The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1909-09-22
BURGLARS ARE BUSY.
Sheffield e. TiOnesta Railroad Station
Burglarized at Kellettyille
Sunday Night.

A successful robbery was committed
sometime after midnight Sunday by
blowing open the safe in the Sheffield d
Tionesta Railroad station office in Kellett-
vile. An entrance was gained by the
Office window at the rear of the station,
which was easily hoisted from the out
side. No noise of any kind such as
would be made by an explosion was
heard by any one, so far as is learned at
this time. The first intimation of any
thing wrong was discovered at $3.50 Mon
day morning, when the agent, G. p.
Cloak, upon entering the office, dlscov-
cred the theft The outer door of the
safe has always been left unlocked and it
was short job for the burglars to cast
cup made of soap around the key hole in
the inner door and fill this with nitro
glycerne. A short length of fuse was
used as there was the shell of the fuse
lying on the floor when the agent entered
the Office. The charge blew out the lock,
letting the inner door open easily. The
cash box was rihed and it is evident they
must have been in haste, as there was
about three dollars in small change scat.
tered about the safe and floor. 1t is not
definitely known yet just how much cur
rency was secured, but Mr.. Cloak thinks
about S25 in cash. besides a check for
like amount, was about all the night
raiders secured of much value. 1t is re-
ported that they took all the papers Of
importance found in the safe. Among
the collection of papers carried off were a
number of valuable private papers, the
property OF Leon Watson. These were
secured from small safe owned by Mr.
Watson, which stood in the office. The
outer door of this safe was not locked and
the inner door was pried open. These
papers are of no value whatever to any
one but the owner. Mr.. Watson bad been
out of town since Friday and on his re-
turn Tuesday stated that the burglars
had carried off small iron box filled
with papers, but that he could not tell
papers in safety deposit box In Sheffield.
All the evidence seen about the room
to indicate the visit of burglars is the
hole in the safe, and some shattered and
torn pieces of paper strewn about the
floor in front of the safe. The window
shades were left as they found them at
half mast and anyone passing by could
have easily discovered the robbers at
work. There is no clew to the robbery
and it is the opinion ofs majority of the
townspeople that local talent, assisted by
someone higher up perhaps, were the
perpetrators. The ground just beneath
the window where entrance was gained
is of very soft and mucky nature and
the footprints of at least two or perhaps
three individuals are plainly visible in
the soil. One of the footprints resem-
bled that made by womsn's shoe. The
only article of any kind or nature left by
the burglars was dark piece of cloth of
triangular shape. This was about the
size of a large bandauna handkerchief
and was found lying beneath the window.
There is no evidence about the piece of
cloth that it was used for mask or for a
covering of any kind. There were no
suspicious persons seen about town at
any time and whoever the perpetrators
were they were very clever indeed. 1t
was stated that an automobile was heard
going up Tlonesta creek shortly after the
burglary was supposed to have occurred,
and that the burglars may have escaped
in that way, but this is not given much
consideration at Kellettville.
An effort was made early Monday to
secure bloodhounds to trace the robbers.
Every effort was put forth to secure the
dogs until two of the man hunters were
secured at jamestown, N. Y, They ar
rived at Sheffield too late to catch the 4:l0
train so a special was sent up and they
reached here at 1l;00 p. m. Perhaps the
largest crowd by far that had ever assem-
bled at the depot at one time we're in
waiting to see the man eaters arrive. On
crew, Ben George ofShefied, Pinker-
ton detective of considerable note, who
had been at Nebraska visiting relatives
and had come up earlier in the day and
gone to Sheffield on the special, and
man in charge of the hounds. The Off
GERS in charge of the train, suspecting
large gathering to be in waiting and
knowing the difficult task of getting
good service from a pack of hounds
among 300 people, worked ruse by
which the innocent throng failed to see
what they had risked the loss of few
hours of sleep to witness. The dogs were
removed from the train at another point
and the disappointed people were seen to
fast take their leave for home. Several
hours after the people had all gone home
the dogs were put on the trail, but the
dogs gave up the hunt after making sew
eral starts. 1t was evident that so many
spectators had tramped over the ground
that all trace of the burglars footprints
were destroyed.
This may he gang of organized yegg-
men who have been raiding the country
successfully in this vicinity the past
month. About four weeks ago a visitor
at the Globe Hotel, West Hickory, was
robbed OF considerable money. Two
weeks ago a robbery was committed at
Loleta, and on Sept. 9th some effected an
entrance into A. L. Weller's store at Hen
ry's Mills and secured about SIS in small
change. Last week burglars entered the
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