Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-10-23
BURGLARS BIND
WATCHMEN and
ROB Big STORE
MAKE SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR
VALUABLES THROUGH SCHUS-
TER ESTABLISHMENT.
BREAK OPEN CASH DRAWERS.
Make Away with Jewelry After Securely
Tying Engineer and Night
Waterman.
GET UP STEAM FOR ELEVATOR.

MINIATURES, Wis. Oct. ~. 1905
Burglars bound and gagged the fire
man and Waterman OF the store of Ed
ward Schuster x Co, Third street and
Garfield avenue at t O'Clock this morn
ing, and then ransacked the place ut
their leisure, breaking open twenty-five
cash drawers.
The robbery was discovered by Phillip
Zimmerman, officer of the A. y. T..
who was sent to the place when the
watchman failed to send i'll his hourly re-
port at 1870 o'clock. Zimmerman no.
tilted the police of the west side station
and Detectives Kruse and Rooney were
at Jnce dispatched to the scene.
Two Men Gagged.
Zimmerman had released the aged
Waterman who was found tied hand and
foot and gagged on the first floor, and
the engineer who had been tied and
gagged, but who had succeeded in work
ing his feet free. Unable to get the
hammer handle gag out of his mouth or
free his hands the engineer walked up
to the first floor and was trying to at
tract attention from the street when the
n. ID. L. officer found him.
The burglars had evidently planned
the robbery long before hand and seemed
to be well acquainted with the premises.
They first entered the building through
the coal hole in the basement Then they
sneaked around until they found the en-
gineer standing in front of his switch
board. He was surprised to see a revo-
yer directly in front of his face when he
turned. Cautioning the man not to say
a word the masked robbers tied him hand
and foot with new rope and piece OF pig
skin belt lacing.
Made Gag of Hammer.
They wrapped handkerchief around
hammer and forced that between his
teeth tieing the ends of the handker-
chief back of his head. Then they pro-
ceeded to the first floor but without find
ing the Waterman. They discovered him
finally on the third floor. Selling him
from behind they disarmed him and tied
him up. While one Of the pair went
to the basement and got up sufficient
unlocked the elevator door with the
watchmans keys. He thrust the watch
man inside and followed and took his
prisoner to the first floor. DepOsiting
him safely near the elevator the two men
quietly examined every floor for valu
ables.
Smash Cash Registers.
At some of the cashiers desks were
cash registers which the burglars did.
not hesitate to smash Every floor was
thoroughly searched for valuables that
might be easily carried away, and thise
afternoon the entire loss had not yet
been ascertained.
The theft would not have been discov-
cred for several hours but for the clock
system in the store, it is said. When
Officer Zimmerman of the a. ID. T. ar
rived at the store he found nothing wrong
at first and was unable to gain entrance.
He tried the fire escapes and finally dis
covered that keys were in the door of a
rear entrance. Making use of these he
hurriedly searched for the Waterman
with the result that he discovered him
bound and gagged.
The engineer is Paul Flaplla. 9T2
North Pierce street, and the Waterman
is John Froemming. S25 Second street
Both men were much excited and had
been rendered extremely nervous by
their experience. They gave a good de-
scription of the men to the police In
addition to the jewelry taken. 800 was
taken from the cash registers, mostly IN
pennies and nickels and dimes.