The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-10-21
SMART BURGLARS.
Got 900 Out of Job Without Loot
Ing Safe.

Lesueur Mimi Cor. st. Louis Republic.
After the failure of Herara San Angeles
bank out at Fratonia, there was rush
made by other banking institutions to get
a foothold In the place, and Thomas Ma
ben, formerly of Fairfield, was one of the
earliest comers and set up desk and
splendid burglar-proof safe in little
frame building near the corner of Flor
ence and Concho streets while he was get
ting his brick and stone building ready.
He had good business from the start,
and month ago, at the close of business
one day, he had some $4,000 in currency
and over 100000 in notes and securities
IN the safe.
At the hour Of 3 o. clock in the morning
of the next day there was an alarm of
fire given, the little frame bank was seen
In flames and, despite the fact that the
volunteer fire department responded very
quickly to the call nothing could be
done to save the building, and it was soon
all destroyed
Mr. Maben felt no anxiety as to the Sc
curity of the property in the safe, regret
ting only that that handsome piece OF
bank furniture should be so dsfgured, but
TO the unbounded amaZement of every
one, when the fire was eXttnguished, no
trace whatever could be found Of the safe,
no more than II 1t had been bundle OF
straw in the corner and had been entirely
consumed by the fire.
1t was an astounding thing The night
watch swore that he had been abroad on
the streets all night, and that there was
not the least possibility that such large
and extremely heavy thing as the safe
could have been loaded up and hauled
away without his being in any manner
Atgft, hnd nd 1no xra
thought the same thing If 1t had not been
for tthe unmistakable fact that the safe
was gone
week later. when he had given up all
hope he received a letter mailed in Chi
cago which contained a description of the
: fire. loss of the safe and Intellectual eff
forts to find 1t, and stated that If Mr. Ma ,
ben would go to Milwaukee and call on a
dead square" sporting man there by the
name of Buck" F'riezel. he would find
that copy of the letter had been sent to
Mr.. Friezel, and II he would pay that
gentleman $1,000 on his own behalf and
$4,000 to be turned over to the writers Of
the letter, he would be Informed where
the safe was, and that not more than $500
of the money that had been in it was
missing; that Friezel knew absolutely
nothing of the matter now, but would be
Informed all about it by mail before the
arrival of Mr.. Maben in Milwaukee.
Mr.. Friezel a very pleasant gentleman to
deal with, but very calm and firm one.
He told Mr.. Maben that he knew moth
ing about where the safe was, but that
he had sealed letter in his possession
which was said to give full directions as
TO how to find 1t, and that If Mr.. MabeR
desired to pay him over $1,000 he would
open the letter and read It. and If It SEEM
ed reasonable and true he would keep the
$1,000 for himself and go out and pay, in
a certain prescribed manner. the $4,000
over to the other men-men whom he
knew not, had never seen or heard of.
and did not expect to see or hear of again
and would then let Mr.. Maben have the
directions.
If the directions did not seem reasonably
likely to be true, he would return the
money to Mr.. Maben. If Mr. Maben did
not want to pay him the money at all,
he would burn the directions unopened
and unread.
Mr. Maben took the plunge and paid
over the money Buck" Frlezel opened
the directions. read them, burst into a
roar OF laughter stuffed the 81 600 in his
pocket and went out.
He returned IN half an hour and said
that he had been told to go to certain
house In town, enter a certain room that
was perfectly dark, hand the money
through small opening in the wall into
another dark room and sit down and wait
ten minutes and then go away again.
That he had followed the directions ex-
plicitly, had felt hand take the money
out of his hand. and had then heard steps
In the next room, heard a door open and
close, and then had waited his ten min
utes and come away.
He then handed the directions to Mr.
Maben, with a fresh burst of laughter as
he did so.
They read: 1--WE got in without noise.
out away the desks. rolled the safe clear
TO the back part OF the room, cut out the
floor (all very stiD. dug a deep hole in
the cellar, tipped the safe into IT, covered
II over smooth again, tramped the dirt
down solid, set fire to the house so that il
would be sure to all burn down. and came
away. 1t was all bosh, of course. about
$500 having been taken out. That was
only TO mislead you. Everything is all
there. Go home, Maben, and dig for your
self, even as you have just now been dig
ging for u.s."
Mr. Maben went home and dug" and
Found the safe all right, with its contents
wholly unmolested.
He doesn't feel sure just what the state
of his mind is over the matter.