Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-08-28

door, which had been forced open by
the use of picks secured from the Bur
lington section house near the depot.
An attempt was also made to enter
the store belonging to Wheaton Bro
theirs, but the efforts of the burglars
proved to be useless. After evidently
taking their leisure to carry out their
work they made good their escape. No
clue to the identity of the robbers has
been secured and nothing is known
as to the direction they took in leav-
ing the city.
The Robbery.
Between / and 2 o'clock this morn.
ing the people who reside near the
business part of town were awakened
by the sound of an explosion, which
port of pistol of large calibre No
attention was paid to the incident as
everything again become quiet, and
the robbers were enabled to prosecute
their work unmolested. The city is
considerably worked up over the af-
fair and efforts are being made to To-
cate the guilty parties but up to to-
day no clue had been found
Mr.. SIMPSONS Story.
Several theories are held by differ
ent parties in this place, but as yet
all have proved fruitless in ferreting
out the guilty persons. Concerning
| the robbery, Mr. Sampson tells the fol
| lowing story:
Il am at a loss to account for the
deed, but it is my opinion that the at
! tempt was made by foreign parties, as
1 there has been nothing disturbed with
| the exception of the safe and it is my
belief that if they had been local par
ties connected: with the affair the
money drawer would have been open,
ed and other parts of the store search.
ed in the effort to secure money"
Entered Through Front Door.
The entrance to the building was
made through the front door. it having
| with picks which they had secured
from the outfit of the section men OF
| the Burlington railroad. These picks;
were today found in the vicinity of the
store. After gaining an entrance TIE
crooks evidently made direct for the
safe, as it was found today that no
other part of the store gave evidence
Of having been molested. 1t is believ.
! ed that the first work of the men was
TO break off the knob of the safe door
This gave them opportunity to place
| the explosive The charge was effect
| i've and the door of the safe was to-
tally wrecked by the explosion To
| day paper in which some soap had
been wrapped was found in the store
and it is believed that the crooks used
the soap to fill up the crack around the
door to make the discharge more eff
fective. The whole force of the explo
sion seemed to have been spent on the
safe as the stock in its vicinity was
not in the least damaged.
The Safe Looted.
Nothing was secured by the robbers
from the safe. as it is stated by Mr.
Sampson that he never kept any mon
ey there, but simply used it to protect
his books and papers. Every indica
ton about the store this morning gave
evidence that the thieves had made {
most careful search for money through
the safe, as the books and papers hat
all heen removed from their places
and after a hurried examination hat
been thrown about the floor.
Money Till Not Touched
1t was found that the money drawer
had not been opened and all the mon
ey which it contained was found to be
safe Small amounts of money wer,
/ seseted in different places about tn,
been molested.
4 Have No Clue.
Until late today no clue had beer
secured as 10 the identity of the bur
glars. 1t is the general belief in this
city that the work was done by som,
foreign parties from the fact that nj
other part of the store had beer
searched. Another consideration tina
leads to this belief is the fact that tn,
only other attempt that was made i,
the town was upon the store of Whea
ton Brothers. This, it is stated, is tn,
only other store where there is a SAT
and these seemed to be the objects o
the robbers.
May Offer Reward.
Anti-Horse Thief association may TAX
the matter in hand and place an offe
for the capture of the culprits.
The people Of Agency are consider
ably excited over the affair. Severa
attempts have been made to enter pri
vate houses in this vicinity during tn
past, few months and it is believed
that this last and boldest effort ha
been the result Of the failure to locat,
the guilty parties in the former occur
rences. The matter Of offering a re
ward is now being agitated and ii, j
probable that the city council and tn