The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-30

overlooked a 81 bill that was between
bunch of checks. They tore open
an envelope containing IS, but did not
interfere with checks that had been
drawn the night before by Mr.. Eek
stein.
Seemed to Know Store.
The men appear to have been fami-
liar with the surroundings and washed
their hands in a toilet room on the
second floor. Just how they discovered
this room, for it is not easily found,
is something that is puzzling the po-
lice. There are several rooms togeth-
er and that the robbers should have
hit upon the most unlikely and out
of the way one is not easily under
stood. The surroundings indicated
that the men took their time about
washing.
Near the safe they left a dozen or
more of the caps that they had used,
a coil of the blasting fuse, and some
| of the explosive. They returned to
the cellar and left the store as they
had entered. Here again there are
| things that cannot be readily under
| stood. There are two doors going
| from the basement to the opening un-
der the grating. To the east of these
doors is an opening large enough for
a man to pass through. This opening
| was closed with thin boards, when
the store was closed Saturday night,
and these boards were ripped off be-
fore the robbery was discovered.
1t was plain that one of the men
had entered through this opening. But
the eastern door was taken off it's
hinges and was on the floor after the
departure of the robbers. When it
| is explained that these doors were not
locked. for the reason that weeks, or
maybe months ago, a key had been
| broker in the lock. it is not clear
why the door was taken from it's
hinges. Two large crowbars were
found under the grating, but there
was no evidence that either had been
used. and the door did not show that
it had been pried from it's hinges.
BOOkkeeper Discovered Robbery.
Mr. Foye, the senior member of the
firm, went to the store about 10 O'Clock,
but saw nothing unusual. He had been
reading the Morning News fifteen or
| twenty minutes when Mr.. Nunnally,
the bookkeeper, arrived. Mr.. Nunnally
went to the rear to get his books from
the safe and then for the first time
the robbery was discovered.
Police headquarters was promptly
notified and in a short while the en-
tire force of uniformed and plain
clothes men were at work. Patrol
| man Tim McAlpin, considered one of
the most faithful and efficient mem
bers of the force, had passed the store
frequently during the night and had
noticed nothing of a suspicious ma
ture. AS is his custom, he tried the
front door each time that he passed
and probably did this while the rob-
bers were on the inside.
But no view of the store could be
commanded from the street. Meal
| pin walked over the grating through
which the men had gone This was
] n J,
anything wrong by reason of the fact
| that there are wooden covers to the
| grating and these were in place. 1t is
because of this fact that the police are
almost certain that one man remained
on the outside while the work was be-
! ing done.
There is a fruit stand on the east
side of Barnard street, between
Broughton street and Broughton lane,
! just opposite the big department
store, and two men were there all
night. Neither remembers seeing any
suspicious characters and both are
certain that the explosion could not
have been heard from where they sat.
| The fruit men were surprised when
they learned that a safe had been
blown open almost under their very
| eyes.
Robbers Left No Clue.
Beyond the coil of fuse, the blasting
caps and some of the explosive, the
robbers left no clue. Two small bot
ties that had contained whisky were
! found under the safe, but the officers
do not believe that they were left by
the men who cracked the safe. The
fuse and caps are of the kind use in
blasting, and furnish no clue.
But the explosive is something that
! the police know nothing of as yet. 1t
| is a coarse powder, looking not a
| loo IYnli oh dlt-
1t is slightly bitter and salty, and
| tastes as if it had pepper in it, 1t is
| very much in taste and appearances
like an explosive known in Cuba as
rickrack, and used there for blasting.
! The experts who saw it, however,
| agreed that it was a composition of
the robbers and not AN explosive that
| is generally on sale.
| For the purpose of teStings its
strength several exp riments were made
in the yard at police headquarters.
A very small quantity of the powder
; was placed in a paper sack and a capped
fuse tied to it, This was buried in
the ground and the fuse lighted. The
! explosion tore up the earth and made
muttled report that was heard several
feet away. The explosion of one of
the caps without the powder was also
! sufficiently strong to tear up the
ground.
Can't Tell the Loss.
Just how much money was secured,
! or just what the damage to the COM
! forts and percale will amount to, can
not be told by the firm until the CASH
| Ter has gone carefully over the books
Mr. Eckstein said that this would be
! done at once.
! Mr.. Eckstein, as we'll as the police
! is confident that the robbers were we'll
| posted on the surroundings and that
! they studied the store carefully be-
! fore doing the work. At the same time
none of those employed in the store
can now remember having seen any
suspicious persons around during the
| past week
The safe was located near a door
that opens into the lane, and through
this door the firm does its shipping
People in the lane had an excellent
view of the safe during the day, and
its location could have been gotten at
in this way without attracting any at
tention. But to have been able to go
through the store with the ease that
the robbers did, 1t was necessary for
them to have made a study of the
place. Every effort is being made by
the officers to find some trace of the
men.
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