Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-03-29
BURGLARS ENTER
J. B. M0SBY STORE
Rifle Safe of $528 and Escape.
Leaving No Clue Be-
hind.
GET IN THROUGH SKYLlGHT
Force Back Door of Nearby
Store and Make Way
Over Roofs.
GET IN THROUGH SKYLlGHT

burglars forced their way into tho
store Of ]. b. Mosby & Co.. Inc.
through the skylight some time Satur-
day night, and. after wrenching OFF the
outer knob of the safe. picked the
inner lock and escaped with s52s In
cash. The robbers left no clue behind
them. The police are not certain
whether one more men were en-
gagged I'm the burglary.
The robbery was not discovered until
about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon
when C. L. Price. help superintendent.
and J. F. Jones. buyer. went to the
store. They found the safe on the
| main floor standing open. Books and
checks Uttered the floor OF the book
keeping department. and a tin cash
box. with gaping top, showed what had
| taken place during the night. Eugene
A. Dietrich. president OF the company,
was Informed OF the robbery over the
tele phone. and he at once communicated
with Police Headquarters.
Detective Sergeant willy started for
the scene as soon as he had Informed
Major Werner and Captain OF Detec-
tiyes Mcmahon. These officers. with
Bcrtillon Operator Toler, with photo
graphic OUTFIT. arrived In short time
bktohFS INTO RFAH OF
RATCLIFFE & TANNER STORE
| 1t was not until their arrival that
the means of ingress into the building
was discovered. An Investigation
showed that an outer door in the rear
of Ratcliffe & Tanners store. 20 West
Broad Street. had been forced open
This door opens directly on a stairway
to the second floor. UP these steps the
| burglar fo
story OF the building. Here he secured
ladder. The top of the ladder was
driven through the skyltght. and by
! this means the burglar gained the roof
| Showing apparent familiarity
with the locations of the skylightH of
the various buildings. the man crossed
the roofs Of the e. B. Taylor Company,
the f. C. Meyer Jewelry Company, the
Singer Sewing Machine Company, and
| gained that OF the j. B. Mosby Com
pany. 1917 West Broad Street Ap-
| parently no hesitancy was shown In
making noise. for this sky1ight was
| also broken. and through the opening
the burglar dropped to the top floor
of the department store.
| His course was a direct one for the
main floor once he had gained entrance
into the building. The burglar wasted
no time on the small safe. kept on the
second floor. but went directly to the
large one on tho main floor His
+ movements were we'll guarded from
persons passing on the street by the
! large amount of goods on display In
the store and the high paneling of the
bookkeeping department. The safe on
| the second floor was not touched ap-
! parently.
HAD LITTLE DIFFICULTY
| IN FORCING SAFE
! The robber is thought to have cx-
perienccd but little difficulty In fore
/ ing the larger safe. There are four
; castings. to each of which there Is a
door. The first two doors are merely
barred with heavy bars on the outside.
according to the police. and 1t was tho
work of only minute to raise them.
the detectives doubling whether either
! of these doors had been locked The
! third inner door however. was locked
and it was here that the robber ex
! perienccd his only trouble. The hand
/ ling OF the situation was expeditions.
F! 1t Is said.
With some heavy instrument. which
! could not he found about the room yes
terday afternoon, the robber swung
| heavily on the steel knob of the door
soon drove 1t off. However. the door
was still held by the tumblers within.
| Wrenching wire coat rack to pieces
and fashionins the broken ends into
crude iockpicks. the burglar set to
work on the tumblers. He Is thought
to have picked this lock in short order.
and to have found himself then CON
fronted by the fourth door OF the safe.
RMS was another obstacle easily over
come. according to the belief OF tho
police. No force was used In opaninc
the door. and II is thought improbable
! that the lock was set
CASH TAKEN AND nOOKs
! STREwED ABOUT OFFICE
| once this door was opened. the con-
tents OF the safe wore at the mercv
! OF the intruders. The cash box was
; IN plain view, as were the office books
records and any number Of checks Tho
! cash box was locked, but a blow snn-
| posedly with the same instrument ,uIth
which the knob WAS knocked Off tho
SAFE door, crushed In It's top. and tho
money was easily obtained. Althonpb
the books. checks and papers kent in
the safe were gone over and most of
them left scattered about the book.
keepers desks. none OF them was
s.oieh, the THIEF. or thieves. confinine
their loot to cash
mat tho man. or men. who broke
into the store were thoroughly ro~
miliar with the locality is p,ysn
credence by the forethought show ~
tho enttre affair according to tho noI,c.
NO time was lost after the safe b.d
been robbed. and the thief left tha
building through n rear door ne
| Mosby's store.
A fact which adds to the theory that
the person, or PERSONS. who broke into
the stores were thoroughly familiar
with tho ground upon which they were
working was the discovery of the
means used in entering the two build
| tContinued on Fourth Page)