The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-05-06
MISS HAWKINS
ANCESTRAL GEMS
Burglars Take Diamonds Set
Two Hundred Years
Ago.
WENT WITH STAMPS & THINGS
Miss Hawkins Placed Them in
Safe to Guard Against
Burglars.
WENT WITH STAMPS & THINGS
speclal to rhe Times.plspatch.l

Especial to The Times-Dispatch.)
MtLLBO1lO, VA, May 5.--Mlss Palma
Hawkins lost her splendid ancestral dia-
monds in the postofilce robbery here Wed.
ncsday night.
The postofrlce is located in the store
house Of Mr.. j. G. Davidson, who is the
postmaster. Mr.. G. "A. Jordan has charge
as trustee of the stock Of goods, and Is
tho manager Of the store.
Mr. Jordan left the building, which is
situated In the lower corner OF the hotel
grounds, at late hour at night, leaving
all secure When he opened up In tho
morning he found that the heavy iron
safe had been blown open, and all OF Its
contents Of value gone.
Jewels Gone.
1t was found that the postmaster had
lost In stamps and money one hundred
and twenty-eight dollars. G. A. Jordan.
trustee, was minus about twenty-five dol
lars, and, in addition, the valuable Jewels
Of Miss Palma Hawkins, the daughterSo OF
Mr.. j. P. Hawkins, which had been re-
Gently placed In the safe as protection
against Just this kind OF a. visitor. had
also taken wings and fowniaway. ,
Miss Hawkins. an exceptionally attrac-
tive young lady, we'll known to the
habitues Of Nimrod Hall and N1illboro
Springs, has for years guarded these
jewels with the utmost care. The dia-
monds and other precious stones alone
were al most conservative estimate,
valued at twelve hundred dollars.
These jewels had descended to Miss
Hawkins through a line Of ancestry.
going back over two, hundred years. Tho
settings were OF tho finest gold. and
many of them. of course, OF antique do
sign. and handsomely chased.
Owing to the associations, this loss to
Miss Hawkins Is one impossible to re-
place. Va
The evidences all around prove clearly
several points-f1rst, the thief or thieves
were perfectly familiar with the premises.
shop. selected tho tools they needed,
opened the door to the store without
breaking q lock or bolt. Indications
show that. on reaching the safe, they
found that they would need a stout iron
bar; they returned to the blacksmith
shop. and from behind the shop dug
out OF some scrap an old axle, which even
Mr.. Tyree had forgotten was there. All
of this indicates that tho thieves were
thoroughly familiar with all Of the SUR
aroundngs. and doubtless had been In and
around the store and blacksmith shop
hundreds OF times. and the natural con-
clusion must be that local talent per-
formed the job.
Useless Work.
e That they were not experts is proven
by the fact that the dynamite was In
serted and the safe blown from the edge
OF the door, instead of Mt the lock. Marks
about the safe show that a good deal of
entirely useless work was put In on the
safe before the explosive was inserted.
The floor of the store had that day been
freshly oiled, but this fact would not
have been disclosed by the dim light they
most certainly used at their work. The
cracksman, with a most commendable
regard for neatness and laudable de-
sire to save his trousers, carefully laid
sheet of paper on the floor upon which
to kneel while at work. He most GER
talnly knew that the floor had been fresh
~ oiled.
Among the Jewels of Miss Hawkins was
a cluster set of rare beauty and value.
This piece was known. and would be
recognized by nearly every one In this
section, and many who have visited this
section during the past several years.
It would have been indeed hard to have
made any disposition of this piece with
out running the risk of almost certain
detection. This piece was not taken. It
must have been handled to get at the
other but 1t was put back
Then we conclude that the cracksnan
was new, and very new, to the business.
That he was as familiar with the prem-
ises as Mr. Davidson himself. That he
knew Just exactly what door to enter.
and just how to get that door open, by
pressing against the door and inserting
a thin stick and raising the har After
entering he knew just where the bar was
usually kept, and put it right there be-
hind the door.
In the safe there was lot of checks.
aggregating about two hundred dollars.
He had no use for checks, but had no
examined he would have found that.
wrapped up in the checks were two ten
and three flve-dolar bills. Mr.. Davidson
regrets that he missed this part OF his
swag and says If he will call during
business hours he will cheerfully hand
It to him.
~ II