Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-08
BURGLARS BORE
HOLE IN CEILING
Use Bolt of Cloth for Ladder in
Reaching Interior of Gus
tafson & Hayes.
STOCK is OVERTURNED
Fright Apparently Prevents a Big
neutrality-suspicious. Unable to
State Their Loss.

One of the most carefully planned
and systematic attempts at wholesale
burglary that has ever been knowa
In this city, took place last night
when the clothing house of Gustaf-
son & Hayes on Second avenue be-
tween Seventeenth and Eighteenth
streets, was entered by means of
hole cut through the ceiling and al
most the entire stock of the stOra
was gone over by the burglars. How
much they finally got away with Is
not yet known to the proprietOTs
The burglars left behind them COM
pIete history of how the job was done,
but not the slightest clew as to their
identity. The burglary took place in
the dead hours of the night and al
though there is a night Waterman
who visits all the stores during the
night, the burglary was not discover
ed until this morning.
Had Planned Carefully.
The burglars showed a thorough
knowledge of the building in which
the store is located and their work
apparently was carefully planned.
They secured entrance in some mys-
terious way to the Office of Justice
of the Peace P. H. Wells, which is
in the front room directly over the
store. a consultation room in the
rear of this Office leads into the Of
flee of William Schaarman, the real
estate man, and this room in turn
opens into a store room which sep
arates the real estate Office from a
tailor shop conducted III the rear
room by Stephen Marshall. It was
in this room where the real entrance
to the store below was affected.
Cut Hole I'm Floor.
By means of a saw, a chisel and
a rasp and such implements of the
taiIor's as could be made to do ser
vice, three boards in the floor were
torn up, leaving the top covering of
the ceiling joists uncovered. This
enabled the burglars to locate the
joists and it took but a short time /
tC cut out the rest of the floor and (
then the ceiling below, leaving a
hole Ii inches wide and 16 inches
long. Once more the belongings of /
the tailor were pressed into service /
TO enable the burglars TO get to the /
floor below A bolt of lining cloth /
was 1nwrapped and one end tied to .
a table leg and the other end pOked /
through the hole. The burglars then |
slid down this improvised rope and /.
the entrance to the store had been /
successfully effected.
Ransack the stock.
Trunks were piled up under the .
opening to afford a means of getting
cut in that direction and then the
CT
menced. The jewe1ry case, where /
mems cuff and collar buttons, stick /
pins and the like are kept, was visit /
ed and a careful selection of the ar
ticles there was made with the re-
suit that considerable jewelry was
taken. In some cases cuff button sets .
we're broken by one of each kind be- I
ing taken. The cases containing hats f..
were opened up and they presented |
a very jumbled condition, though, ap-
parently, only few had disappeared.
On one of the counters a large sup
ply of shirts, collars, ties ,handker-
chiefs and other furnishing goods .
was laid out, having probably been
selected as first class booty, but left
behind when the burglars made then
getaway. The stock of overcoats
and suits had been gone over pretty
Thoroughly, but just how much was
taken the proprietors are unable to
state. An overcoat of the latest
spring style and a hat and several
minor articles were found in the tai
lor shop, though what the object of
their being put there was, is not
known. Some small change left in
the cash drawer over night was taken
Probably Frightened Away.
The rear door to the store was
wide open this morning when the