Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-12
loopyrght by the Interpatlonal Press DnreAnl

this bank"
"Oh, WELL" said one of the directors,
"I suppose these safe blowers could
get into any kind OF o safe, couldn't
they. Mr.. Cornell?"
Some OF them can" replied. 1T
depends on their skill. Suppose we
take look at the safe"
Giles promptly led us into the rear
room, where the vault was located.
never have seen O vault or safe that
had been used more roughly than the
ono that now was before my eyes. In
the language of the profession, 1t had
been all shot to pieces The door
had beer cracked and torn and twist
ed and flung across the room. Pieces
of bolts, bars and iron were lying all
over. 1t was impossible to tell what
kind of a door 1t had been that locked
in the Weldon community's money,
SO shattered was It Al enormous
amount OF horse blankets had been
used to muflle the sound of the explo-
sion.
"a big charge | said; "a esperate-
ly big charge. They must have wanted
didn't fear to make noise. Please
leave everything just as it is and let
us step across and look at the man
who got caught in the explosion"
We-Mr. Giles, the directors and
myself-went over to the undertaking
shop where the dead bandit lay. l had
hoped to recognize him as some listed
yDnx- oir1tp m "a
with that class was limited; but was
disappointed. His face had been blown
so thoroughly to pieces in the eXplo-
sion that it was impossible for anyone
not familiar with his smallest charac-
teristics to make out who he might
have been. He was dressed a little
better than the average yeggman, for
there was the remnant of clean cuff
on one of h wrists but this was all
that | could make out in a cursory
examination
"Ill be back later" told the man
in charge. Then l told Giles that /
would like to hear the whole story OF
the affair.
He led the way back to his ONCE in
in a careful, intelligent way. There
was nothing remarkable in the story.
He had been called down to the bank
at 6: 80 that morning by working
man who, while passing to his work,
had seen that the front door of the
bank building was unlocked. He had
gone in at once, in company with the
workman. He had found the door be-
tween the banking room and the vault
room locked, as usual. He had opened
the door and had found the dead bur-
glar and the looted safe, much as We
had seen the room. Eighty-tive thou
sand dollars in large bank notes had
been taken. Some hundreds OF dol
lars worth of smaller bills and about
a thousand dollars worth of silver had
not been touched. Nobody had been
found who had heard the explosion,
and there was absolutely no trace OF
the robbers.
That was Giles story. 1t was told
in precise, clerical fashion, greatly in
contrast to the story OF the sheriff,
who, when he was called in. rambled
about bloodhounds and posses and
made fool of himself trying to ap-
pear wise" before city detective,
You locked up the vault last night,
did you, Mr.. Giles" l asked.
Yes sir" he answered.
And this money was all in there
when you locked 1t up?"
yes, of course
thanked him and said: Now Will
you kindly let me go over the vault
again alone? must study 1t carefully
In order to make out an intelligent re-
port"
He acquiesced readily and I went in
the room and shut myself In with the
shattered vault.
l had been impressed with my first
glance by the apparently enormous
charge Of explosive that had been
the wreckage been that it seemed i'm
possible to me that any living man
could have been in that room and SUI.
yived after the soup" had scattered
tho fragments of that door around.
The room was SO narrow that It must
have bsen like standing before NOR
tar loaded with scrap iron. The horse
blankets were torn 10 shreds | said
to myself: "A bungler's job" and went
out and telegraphed for an expert on
explosives, for tho expert of tho firm
that made the safe, and FOR Durango
and Mahaffcy, two OF our nell who
knew most OF tha big yeggs In tbs
country by sight. locked and scaled
the vault room. so t. could rot be tam
pered with.
Whep Meh,ifey came he took one
iooh at thp dead yegg, lifted his hands
AID examined the back OF them and
found sore tattoo marks and said:
Sailor Benny, as I'm alive! How did
oe ever get so far from Omaha: And
how cid he ever put In TOO much soups
He was the prince OF them all in
knowing Just how much 1t took ia
loosen a door, BY glory! Cornell
there's something queer about this
Benny never overloaded in his life"
The dynamite expert and the safe
man came in on the next train and
the three OF us entered the vault room
of the bank together. The dynamite
man took one look around an said:
"Shut the door"
The safe man obeyed and, to make
sure, I hung my coat over the key
hole.
INV pad," eaid Tho safa man aI