The Ely miner., 1911-06-09
ROBBED OF $4,000
r. D. BREN SAYS THREE MEN
HELD HIM UP ON THE
CAMPUS.
CASHIER AT STATE UNIVERSITY
Alleged Robbery Took Place Within a
Stones Throw of University
of Minnesota, in Broad
Daylight.

| minneapolis, M1nn,-1lS COLLAR anu
clothing disarranged and despatched
with mud, Joseph D. Bren, accountant
of the University of Minnesota, rushed
up to the medical building at the uni
versity and reported he had been held
up by three men on one of the college
walks and robbed of $4,000 belonging
to the students. Mr.. Bren had drawn
the money from the Northwestern Ma
tional Bank, and was taking it to the
university to refund to the departing
students the sums they deposited at
the first of the year to insure payment
in the event of damage to apparatus
and books entrusted to their care.
Mr.. Bren said he had boarded an in
terurban street car and rode to the
east end of the Washington avenue
bridge over the Mississippi, where he
alighted and started along Prospect
avenue towards the Northern Pacific
tracks. Near the tracks a path drops
down the hill and across the tracks
at the bottom. Mr. Bren said he had
crossed the tracks and was moving
up the hill on the other side Of the
glen when the robbery occurred.
| Cut Across to Save Time.
81 had just reached the large oak
tree near a settee, midway in the hill,
when a man stepped out from behind
the tree. l was carrying the satchel
with the $4,000 in my left hand.
took that path because it was a short
er cut and 1 knew that there was a
line of students waiting for money.
The man grabbed me about the col
lar and drew me towards the edge of
the bank overlooking the river. We
struggled and he threw me back and
down on the ground. l lay on my
back and he stood above me with
one hand on my throat and the other
pressing a revolver in my face.
Just then two other men came up
the hill. They must have been hiding
near in the trees about the tracks.
The man on top of me handed them
the satchel while he went through my
pockets. When the other two men
saw the amount of money in the
leather bag the man who had gone
through my pockets threw my watch
and papers back at me and told me
to be quiet.
None Knew He Had Cash.
"No one but those in the account
ants office knew that l was going to
been placard on the door of my Of
fee for the last two days announcing
that l would pay out the refund
money
There was 1000 in SIS gold pieces,
s400 in dollar bills, and about the rest
in $40 bills. The miscellaneous re-
Ceipts, l was carrying to the Univer-
sity and they were to be deposited
later at the ST. Anthony Falls Bank to
the credit of the University and later
transferred to the state"
Others Failed to See Men.
Frank Raab, an assistant in the
chemistry laboratory of the state
board of health in the medical build
ing, was the first to hear of the rob-
vestigation of Mr.. Bren's story.
Bren was locked up in the Central
station after he had been closeted
with the chief of police and an assist
perry. Mr.. Bren shouted to him as he
came up from the ravine. Raab called
police headquarters and detectives re-
sponded. Students and two goods
who preceded Mr.. Bren over the same
path told the detectives that they had
h.
The story told by Mr.. Bren is dis.
puted in part by o. P. Lilley, who
keeps the Seven Corners hotel. He
had been taking treatment at the free
dispensary and says he was crossing
the Washington avenue bridge this
morning at the time of the alleged
robbery. Mr.. Bren said that the two
men who took the satchel ran to the
bridge, about 1000 feet away, and
after he had been released by the man
who held him he ran to the top of the
embankment, about fifty feet away,
looked back across the bridge and saw
the two men running across it. Mr..
Lilley declared he was on the bridge
at the time and that two men did not
run or walk across the bridge, and
that only one man was on the bridge.
The police are making rigid in
ant county attorney for more than an
hour. He told several conflicting stor-
les, which threw a doubt on the vera
city Of his first report of the holdup.
Detective Broderick filed charges of
grand larceny against Bren. He was
released on $4,000 bond, signed by
Frank Bren, his father, and Samuel A.
Bren, his brother, both of Hopkins.