The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-17
CLEVER. SAFE men
PUT UP GOOD JOB
IN PETERSBURG
Big Dry Goods Store Robbed
Mondays Cash Receipts By
Man Evidently Locked In
Building.
Theft Discovered Within Few
Hours Because of Automatic
Clocks Failure to Work
But the Police are Puz-
zled.

PETERSBURG, VA, Feb. 1.-THE
Petersburg police and the police of
other cities in Virginia whom they
have notified. are seeking two of the
ciererest safe robbers who ever oper-
ated in this section. Some time to-
night looters blew the safe in the store
of the Rucker Dry Goods company.
receipts of the day. They left no
clue.
Some time between the hours Of the
closing Of the store. O'Clock, and
1915 tonight. the safes on the first
floor rear. of the Rucker store on
Sycamore street was blown open with
nitro glycerine and all the cash it con-
tanned. something over $500, taken.
AT 1915 tonight William Rucker.
nephew of Wallace M. Rucker, one
of the proprietors of the store, passed
the building. He saw the window
lights still burning.
Automatic Clock Fails.
These Lights are exxtinguished
every night al 10 o'clock. being har-
messed to an automatic clock set to
/ throw switch on the hour at 10.
The burning of the lights excited the
suspicion of Mr.. Rucker. He entered
the store, letting himself in with a
pass-key, and went to the basement in
which the automatic clock was In
stalled. Before he reached the
clocks position, with view TO
learning what had caused It's failure
20 cut off the lights, he stumbled over
eioth on the floor.
Mr.. Rucker stopped to examine the
obstacle and found II to be table
cloth from stock carried in the base
msnt
Knowing stock was not left laying
about on the floor when the store was
closed he began an investigation.
| In the rear of the store on it's ground
floor he found the heavy doors of a
three-ton safe laying on the fioor. "A
faint smell of smoke greeted his nos
( trilsq Alarmed. he hesi.atsd bat an
tnstant-long enough to convince HIM
self that a robbery had taken place
ard called police headquarters.
! Police Chief Ragiand and Detectives
Heelan and Eanes took up the case at
once. Their investigation gave them
no clue.
How They Operated
The only conclusions that could be
drawn by the police from the condi-
ton Of the stores interior were:
When the Rucker store was locked
up al the close of business today one
or the CROOKS VINO operated was MD
den somewhere in the store. After
darkness had fallen the man who had
concealed himself. opened a rear win
dow. admitting his confederate. The
entrance was made he means of lad
der. placed against brick wall,
twelve feet wide, in the rear OF the
store. After the second man had en-
tered, the two had secured from stock
in the basement, blankets quilts and
other articles. These were soaked In
water and placed on the floor before
the safe. in order to deaden the sound
of the fall of the doors. The ex-
piosion was accomplished after fuse
OF about eighteen inches in length had
been burned.
The Investigation made by the po-
lice tonight showed the ladder with
which the rear wall was scaled was
taken from the yard in which the
new Y. NJ. c. A. about a block away,
| is being erected.
AS soon as the report OF the rob-
berry was made. local police began
using the wire to notify police OF
surrounding cities to look out for
the thieves.