The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1904-01-21
SAFES BLOWN Open
Bold BsfgiafS dei 10 Vsrk b
Charlotte.
ONE OF THEM SHOOT OFFICER
4 Daring Piece Of Work ia the Hssl-
ness cva're Of pcrulous Chy--Ne
Arrests Made.

|
early hour Thursday nornins profess
s!onal oracksnsn tried TO murder Po-
| i!cerien Shields. and blew oper tho
safes o. Cooper & Das.s. TFoster's Har-
ness shop. and In the, store os J. r.
and ]. c. Long. all on North celiere
street They also broke to plccss the
eash drawer in J. T. and J. c. Lonxs.
| ead are supposed 10. have committed
ether rohberies and damages A this
hour. O'Clock. the police are guazding
the buildings. hoping tha; the roehsss
have not escaped,
II was 3-l5 O'Clock wher Policemen
| Shields and NJ. NJ Earuhardt heard
The sound Of hammer inside the store
| or Long Brothers. The officers stop
| rei. aud then sav some one inside TIE
store make light. After finding that
| The front doors OF the store werr
| locked. they hurriedly ran 10 the rear
OF the place. The location OF Tho
| buildings In The rear a! the Lors store
| is unique. On the northern part OF
| the block Is the building of the South
eTn Pants Company: on the southern
side OF the big building OF the batting
side is the big Building of the batting
| there is a snail structure about ten
feet high. and through this there is q
/ door which is almost directly in the
! rear Of the Long store
t When Shields came 10 the rear OF
! the small structure. which may be
| termed a gateway. n man arose, faced
| him. and without saying a word fred
| or Shields with a revolver.
/ The officer staggered back and did
not recover himself at once. The man
| ran through the little aperture. CON-
Ing nut on the side next 10 the Long
store. Earnharct ran 10 Shields res
| cue. and after an examination IL was
| found that Shields wss not hurt seri-
cusly. The bullet had struck one OF
| the big metal buttons on his dress
| coat. Just above the heart. and had
| glanced through his heavy outer coat,
through a heavy inner coat. and pene-
trated almost to the skin. There was
no abrasion. though the shock sick
cred the officer for n little while.
Feeling sure that the thief-for tie
man was only suspected TO be a CON-
mon thief at this time-had not es-
/ capped. but was either between the
| Long store and the two buildings In
the rear. Shields left Earnhardt To
| watch at the mouth OF the small build
| ing connecting the batting building and
| the pants factory. and hurried 10 the
! police station. which Is only a block
| away. for assistance.
While four or five policemen watch
| ed In front. Sergeant Harrington. Po-
| liceman Crowell and one or two other
| officers proceeded To examine ths
buildings from the rear.
Before the officers had been inside
the enclosure two minutes. Sergeant
| Harrington yelled:
why. three stores are open. and the
| mischief Is 10 payi"
Other policemen came. and all were
| certain that the robbers-for IL was
, evident now that more than one man
was In the thieving party-must be
concealed inside one Of the thrss
| stores.
While more lanterns were brought
| and hurried preparations were made TO
| enter the buildings that had been
opened. Policeman Mccall. who was
| keeping watch on the west side OF the
street, discovered that the front door
| of the Cooper e. Davis furniture store
was open. Mccall and Policeman Har-
! eett at onse entered this, but after q
| hurried investigation comforted them
selves with the belief that the rear
doors of the building were unopened
| ard that the robbers could not have
| gotten out through the front door OF
| the furniture store.
| After battling with poor light for .
| few minutes a large lamp In the store
was found and lighted. and IL was only
when this was held UP that the full
| character of the early morning depre-
dations became known
ytH 4<x(a all
the glance OF All instant showed that
the cleverest cracksmen had been sac
cessfulIy at work.
! The safe In the furniture store was
| flown to pieces. II lay on its back.
with wide open mouth. The combina
ton had been knocked OF. and thers
was plain evidence that nitroglycsrine
In large quantity had been poured
| II this and used to such terrific effect
| that the entire inside OF the safe was
| shattered. All the cash drawers lay On
the foor-empty. A little distance
| away lay papers, mortgages. deeds ana
| the like. which had evidently not been
touched. Stamps were lying around In
large quantities yet a hurried examf-
/ ration made 1t plain that everything
Of value had been taken from ths
safe.
| The intelligence OF he -cnSdtionAd
discovery in the furniture st.:e led 10
excitement among the officers. but
they were grimly certain OF their prey
Until Mccall found that a small back
door at the rear OF the store wes open.
Then the officers became dishearten-
ed, for It was apparent that while
Shields and Earrha-dt had left un-
guarded the west side OF the street, or
College street, and had gone In the
rear of the building. the same man
who fired at Shields and his confeder-
a:es would have had ample time 10
have made their escape by running the
length OF the furniture store and going
out the front door, which had been
entered or opened with key