Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-06-21
THE BOLDEST
OF BURGLARIES

UI DUlluhhIllhD
One of the boldest burglaries ever
committed in this section took place
in this city Monday night. The shoe
store of Andrew Schatz situated in the
heart of town and fully equipped with
a burglar alarm was broken into at
half past eleven 0 clock; with the
light dimly burning in the store the
thief carefully selected forty three
pairs of the most valuable shoes and
after changing his own shoes and
stockings, which he left behind, he
gathered up his booty and escaped
leaving no clue to his identity.
When John Kilgus entered by the
front door Tuesday morning he was
at first much mystified by the appear
ance of things. The first thing he en-
/ cOuntered were several empty shoe
boxes where he least expected to find
them the next thing that attracted
his attention were several shoes that
had been dragged out of the window
and were lying on the floor A glance
around revealed more empty boxes and
as the truth that burglars had been at
work began to dawn upon the man he
| entered upon tour of investigation,
which resulted in finding an addition
al pile Of empty boxes in the back
room and discovering that the rear
window had been broken open. :
The burglar had carefully selected
his booty and the manner in which he
went about his work would Indicate
that he was no stranger on the pre-
misses or at least was familiar with the
value of shoes and the ways of shoe
dealers in arranging their goods on
the shelves. Forty three pairs of shoes,
selected from the entire stock of goods,
a couple of pairs being taken from the
shelves at one place, another pair from
the shelf above and so on until there
was not shelf in the entire system
around the store room that yesterday
morning did not reveal gaps where
shoes had been taken. The burglars
booty included fourteen pairs of mems
fine shoes, the rest being women's and
misses shoes. Mr.. SchatZ estimates
his loss at about two hundred dollars.
The surprising part of the whole af
fair is that Mr. Schatz' store is fully
equipped with a burglar alarm, that
the alarm went off in regulation style
and that Notwithstanding the fact the
burglar was enabled to proceed un-
molested Every night upon leaving
the store Mr.. Schatz is careful to con-
meet the burglar alarm, after which it
is impossible to open any of the doors
or to raise any of the windows with
out the alarm going off. The alarm
was in good working order Monday
night When the burglar went in at
distinct Hon. r. 5. zimmerman who
resides on one side of the store and
Register and Recorder W. l.. Slider,
whose property adjoins on the other
side, both heard the alarm. 1t was then
only half past eleven o'clock and neith-
er of the men associated the alarm
with burglar at that hour, but thought
it must be Mr.. SchatZ, himself, belat-
ed at the store, who caused the alarm
to sound.
The burglar must have relied wholly
upon the early hour of the night to
disarm suspicion, otherwise with the
burglar alarm beating its lively tat
too in front of the store he probably
would not have ventured to enter the
store As it is the fellow must have
been a man of infinite nerve. Once
inside the store he proceeded in the
most deliberate and leisurely way, sell
Getting only such goods as he wanted,
even crawling into the window i'll full
view of pedestrians still passing and
taking his pick there of the fancy foot
wear on display. That he added to his
recklessness a sense of humOr is reveal
ed by the fact that he sat down and
took off his shoes and stockings, evid-
emily replacing the shoes with pair
from the store.
The burglar succeeded in forcing an
entrance through the window, first by
breaking the Stats, which enabled him
to reach through and unfasten the
blind. Next by means of jimmy he
forced the window upward. a desk
stood against the window on the in
side and this the burglar i'll gaining
admittance pushed to one side. In leav
ing the store the burglar passed out
the rear door which was easily un-
fastened from the inside. The door
proper he closed after him, but the
screen door, usually fastened, was left
swinging open.
Whether there was more than one
burglar or not is a matter of doubt.
Forty three pairs of shoes would con
stitute a pretty good load for one man
but there is no evidence that one man
did not get away with the booty. As to
the burglar there is no clue.
No Drift Wood in the River.