The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-27

One of the boldest rObberies which
has taken place in Wilmington in j
long time past occurred on Friday
night when some one entered the resi-
dence of Mr.. j. G.. Barrentine, No. lis
Grace street, and stole SIS from the
trunk of a young lady who boards
there. The young lady who lost the
money is Miss Kuhnert, who is a mil
liner at The &. w. PolvOgt Company.
Yesterday morning when Mr.. Barren
tine went into his hall he noticed that
the door leading into Miss Kuhnert's
o was wide open, which was some
went to the room and found Miss Kuh
merit to be asleep and over the floor
were scattered articles which had been
taken fro mthe bureau drawers. The
young wOman vas awakened and as
0 0 as she looked around she knew
that a burglar had been in the room.
AS a general thing she kept her trunk
locked, but she failed to lock it on
Friday night. When Mrs. Barentine
went into the room the top of the trunk
was up. The first thing Miss Kuh-
merit did was to go to the trunk to see
II her money was gone and sure
enough it was. She had SIS in bills
III Il candy box and it was in the hat
box side of her trunk. The box was
still there, but the money was gone.
There was some jeWelry in the trunk,
but none of this was stolen. The bu-
reau drawers had been ransacked by
the burglar, but nothing was missed
except the money.
The burglary was evidently COM
mltted by a very bold person and he
must have known that the money was
in the trunk for he entered no other
part Of the house. Miss Kuhnert said
she shut the door just before retiring.
Once during the night she thought
&She heard some one on the porch,
due as she had heard slight noises
there before she concluded it
was &C at OF dog and went to sleep
1t is hard to see how the burglar could
have ransacked the room so thoroughly
without waking the young lady but
this is by no means the first instance
where rooms have been entered in this
<city during the past few months and
the occupant of the room know nothing
about it until the following morning.
The back door at Mr.. Ba[entine's was
found to be unlocked yesterday morn-
iEg.
a negro by the name of Josh Payne,
better known as 'Knotty', was arrest
ed last night on suspicion. He is not
thought to have committed the rob-
h6puy hrrt II &c ho1invnI thnt no knows
something about it. "KnOtty" was
spending money in a most extravagant
manner yesterday and was seen to
have about $1,000 and he was unable
to account for where he got it. He was
arrested by Captain Bob Green.
Last fall Il negro rObber who had
entered Il number of residences, was
eventually arrested and given a long
term in the penitentiary n it was
hoped that with his capture would end
the series of robberies which We're be-
ing committed in Wilmington and for
Il short time they did cease, but for
the past few months a series of very
bold robberies have been committed IN
this city. No resident can feel safe
when they retire and every fort should
be resorted to and the robbers brought
to justice and given their just deserts.
The next robber who is caught
should not be allowed to escape by
getting a term in the ~penitentiary. The
law should be allowed to take its
course and in this state to enter a resi-
16ence which is occupied is a capital Of
Tense. 1t seems that it will take an
example of this kind to stop he rob-
berries and the sooner such au example
is made the better it will be. Of all
things people like to feel safe in their
homes and not retire at night feeling
that they may awake to see a negro
rObber in their room.