The San Francisco call., 1905-04-10
Busy With Dyna-
mite When Mar
shall Arrives
Woman Awakened
by Explosion and
Gives Alarm.

BERKELEY, April "a daring at
tempt of three cracksmen to open and
rife the big safe in the Office Of POST
master George Schmidt at 3 o'clock
this morning was frustrated by the
wskefulness Of Mrs. F. s. Eastman,
who lives on oxford street, adjoining
the postofiee Mrs. Eastman heard the
noise made by the safebreakers, arose
and saw the men prowling about in the
postofice. She telephoned 10 Marshal
Kesrns and a deputy put the robbers
to rOut
The booty the cracksmen would have
found in the safe would have amount
ed 10 $4,000 OF this sum $4,000 was in
cash and the remainder in negotiable
stamps Not a penny was secured by
the intruders. They took their tools
with them in making a "getaWay.
fourth man. associated with the
safe crackers. is believed TO have act
ed as a decoy to lure Watchmap
George Thompson away from the
scene. Early this morning Thompson
observed a man on Center street, near
Shsttuck avenue, peering into win
dows in a suspicious manner. The
stranger moved on down Center street,
away from the business district, dis
tsnce Of half a mile or more, with
FlSOU III GlDeE pursuit Jul
no effort to capture him. Finally the
watchman lost sight Of his quarry and
returned TO his beat.
While this decoy was leading away
the only police officer on duty in the
town the three men were busily en-
gagged breaking into the postoffice.
Entrance to Postmaster Schmidt's
Office was easily gained, a Jimmy
being used to open the door. Once in
fastening ii securely so that If the
door was tried from the outside it
would seem to be locked. 1t was this
precautiOn that enabled the burglars
TO make their escape in safety later.
All the work done on the safe has
the marks of professional talent. Two
holes were drilled into the door and
il these were inserted bars attached
TO a bit Of mechanism that permitted
the operation of a jackscrew on the
safe door The door was pried open
about one inch. Then dynamite was
used 70 blow of the door. The first
charge was not big enough. 1t did
not move the door or there was not
space enough for the cracksmen to in
sert their hands.
It was at this stage that discovery
Of their operations was made bya Mrs.
Eastman. She sleeps lightly and the
muffed noise Of the explosion aWak-
ened her. She arose. peered through
her window into the postoffice and
saw three men moving quickly about.
She rang I'D Marshal Kerns and
Deputy Burt Howard at once respond
ed. He tried first to enter Schmidt's s
Office by the door through which the
safe breakers had entered. He found
il closed and immovable. While he
ratified the door knob and tested the
door the burglars made their escape,
leaving through the oxford street
door on the side. Howard heard that
door siam and hurried to the other side
OF the building. but was too late to
catch even a glimpse of the fleeing
crooks. No trace Of them has yet
been found
No attempt was made by the post
Office officials TO open the safe to-day.
They are sure that all it's contents are
intact and report that nothing else in
the Office was molested. Several hun
dred dollars in cash and stamps was
in boxes outside the safe and this
could have easily been secured had
the robbers searched with any care.