Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-07-27
qne X. aR3 L.
EXP SIS
ROBBERY

,,toai. ims. b. Z. c. ,fcc1,.'s

Soipk was the X. aud l.. express
@asrs which occurred when was
asu,ter of the old steamboat squad
!, rork consisted mostly in inyesti-
.ur liver piraeies aud keeping a
ss,rp eye upon that small but exceed
~ active fraternity of smugglers
"a ooerate ia New York harbor.
The K and L. Express company had
!. o,fee on Long wharf. at the foot of
lanes street. and, doing foreign bust.
,..s only, as they did. their storage
u,u,s were on the wharf too.
The storage shed was two story
adding Of brick. The office. which
.dloined It. was at the extreme end OF
M wharf 1t was built Of wood aud
eSnusaIed iron.
cuft were passing the end of the
xharf all night long There was a fer.
!, slip near by. Every vessel at the
Lek bad It's keeper. and the property
The company itself was watched By
n old and trusted wafcbman BE.
tdes the gates of the wharf were
,oeked al : o'clock In the evening. and
IA lighter had left the place it would
have been spied by one of the police
|vatroI boats which ply up and down
he river oil night long.
| Yet that shanty was broken into. and
tut Of It was removed a safe weighing
! couple OF tons aud containing money
Irackets and yaiuables 20 nm amount
[hai made the entire downtown police
department wake mp with decided
|Fsoek
TIE K. and L. people We're Wild. and
|well they might be. The chief took
hold Of the matter himself. and was
lone Of the men selected to 20 down TO
|the scene of the robbery with bim,
And tell you frankly was sorry 10
he put on the job. for rs soon is |
heard the cireu is.0nc+ surrounding
This break It boxed to ule TIE a blank
|wall that would e mighty hari e.tler
10 climb over di.; through.
The first rep 4, We sot Was that The
|tvo story Office had h0"l Blown hal: -
pisces by the for 81: tie - rye Of
Dynamite which tbs sa&ls.S had uscl
b tn TO force the safe. And yet az
body along the water front had heard
De explosion,
That was bad enou / 20 a he. 81
sug. And when we got TO the wharf
r. learned that, despite the wreck Of
y building. the burglars had evident.
! been unable to force the safe and
ID finally carried 1t away with them.
The corner OF the structure was torn
gay. and MS soou as the chief learned
lat the safe In question had stood
ght there where the door was gaping
nj the walls blown ont he declared il
} be his belief that the force of the
barge used TO open the safe had
Town the iron box clean through the
all and that Il was at the bottom of
ie river. lie was so sure OF this that
e sent over TO the Navigation com
any's offices for diver 10 so down
nd poke ahoet In the mud near the
Ock.
1t was between and O'Clock in the
forming when We had first been In
lrmed of the mystery. so the job was
OF many hours old. The company's
was already In custody and
Ias scared blue. II seemed that he
ad been sitting up daytimes with his
lex child Tor the better part OF week,
nd he had just keeled over on this
ight and slept like q log In the store
&c bullding-was sleeping. In fact.
Then the longshoremen came 10 work.
lie swore the robbery could not have
cen committed before midnight. He
ad made his regular rounds until aft
r that hour.
Then ! made the discovery by talk
ng to the first clerk who had arrived
q the scene that the door OF the Office
'nilding had been locked the same as
sual, nor had there been a window
hfastened. Therefore, added TO the
est OF the mystery. was the question,
low had the robbers entered the Office
nd mounted TO the second floor. where
be safe was kept? But the chief was
0 confident that the safe really had
ot been stolen. only blown Through
De wall and had fallen into the water.
nat he would do nothing until he had
card the report of the diver.
But looked over the wreck again.
ne force which had carried the safe
way must have been irresistible,
hairs We're smashed; one desk was a
lass OF wreekage. picked up in
orner piece OF what supposed to be
part OF a picture frame, for one side
the stick was heavily giIded.
Where's the rest of the picture?" |
sked the head clerk, and showed
In the BIT OF gilded wood
Why, there wasn't a picture on the
rail-" he declared II don't know
here that came from"
Now, that was little thing. but II
ias too odd 10 he overlooked. set
~ mind at WORK upon that broken
ieee of wood.
AS 1t was not picture frame and
lere had been nothing I'm TIE office
nat was gfldedi could not understand
ow 1t got there As | stood In the
'recked room and looked through the