Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-02


o Inter Ocean
the time that could be allowed in
which to do the job, and they con-
cluded that it could not be done with
safety In that time, SO they gave up
the attempt.
They came out and attempted to
lock the vault. Somehow Dobbs
dropped the screw and was able to
force only three Of the tumblers back,
as he had lost the wire of the fourth.
They at once realized that IL the bank
officials In the morning were not able
to unlock the safe suspicion might be
entertained that the lock had been
tampered with, so they plugged UP the
hole with putty and smeared 1t with
dirt from the floor, so as to make II
appear that the drill had not been used
on 1t for long time.
Locks Defy the Loeksmlth
Which the officials of the bank APP
peared in the morning and tried to
work the combination they were un-
able to do 80. A local locksmith was
called, but nothing he could do would
bulge the door an inch. Then an ex-
pert was req1isitioned, and he took the
door off the hinges, discovering at the
same time the hole that had been
drilled by Hope, but was unable to de-
termine whether it was an old or a
new one.
The strange part of this proceeding
was the fact that all of this was done
under the very eyes of one of the men
concerned in the attempted break. Hope
had been apprehensive of what course
the bank officials would pursue when
they came across the result OF MS
handiwork, SO when the bank opened
Inn nT6-
sented himself at the bank to get a
S1OO bill changed. Under one pretext
or another he managed to stay around
the bank, within sight and hearing,
until the investigation had been COM
pleted.
After the fiasco the attempt was
given up for the time being. Some OF
Hopes confederates then started plan
to make the break, but the prime NOV
er, Mason, being arrested and sent TO
Sing Sing on another charge, brought
the attempt to an untimely end.
Then matters rested quietly until
Jimmy Hope was liberated from jail at
Bangor, Me-, when he hunted up Sheve-
lin and insisted on making the break
at once. They met several times. and
Hope said that he had the men to-
gether to do the trick, but it was fully
six months after that before the rob-
berry was consummated, as they de-
sired to test Shevelin's reliability
One Sunday Jimmy Hope appeared,
and, after examining the vault, went
across the street and was Joined by
another member of the gang who was
waiting for him, and the pair took the
cars. Three weeks later Saturday, Oc-
tober &C. the gang met on the corner
of Mulberry and Bleeker streets. They
were prepared to do the work and had
agreed to begin at 8 p. M, but Shevelin
told them that it would be impossible
for them to start then, as another man
would be on duty in the bank and that
he did not come on until the morning.
Robbery Is Effected
At the hour appointed the men gath
cred and, after leaving some of their
number posted around the building to
give warning, entered the janitor'
rooms, and, at the point of pistol,
forced him to give UP the keys of the
bank and the combination key of the
safe. They handcuffed the janitor and
his wife, and leaving one of their num-
ber to look after them, the burglars en-
tered the bank and opened the safe.
After effecting an entrance into the
safe another problem presented itself
for the cracksmen. In the center OF
the v&ult was long open space where
five or six men could stand in single
file. On either side of this space were
compartments which in reality were
separate safes, with heavy fastenings,
bolts, bars and combination locks. This
then, was the problem presented for
the burglars, or their previous work
would count for naught.
With their well appointed kit of tools
however, they succeeded in wrenching
off some Of the doors and securing their
contents. But one compartment, in
which was kept $4,000 in bonds, re-
sisted all their efforts to pry it open,
although the marks around the frame
of the door showed that they did not
give up without a desperate struggle.
From the fact that the burglars were
forced to leave their expensive tools in
the vault 1t was surmised that they had
been disturbed in their operations and
forced to flee before they had COM
pleted the cutting of the bank AS it
was, they got away with cash and
securities amounting to $27477OO.
About week after the robbery the