem to have b1en knocked off with some heavy in l SufN'mcnt before the explosion Was at terptee1. IL was probably the notion l of the robbers that that act of vio- | ,ence would in some inexplaina bla ! manner enable them to operate the !. bolts. There were found in the office 1, a siedge hammer a brace and bitt and | other articles which might have been ] ztoian from a bIacSsmitfs shop.
 The explosion occurred about 2 o'clock yesterday morning. Police l -ficers w-re cn hand iu a few 1 minutes and the place was quick Iy surrounded --b by persons in tha ! who had been rudcIy . jarred out of sound sleep. Nobody got 1 there in time. though, to see any sUs- picious characters leaving that vicinity.
 The first officers at the scene of dc were Captain Joe Bush and i Policeman Lawrence. but there was nothing for them to do there. Officer !. and Deputy Sheriff Williams 1 then searched the north bound z. F. r. & P. train. which was then about , 10 leave but could find no suspicious characters slowed away. They in- the trainmen to make q more c,lha Ustive search after the train left and throw off any hobos they might find and report to the officials here. This side of Aihambra twc men were