Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-28
PLOT TOROB
UNCOVERED
IN TUNNEL
WORK
Bold Plan Directed To-
ward Jewelry Store
Is Frustrated
WALLS CUT THROUGH
Heavy TimberS Sawed at Night
and Discovery Is Acct
dentally Made
WALLS CUT THROUGH

III HE accluentdl discovery Dy y. H.
Clark. proprietor OF Clark 8
= Jewelry store, 327 West Fourth
street, of a 4O-foot tunnel nearly COM
pleted, through the easements leading
to his store, Is believed to have pre-
vented a bold and well-laid plan to
loot the jewelry store. That one or
more persons have been industriously
at work for many nights to gain access
to the store is evident, and that every
| thing was In readiness for the carry
| Ing out of the "job" Is indicated by
the appearance of the tunnel.
The plan of entering the store was
not exactly through a tunnel, although
much earth had been dug, but the cut
! ting away of the heavy woodwork in
three Easements adjoining the jewelry
store, affordlng a narrow passageway,
was the real means by which the con-
tcmplated robbery was to be carried
out
The passageway leads from a cellar
| stairway facing on South Hill street
through the Easements of the store at
Hill and Fourth street occupied as a
grocery store by K. H. Altoon.
on the Hill street side is narrow
stairway leading to the basement of
the corner building. which has been
used for a long time by an itinerant
| loeksmith. The locksmith had no ac-
cess to the interior of the building,
doing his work in the passageway dur
ing the daytime, and the place was
not used at night.
Familiarity Indicated
Evidently some one familiar with the
| interior of the building planned rob-
| berry, for the Easements are used sim
ply for storing non -perishable goods.
From the cellar stairway to the base
ment of the Clark jewelry store, three
other Easements are ranged. occupy
| ing a space about forty feet long.
There are no heavy walls. the base
fnents being separated by strong
wooden partitions and not visited. as
a rule, more than once or twice a
week.
way through the three Easements
leading to the jewelry store was done
at night. when the occupants OF the
! jewelry and grocery stores were alb
| sent is certain, as the noise of saving
through the heavy timbers would have
been audible in the day time or when
there were any persons in the store
| above.
| Friday night Mr.. Clark kept his
store open until a late hour. owing to
the rush of holiday business, and his
/ attention was attracted by sounds In
the basement Being busy at the time
he paid no particular attention to the
matter but Saturday morning he in
vestigated the basement and then dis
covered that the partitions had been
cut away sufficiently to allow the en-
| trance of a person.
BY following through the hole cut
| in his basement WALL he was able to
see that similar holes had been cut in
the walls of the adjoining Easements
| leading directly to the cellar stairway,
facing on Hill street.
Although Mr.. Clark ADDE'S not keep
anything of value in the basement and
rarely has occasion to go there, the
work had been carried on to such an
| extent that it would have been mat
| ter of but little work to cut through
the floor of his store and have access
| to the thousands of dollars worth of
| jewelry.
Capture Prepared For
In an endeavor to make a capture
MIR. Clark did not report the finding
of the newly made passageway, but in
company with one of his clerks stayed
in the store Saturday night and sun
day night, both heavily armed and
prepared to effect capture If the
robbery was attempted.
Private detectives were also en-
ployed to watch the Hill street cellar
way, but evidently the persons had
become alarmed, for up to late last
night none had appeared at the en-
trance.
The employees of the jewelry and
grocery stores were not made aware of
the discovery, as il was thought that
the work might have been an 'inside"
job The police department was not
notified until yesterday, as it was de-
cided that publicity might put the in
truders on their guard.
Tired of his night vigils. sitting with
a gun in his hand momentarily expect
ing to hear the sound of a saw or the
ripping of boards on the floor of his
store, Mr. Clark yesterday installed a
modern burglar alarm and then noti-
fed the police to be on the lookout for
suspicious persons about his place of
business.
The store had been equipped with
the burglar alarm, but as an extra pre-
caution the basement was similarly
equipped in such manner that at the
approach of any person news would be
at once flashed to the Pinkerton de-
tective agency.
Tells of Discovery
In speaking of the discovery Mr..
Clark last night gave the following ac-
count;
II was busy Friday night, and there
was much noise and hustle in the store
waiting on the belated Christmas
trade, when my attention was called to
rasping noise in the basement. In
my hurry did not give the matter any
further attention at the time, but Sat
urday morning investigated and was
given sudden surprise when 1 saw
the exit cut in the west wall of my
basement. L was still further sur
prised to find that without any diff
Guilty I could make my way, by pass
ing through similar spaces that had
been cut in the walls, directly to the
tcontinued Oh faEe TwoI