The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-03-29
CLIMB -FOUR ROOFS
To REACH M0SBY'S
STORE; CRACK SAFE
Yeggmen. Experienced Opera
tors. Get More Than SoOO
and Make Their Escape
St. Louis Cliff
and Pal Suspected
Chief Werner Believes Much
Wanted Pair of Expert
Cracksmen Did The Job.
Entered Ratclife's

yeggmen entered the j. h. MoSpy
= Co.'S department store al IL, 10
Aha II West Broad Street some hme
Hnring Saturday night through the
sEyIfEht. after climbing over the roofs
"a adjoining buildings and cracked
iAsiY safe. escaping with se2S.
The loss was discovered about
noon yesterday when George G. Diet
Itch, IT. OF 1894 West Grace Street.
vtce-presidsnt visited the store TO at
tAnd to a small matter that required
immediate attention
The yeggmen displayed a vide
knowledge of surrounding buildings,
and in a bold manner climbed over
AUDITING brick walls to reach their
objective point. They broke through
= rear door TO the Ratcliffe a Tan
ner Co.. store at 25 West Broad
street They went TO the fourth floor.
without attempting to secure any
plumber, so TAR az has yet been ascer-
tained. climbed through the sky
light and then commenced tramp
across several roofs. They passed
over the f. +. Taylor Company .
store AT 20 West Broad Street. ana
with difficulty reached the roof OF the
L. c. Never Jewelry Company, at Il
West Broad Street. Once upon the
roof OF this building they found IL an
easy matter to cross the roof OF the
SINGER SfA lHE AhaAttsttG N-SAh3N~N| -
stor. to the roof OF the j. Ii. hosby
Co. store.
prop Through Skviight.
The fact that tI.s skyitght 10 this
store was securely fastened by a large
iron hook. offered no impeachment to
the experts, who deftly wrenched It
from its hinges. This done, they
dropped to the fourth floor Of the
department store, landing squareiy
upon q. large pile Of rugs which
made ii rather easy sailing Tor them.
They walked down TO the fret floor
and evidently went straight to work
upon the safe. The accuracy display
cd in their work showed plainly that
they were expert cracksmen- Csing
large hammer. they soon had the
com bination Knocked OFT. Here the
moet delicate part of their operation
took place. without using an expIo-
sive, the yeggmen managed With
hooks TO pull back the locks that held
the door fast. This done they swung
II around on its hinges.
The money. which was kept in a
small tin box, was taken Checks
amounting TO probably a Thousand
side and scattered about the floor
as useless. After completing their
work the robbers quietly let them
selves out of a rear door and eecaped.
Telephones For Police.
Wher. Mr.. Dietrich walked into his
store yesterday his attention was at
tracted by papers scattered about on
the door. A glance at the safe told
him what had happened. He hastily
summoned the police.
Detective Sergeant Wiley answered
- rv>d
was soon upon the scene. He worked
diligently for three hours. and climb
ed the roofs. exactly as the robbers
had done, following them through ev-
cry move they made. After a careful
examination he was frank TO &C
knowledge that SO far the whole af-
fair was mystery
Chief OF Police Werner arrived on
the scene shortly after the detective
The chief appeared confident that tho
two men who have been operating in
trAted the crime. These men, tho
chief said, are wanted IN other cities
of the country and are known
throughout tho country as daring
man. The Richmond Police Depart
me.nt according to Chief Werner. has
been looking for this pair since q
store in Fulton was broken into sev-
eral weeks ago and the safe cracked.
Since that the yeggmen have pulled
off several other robberies.
Series Of Robbev4es.
The police are puzzled. Several
hrms and stores i.ava suffered re-
Gently. In some cases tn. losses were
not large. ..at vi each OF them the
robbers displayed the same daring as
In cracking tf0 eafe of the j. e. Mos
80. store Saturday night or sun
day morning.
The craekorlsu are undoubtedly
operating here on large scale,
without so far leaving clue as TO
their identity. IL it turns out that
Chief OF Police Werner is correct and
that the two men he mentioned are
The ones operating here, then it is GER
tainly true that Richmond has two
bad men on her hands. One Of the
pair is the famous yeggman. st. Louis
cIiff. who killed police sergeant in
St Louis. Mo-, several months ago