The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-20
DARING WORK BY MASKED ROBBERS Get Away With Over $7OO at Washington Depot,
 This State.
BLOW OPEN TWO SAFES
Telephone Operator Held Up While PostofHce
 is Looted.

Washington Depot, Conn.,, May 1s,-- While one masked man held at the point of revolver, silent and in bed. the night telephone operator on the second floor of the store of s. F. seeley, con Danions of the masked man blew open the safe in the postoffice on the first floor and another in a rear room of the building early to-day and se- cured $500 in money, about $40O in stamps and a number of checks and after having rifed the store and later the selectmen's office in the town hall, departed leaving no trace behind them. The night operator is George Pomper- seik. and the upper part of the sealeY store is used as telephone exchange. and here Pomperseik sleeps, being aw akened by an alarm whenever he is needed at the switch board. The first floor of the building is used as a store and postoffice. Early to-day, Pomper- sick says, he was awakened by noise downstairs. and being convinced that some one had broken into the store started for the telephone to notify MT. seele-. but before he could reach the instrument he was halted by a com rmand given from behind him and turn inE looked down the barrel of a ravol- yer in the hands of masked man. He was told to keep quiet and to get back into bed. Both of which he did. The masked man then stationed himself near the doorway of Pompersiek s sleeping room, where he could watch him. and held him there under the re- volver while the men below completed their work. The telephone operator did no; more for some time after the men had left the building, as he feared, he said, that some of them might still be in his vicinity.
 When later MT. Seeley, summoned by Pen oerseik. came to the store he found that the robbers had used nitro- glycerin to blow open both safes. On the safe in the postoffiee the rnhhers had used soap mold to hold the ex- plcsive and had used so much of the stuff that when the explosion occurred it blew the safe door from its hinges and up against a counter four feet away. On the other safe, which MT. Seeley says was an old one, the nitro glycerin was worked into the combi- nation and blew off not only the door but also the inner sheath.
 After this the men went through the store apparently but nothing was taken beyond cigars and whip. On leaving this building the robbers made their way to the town hall nearby and rified the selectmen's room but stopped short of attempting to force way into the vault there. Nothing was taken and the only damage done was the disorder wrought in the room.
 Nothing is known as tk the manner of the entrance into the postotfice gain ed by the men. nor is there any thing to indicate their identity.
 The taking of the whip, it Is said, suggests the idea that the men used a team to come to and get away from the place. This it is pointed out could have been done with little danger of being especially noticed as last night the high school graduating class held dance in the town hall and an unusually la<=a crowd for this place was in att tendance coming from distant points in teams and carriages, all of which were left in the waeon shed nearby and had the robbers come in team they could easily have left their team in the shed without attracting atten- ton, That the hold-up and robbery was well planned it is pointed out, is evidenced by the fact that the men knew that Pompersiek occupied the room upstairs at night and the steps taken to prevent his giving an alarm and also the celerity with which the whole business was carried out, the whole time elapsing, according to the telephone operator, from the moment he became aware of the mems entrance to the time of his notification of MT. seeley, being about half an hour,
 Mir. Seeley, in speaking of the rob- bery tonight, said that the checks taken by the men, while considerable in number, would prove of no value to them.
 The sheriff tonight expressed the opinion that the men may have come from New York state by way of Dan bury, although, he added, there were :.n clues to work on.
 NFW YORK NOT EASY