The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1907-02-28
THIEVES BREAK IN
LOEB BROS STORE
DEPARTMENT STORE OF SIMON
LOEB & BROTHER WAS EN-
TERED By A ROBBER
ON MONDAY NIGHT.
Thief Gained Entrance by Breaking
Open Rear Second Story Door
and Went to First Floor
and Ransacked Stock.

Monday night was propitious for
lantern. Rain fell in torrents and
the clouds which overshadowed the
sky were so black that it was almost
impossible to see people moving along
on the streets except when they pass
ed directly under an electric light. 1t
is on nights like this that thieves get
in their work, and a robber took ad
vantage of the darkness last Monday
night to enter the large department
store of Simon Loeb & Brother at
the corner of Market and College
streets, and help himself to numerous
articles of merchandise and a few
dollars in cash that were lying loose
in a drawer in the Office.
The robbery was discovered by Mr..
Robert Hairston, a salesman in the
clothing department, when he opened
the store at an early hour Tuesday
morning. Mr.. Hairston, as soon as
he entered the store, saw by the dis
ordered condition of the stock that
some one had been prowling around
in the building. Suits and overcoats
were lying around on the floor, draw
ers had been pulled out and left open
and the store was in a general state
of disorder. In large stock like
that carried by Messrs. Loeb & Bro.
it is difficult to tell just exactly what
was stolen, but among the things
missing are a couple of suit cases,
various articles of jewelry, and about
five dollars in cash. The money was
taken from two drawers in the office,
one a pretty cash drawer and the
other a stamp drawer. 1t is the Gus
tom of the firm to place the money
received for stamps, which are some
times sold as an accommodation to
customers, in the stamp drawer, and
the money in this drawer was taken,
the stamps having been left behind.
The clerks and proprietors are unde
cided as to whether the thief secured
suit of clothes. If one was stolen
the lot from which it was taken can
not be located, but the fact that the
thief spent quite long time in look
ing over the stock of clothing is evil
denced by the large number of half
burned matches which were found
scattered on the floor in the depart
ment. A cigarette stump found on
the floor shows not only that the mid
night intruder was fond of his smoke,
but that he went about his work in
an unhurried manner, and did not
seem to fear detection.
An investigation made by the po-
lice and the proprietors of the estab-
1ishment on Tuesday morning shows
from a second story door in the rear
of the building. There is narrow
alley back of the building which faces
College street, and passing through
this alley the thief entered a small
courtyard, and by means of an out
side stairway ascended to the second
story, where he forced open door
which was barred on the inside. Hav-
ing once gained entrance to the build
ing, it was easy for the man to de-
SCSuu " Tic ISL HoOi pIiICI tic
stock at his leisure.
There is no clue to the identity of
the thief, but that the robbery was
committed by some person entirely
familiar with the building and with
the stock is shown by the manner in
which the job was executed. The
thief went directly to the mems cloth
ing department, and the fact that he
found no difficulty in locating the
two cash drawers shows that he was
familiar with the Office as well as
with the sales department. The po-
lice are working on the robbery. and
will do everything in their power to
bring the thief TO iuStice