The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-28
Story of a Remarkable Crime
 Has Developed
BURGLARS OUTFIT FOUND
Many Stolen Articles Recovered In a Room at the Frisco House-Detect- ives Looking for Third Man,
 Thought to Have Money.

Bennett Bibb and James E. Williamson were arrested yesterday morning at l0;SO o'clock at the Frisco house, in the rail- road yards on Morris avenue, charged with burglary and grand larceny in con nection with the Union depot robbery on the morning of May 16, when $67S3 ss was taken from the safe In the office of Ticket Agent Jack w. Johnson.
 The officers are now looking for anoth- CT man whose name is withheld for the present and it is thought he will be cap tured today.
 The arrest of the two young men yes terday morning by Special Officers George H. Bodeker, Bob Patton and E. A. Ham, ilton was followed by sensational develop ments and one of the biggest criminal finds in the history of Birmingham
 In Bibbs room at tho Frisco house, number of small bank sacks were found, a complete set of burglars tools and oth- CT articles that the detectives assert will lead to duplicating the men in a number of other robberies. including that of Louisville and Nashville pay car month ago.
 Mystery Solved.
 After nearly two weeks of work, day and night. the detectives say they have solved the mystery surrounding the rob bery at the depot, exonerated every man connected with the office, and unearthed a gang of burglars.
 The developments brought to light yes l terday in connection with the depot rob bery show that it was carefully planned and the story of the crime reads like fiction. The officers consider it as one of the most remarkable cases of crime to come to light in the south.
 The Details.
 Briefly the facts are these: With a powerful magnifying glass a man slipped under the roof over the pri- vate office of the ticket agent. Putting the small end to hole in the ceiling of the room he carefully watched the tick ct agent manipulating the combination of the safe in the room below.
 On the morning of May 16 he entered the door of the ticket office by inserting a skeleton key in the lock Going to the safe door he soon worked the combina- ton. It was the work of but few min utes and the money was before him. Se- curing the money he passed it out of two windows looking out on Morris avenue. In five minutes the robbery was complet- cd, and for days no trace of the real robbers was found Mystery snrouded the deed and many theories were advanced. vaneed.
 The First Clue.
 Ii was not until last Monday that the right theory was secured by the detec- tives On that day man said some thing about two fellows in the Frisco house talking about how they had robbed safe.
 With this little clue the officers went to work with renewed efforts
 Tuesday night the detectives stationed themselves near the Frisco house to await the arrived of Bibb and Williamson. IL was not until 10 oclock yesterday morn ing that they returned. They came into the city on train from Warrior and went at once to the lodging house. Williamson was arrested in the hallway l and Bibb was arrested as he entered the doorway of his room. The two men were then taken to police headquarters and kept lnder guard. They were put through the sweat box in the afternoon but as there is yet another one to be apprehend- ed the officers refuse to state what the | men said.
 The officers are now putting forth every possible effort to arrest the third man, who is said to be the one who went to the private office of the ticket agent and who has the money.
 After beginning work on the theory of the magnifying glass and the hole in the ceiling the officers made thorough in- spection.
 First a. trip was taken to the attic or rather small hole between the slate roof and ceiling of the private office. The apartment Is a small one and very dirty with soot and cobwebs. Here the dercc- tives found a board twelve inches wide and six feet long. A quilt was thrown over it. Two small pieces of paper were found there. On the slips were drawn crude diagrams of a safe lock from the outside. Around the dial numbers were jotted down. Another piece of paper, very greasy, was found and this the of fcers say had been used to wrap up a lunch. A bottle with water in it was aIao found lying on the board The board WAS in such a position that person lylnB on 1t could peer through the hole in the ceiling and see the safe beneath The officers think that for two days prior to the robbery one of the men had remained at this point of vantage, and during that time had seen the combination of the safe worked many times. The officers are also sure that when the auditors were in the private office on May 15 checking up the books that they were watched from the little hole above and knew when the large amount of money was deposited in the safe, and concluded that this was their chance to make big haul,
 Captain Johnsons private office was constructed after the depot was erected. To build this office twenty yfeet of the