Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-06-22
ALARM WAS FALSE ONE,
SAYS GOVERNOR sEAY
Police and Bank Officials Deny Story
Told by Reserve Bank
Waterman.
POINT TO IMPRoBABILITIEs
Think Waterman Became Alarmed
mt Some Noise, Imagined Bur-
glars and Emptied His Revolvers
ut ShadowS-LittIe Cash in Vault.

Mt ShadOwS-LittIe Cash in Vault.
THE alarm was n false one" said
Governor George J. Seay of tho local
| Federal Reserve Bank, yesterday when
| discussing the sensational report made
| by Waterman l.. c. Page early yes
terday morning to the effect that he
had discovered two white mon in an
| attempt to loot the bank.
Officers of the bank have made an
investigation" continued the governor.
and are thoroughly convinced that no
attempt was made to enter or to rob
the institution"
This opinion was strengthened by
| Detective Sereeants Wiltshire and
Bailey. who yesterday investigated tho
report for the Police Department.
Those officers were authority for the
statement that the attempt could not
possibly have been made in the man
ner described by the watchman. They
DelieVe that an attack of nervousness
accentuated by n vivid imagination on
inc part of the Waterman, provided
the only probability for the report.
WATCHMAN TELLS OF
FIRING At BURGLARS
In statement made The Times Dis
patch rev minutes after he had
.'np'ieu Two rcvoivers at what he said
were TWO burglars. Page said that he
hhd seen the face. of one man peering
down upon him from n corner of tho
<Skylight In the roof when he switched
son the electric globe which lights tho
second floor. lie was standing directly
peheath the light when he fired "A num-
Der or times at the face he claimed
The face disappeared. but hardly
mad 1T done so when the Waterman
heard a noise behind him, in the wo-
mems dressing room and turned to
see another man making an effort to
ieaVe the building through one of the
second story windows More shots
wcre fred and Page dashed into tho
room. only to stumble and fall over a
wicket chair which the man t1yirled
toward him. He fired out OF the win
dow several times in tho direction
taken ny the man Both of the men
escaped across the roofs Of adjoining
buildings. according to the watch.
man.
DETECTIVES POINT TO
INACCURACIES IN STATEMENT
Detectives were able TO point ont
number OF improba bilities in this
statement. One OF these was the loca-
'ion or the men. They held that 1,
would have been senseless for one
MOI, !" attempt 10 crack the mann
moth safe. They pointed out that tho
man on the roof would have bccn
ralueless except as guard 10 cover
the other man within the building and
the fact that neither he nor the other
man put up fight was taken to indi-
cate that, II the men were In the no.
SitlonS indicated they were not there
for the purpose Of robbery. The police
believe that Page would hardly have
lived TO tell the story had he cornered
the men as he claimed.
Another weakness in the story was
the fact that the three bullet holes
round In the side of the skvlipht could
not possibly have been made n the
shots had been fred from the position
indicated by Page He claims to have
been standing beneath the electric
light, fact which would force him to
fire In line parallel with the side of
the skylight. That being true. the bull
lets would have entered diaConallv.
splintcring the wood. Such was not
the case. They entered the wood near
the corner Of the light and left a per-
rect hole to mark the place where they
struck.
LITTLE ACTUAL MONEY
IN VAULT. SAYS SEAY
Officials OF the bank brought forth
the fact which they claim marks the
watchman's report as being incorrect
whom they said that the plank he
claims was used by the man TO bridge
the space between the window and the
adjoining roof, was one used within the
reserve bank by the janitor in wash
ing windows.
In speaking OF the amount of money
in the reserve bank, Governor Seay
said yesterday:
Only n comparatively insignificant
sum Is ever kept in the vault OF the
building occupied by this bank. that is,
the teller's cash used for counter pur-
poses.
The vault of the bank contains two
steel burglar proof safes. and the vault
| itself is Of solid construction, but 1t is
not necessary to keep the funds of the
bank stored therein.
"a very large proportion of the
money OF the bank Is contained in the
gold settlement fund in the vault of
the Treasury Department in Washing
ton. very much larger proportion
consists of gold certificates, payable to
tho order of this bank and not nego-
table except by this bank upon its in
| dorsement. Other funds OF the bank
are stored in the modern burglar-proof
vaults Of the other banks of this city"
Sent on to Grand Jury.
| Joseph Williams. the shoemaker who