The Ordway new era., 1912-11-22

/ MADE TO ORDER
BANK BURGLARY

MADE TO ORDER
BANK BURGLARY
ISw y Vault and . Reputation Wers
Shattered by Too Much Dynamite
'The Weldon Community bank, OF
Weldon. N. Y. was .robbed>by safe
lpwers last night. Nitroglycerin was
ded to open the bank vault. with dis
strous results to one of the robbers.
Tho was blown to pieces by the ex-
losion. His confederates successful.
y. looted the bank and obtained $685.
90 in cash." y
This little item carried by the vari-
US New York papers was the genesis
dmy connection with the great Well
On Community bank robbery. A few
ours after the papers carrying the
lews were on the street I was on my
,ay to Weldon. ordered by the Burns
.gency to investigate the case as q
representative Of the National Bank.
RS Protective association.
As the reader probably is not fafnii-
ar with the Weldon community 1t Is
,ecessary to delay my story triffe
order that the situation may be
made more clear. This community is
me Of several of the sort that may be
ound in southern New York and
,orthern Pennsylvania. It was found.
ID about 1910 by an Englishman
,amed Weldon, who was in his own
way q seeker after modern Utopia.
Weldon believed that our whole sys.
en- of living In cities. crowded and
uncomfortable, or In country districts,
solated and lonesome. was all wrong.
ie believed that the small community.
ifty families. for instance. gathered
iround common center. and yet not
gathered 80 closely together as to
make an actual town. was tho ideal. as
we'll as the practical way. for mankind
% dwell. He had made something Of q
,ortune in the mill business in Eng.
and. Unable to put into practice in
hat country his novel idea. he came
% America and, after considerable
searching, fixed upon the rich farming
valley in southern New York as the
spit most favorable for the location OF
The Weldon community. There he
brought together about thirty families.
bringing most OF them from his native
land, England. He established CO.
operative store. blacksmith shop. a
school, church. q mill. in fact. every
thing needed to.supply the welfare OF
an agricultural community-includin
the Weldon Community bank. This
bank, while 1t was owned and patron
lied mainly by the people OF the com.
munity, was chartered and managed
as any small country bank would be.
Weldon had conducted its affairs him.
self at first. At his death 1t had passed
to his son SO far as management was
concerned, though the title remained
In the community. Welldon's son had
continued the banking business as sue
cessfully as his father had done before
him, and the bank was as prosperous
and sound as a small bank possibly
could be. 1t had never become a pow.
er, but on the other hand, 1t had never
been in trouble once during its whole
existence.
Welldon's son had died a few years
before the robbery occurred, and the
management thereupon had passed
Into tho hands Of Giles. the cashier.
He had done fully as we'll by the bank
as the Welldons had. and the COM
munity had trusted its money to the
banks care as implicitly as ever. Tho
bank had proved time and again that
It was panic-proof; but 1t wasn't bur-
glar.proof. After over sixty-five years
of successful operation it had been
cleaned out by the conventional acci-
dent OF safe-blowing. Altogether 1t
was a remarkable situation.
found the little place in the great
est stir Of its history when alighted
from the accommodation train that
carried me from the nearest city up
the spur to Weldon community. There
wasn't much Of town at Weldon,
only a few stores. Offices. warehouses
and houses strung along the road In
the center of the farms Of the valley.
The bank was neat. old gray-stone
building that occupied q position Of
honor in the middle Of it all. 1t was a
compact, sturdy looking building, OBJ
viously built with a view to guarding
as well as possible whatever might be
kept inside. Around the building wero
gathered most Of the people Of tho
community. The rest Of them were
buxzing around the undertakers shop
across the road, where the body OF
the slain safe eblower lay for the pres.
ent. The county sheriff and the coro
ner were doing their respective duties
in assertive fashion. and the people
had to content the mzeltes with stand
ing and looking at the outsides OF the
buildings containing the objects that
had aroused their curiosity. They
were the most shocked and horror.
stricken group that had seen for a
long time. It was the first real crime
Of any importance that had ever been
committed in the valley within the
= y, III