The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-05-24
ROBBERS BLOW OUT SAFE
Make Sensational Raid Upon Bank
at 0neonta, N. Y.
STEAL HORSES AND WAGONS

Between Five and Ten Thousand Doilars
Said to Have Been Taken - Thieves
Believed to Have Left Main Road aud
Escaped Through woods-Other Re-
cent Burglaries.
Oneonta, N. "a band of masked
robbers drove into the village Of Gill
bertsville, about eighteen miles from
here, at 8 o'clock il the morning, blew
open with dynamite a safe in the pri-
vate bank of E. C. Brewer, and made
good their escape with booty estimated
at between $4,000 and $4,000.
When the startled villagers were
awakened by the mufhed roar Of the
explosion and had been halted by the
pistol fire of the retreating bandits,
they found that the robbers had COM
pletely isolated Gilbertsville from the
outside world by cutting all the tele-
graph and telephone wires. Efforts to
communicate with neighboring towns
were futile, and when the village folk
finally started in pursuit, the robbers
had gained q lead which could not be
made up.
Teams which had been stolen from
barns and used by the robbers in their
approach to the village and their sub
sequent fight were found abandoned
by the roadside. Daylight found the
bandits not far from Gilbcrtsville, and
it is believed they then left the high
way and went into the woods afoot.
It was believed there were five men
in the band. That all were heavily
armed was shown by the frequency of
their fire when the first Of the villagers
arrived in the vicinity Of the bank. The
men first pried open the front door OF
the bank. Two hcles were then drilled
into the heavy steel doors OF the newly
installed 'burglar-proof" safe, and into
these the explosive was inserted. The
explosion wrecked the safe and shat
tered every window in the building.
Portions of the safe were found many
yards from the building.
The robbers gathered up all the
money they could find and started on
q run Just as the first of the awakened
villagers reached the scene. Plans for
pursuit We're quickly made. Postmas-
ter W. S. Root and c. P. Root, his
brother, started for Mt. Upton, the
nearest railroad station, six miles
away. They had gone but half a nile
when they came upon a team hltched
to 4 telegraph pole. One of the horses
had become entangled in the harness
and thrown himself. The robbers ap-
parently had made an attempt to right
the harness in the darkness, but finally
abandoned the effort and made OF. Inc
team proved to have been stolen from
q neighboring barn.
Continuing on their way Postmaster
Root and his brother came upon q one
horse surrey near Mount Upton. An
axle of the vehicle was broken, and a
short distance away was the horse, De-
longing to q farmer in the vicinity, and
taken from his barn during the night.
It was believed that after this vehicle
failed them the robbers made their
way into the woods, as no further a.
Of them could be found.
Bipchamton, n. UT is certain that
three of the men who committed the
Gilbertsvilla robbery are the profes-
sional postofica and bank burglars who
blew open the safe of the postof1ce at
Port Dickinson, adjoining this city,
some days ago. The three men were
seen at Mount Upton IN the morning
where q description of then was Cd,
tanned. The lien have committed
many daring burglaries in this vicinity
during the past few weeks.