Evening journal., 1904-08-24
Thomas Coyne Did Not
Believe in Banks So
Kept His Cash in the
House
Burglar Heart of it
Forced Entr$nce While
Wife Was Away and
Escaped With Loot.

An unknown thief entered the home
of William Coyne. No. $40 West street,
yesterday afternoon and after ransack-
ing the house got away with $500 in
money which was concealed in a trunk.
Coyne is a stone mason employed in
Philadelphia, while Mrs. Coyne lives at
the above named house. He was at his
work as usual yesterday and his wife,
after finishing her household duties, de-
cided to pay "A visit to her mother, who
is an inmate of the Home for Aged
Women No. 11O9 Gilpin avenue
Carefully locking up her house, as
she supposed Mrs. Coyne departed
shortly after her noon-day meal and
spent the afternoon with her parent
returning between and 6 o'clock.
House Ransaeked.
Mrs. Coyne entered her house by the
front door, when what was her sur
prise to find that someone had been in
the house and ransacked it.
Her first thought was of the money.
which her husband. it is said persist
emily refused to keep i'm bank, and kept
in trunk i'm an upstairs room. Hur-
rledly she ran up the steps when the
expected met her gaze. Everything
was i'm confusion. chairs We're turned
over. dresser drawers pulled out. their
contents scattered about the floor and
the bedding upturned. In the corner
stood Coynes trunk. IL told the story
only too plainly The lid had been
pried open. clothing lay on the floor
and the money which had been conceal.
ed therein. the money that her husband
had worked so hard for, was missing.
1t was with much effort that Mrs
Coyne recovered from the shock, de-
scended the stairs and notified ths
neighbors of her loss. She then hur-
riedly sought train for Philadelphia tC
inform her husband of his loss. Sh,
had not returned this morning.
Police Notified.
Word of the robbery was soon com
municated to the police station and of
ficers were dispatched to the Coyn
home to make an investigation. but 81
far their efforts have met with no sue
cess. although the means of entry o
the thief We're easily discovered.
In the rear of the Coyne home is
shed kitchen. the door of which lead
into small yard beyond. The robbie
had pushed this door open sufficient.
far to admit the insertion of some in
strument. probably a knife blade, witt
which he lifted hook and the doc
swung open.
From this point his way was practi
cally clear as the door between tn
shed kitchen and the main house wa
unlocked. The coast was clear and af
ter a necessarily hasty search he foun
the object of his quest and departed a
he came.
Seen bv Children.
From what can be learned the clue t
the identity of the robber is slight, a
he was seen only by some childre
who were in a neighborlng yard.
The little ones were playing in tn
yard when they noticed a strange ma
passing out of the gate of the Coyn
home Knowing that the family wer
away and suspecting that somethin
was strange i'm the mans appearance
in the yard they ran to their gate {
get a look at him. From the descriT
tion given by them the intruder wa
slightly taller than medium heigh
wore dark pantaloons, patent leathe
shoes somewhat the worse for wea
and bursted across the top no Goa
light hat, light shirt with sleeves role
up and unbuttoned at the neck
Although all are at sea regarding tn
mans identity. it is believed general
that the man was familiar with th
fact that Coyne kept money in tn
house, as from its outside appearanC
no one would suspect the occupants
possessing that amount of money
coin.