The Washington times., 1906-08-18
BURGLARS CRACK
POSTOFFICE SAFE
At FALLS CHURCH
Work of Professionals
and No Clue to Their
Identity.

Z gang OF expert craCksmen visited
the postoflce at Falls Church. Va, at
an early hour this morning blew open
the safe without awakening any OF the
neighbors. ana completely looted 10 Of
its contents They left not the slightest
trace Of their identity, and the authori-
ties are working in the dark, with u0l "a
clue TO follow.
Loss Unknown.
The amount Of the robbery is u1-
known. as there is a ruling by the POST
Office Department which forblds post
masters giving out information OF this
character. Inspector +. r. Barclay. who
IS Investigating the case. said that in
formation IN regard 20 the extent Of the
robbery would have TO come from off,
clals Of the department and as he had
not made his report rs yet IL would be
giving information tC the public before
it was given TO the department If he
should make any statement about the
robbery.
IL is generally understood however,
that there were several hundred dollars
Ia cash in the safe. as well as money
orders stamps and a number Of per
sonal checks belonging 20 the postmas-
ter, r. q. NOurse
That the robbery was not the work Of
amateurs IS evidenced by the manner in
which the safe was cracked. The rob
bers hammered the knob of, and drill
ed e mole through the door, Then they
inserted a fuse and forced dynamite
through the opening There We're about
twenty large mail bags I'm the office,
and these they piled about the safe 10
muffs the noise OF the explosion, and
70 keep the fragments from tearing a
hole through the side Of the building.
soTo.v.y. a., ttovwo
The safe stands about twO-and-a-half
feet high. and weighs nearly 500 pounds
The dynamite was so skillfully used
that the force Of the explosion was cen
tered against the door, which was blown
into a thousand pieces. The contents
and Interior We're not affected TO any
extent by the explosion.
The pOstUffice at Falls Church occu-
pies a portion Of the store owned by
J. 2. Moran. Mr.. Moran Is the ticket
aRrnt for the Washington. Arlington
and Falls Church Railway Company,
and q section Of the store has been par
titiOned OF and IS used as comblna-
ton pOstOttiCe and ticket stand.
Mr.. Nourse IS assisted In the postal
business by his sister. Miss Gertrude
NOurse. Miss Nourse takes charge or
the detail work OF the office, and IL was
upon her arrival this morning that the
robbery was discovered. Several peo-
pie said that they heard a report dur
Ing the early hours OF the morning,
which sounded Ike a shotgun some dis
tance away. II Is not an unusual oc-
currence for a gun TO be fred IN that
locality, and no attention was paid 10
the report A peculiar feature IN con-
neCtiOB with the robbery is that neigh
/ bors living almost directly across the
road were not reused by the explosion.
In fact they said this morning that they
heard nothing during the night.
Front Door Forced.
Entrance to Mr. Moran's store was
/ gained by forcing the front door There
Is heavy lock on the door. but the
/ slot into which the bolt slips IS fastened
with two screws. which only go into
/ the wood about half an inch. The rob
bers had apparently no trouble In fore
/ ing the door
Once inside the store It was an easy
matter 10 gain entrance 70 the small
loom partiuOned OF from the rest OF
I the store and used as a pOstOffice and
ticket office Mr.. Moran has no safe in
/ his store, and each night he carries
home with him the receipts from the sale
| of railway tickets as well as from his
business. None Of his stock was dis
/ turbed and the tickets belonging TO the
railway company and other property
was not touched. The robbers. however,
/ tore Mr. Moran's cash drawer open to
make sure that no loose change escaped
them.
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