Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-29
BONDS AND PAPERS OF 100
DEPOSITORS STOLEN after
BLOWING VAULT DOOR OPEN
Gang of Safe Crackers
Noiselessly and Thor
oughly Clean UP.
Special 10 Tho ArEusl

Sherrard. Ill, oct. 29.-Yegga
blew a safety deposit vault door fin
the Sherrard State bank early this
morning and absconded with
$35.OOO in Liberty bonds and other
valuable papers. property Of 100
| depositors living in and near here.
Whether or not these depositors
would stand to lose, or insurance
covering securities which the bank
: carried would apply to cOmpeu-
safe for their loss, G. V. Bradford,
secretary Of bank. today declared is
not known. He said that not until
| the insurance company is commun-
icated with would It be definitely
ascertained that the depositors
would be compensated for the loss.
| Nevertheless, the thorough man
ner in which the yeggs ransacked
| the deposit boxes, removing the en-
/ tire contents of each one without
waiting to examine the loot, viii
cause loss to many people far In
excess of the amount they stand to
| lose in Liberty bonds. Valuable pa
peTs such as deeds, mortgages,
LOLb1 anu OAllEA AGbbAA9bAE R4E-t ~
were taken and no trace left.
The thieves chiseled the bolt I'm
the front door Of the bank after
having broken into q blacksmith
shop nearby to get a hammer. In
the back of the bank is the safely
deposit vault and they blew it open,
muffling the sound in some manner
not accounted for. Taking the
| l. haV NH
In the blacksmith shop, they
smashed the safety deposit boxes
and removed the contents.
Money Vault Untouched.
They did not touch the vault con-
| tanning tho banks money and save
for some postage stamps which
they found in a drawer, they Sc
cured none OF the property Of the
bank.
Sherrard has no night watchman.
A family resides across the street
from the bank but was not dis
turbed by the work Of the prowlers-
The yeggs were evidently experts
because Of the thorough manner IN
which they went about the job
noiselessly.
Not a ciew did they leave. In
fact the hour that they per
petrated the job is not definitely
known. The story Of one resident
living near the outskirts of town
offers only a faint clew that the
time might have been 2:30 this
morning as he heard a sound re-
sembIing an explosion in the dis
tance and later on heard an auto
mobile pass his house going west
out of town.
Janltor Discovers Robbery.
1t was not until The bank janitor
appeared this morning to attend 10
the heating of the building that the
theft was discovered. Alarm was
Immediately spread and city and
county officials for miles around
were notified.
Officials believe that the same
gang which early yesterday morn
ing blew the door of the vault Cf
the Citizens Savings bank at Han
lortown, Iowa. Is miles northwest
of Mason City, Iowa, securing
$4,000 worth Of Liberty bonds
from safety deposit boxes. is re-
sponsible for the job at Sherrard.
The similarity Of the two cases. and
Portable days ride from HanlOu-
town by machine, causes officials 10
be reasonably sure that the two
safe blowing jobs are the work oil
yeggs travelling around in an auto
mobile, swooping down on small
towns in qGest Of Liberty bonds.
4 would say that there are about
one hundred deposItOrs who had
49, Il fvn b IErHHH "a.
boxes" Secretary Bradford said To
an Argus representative today.
There is nothing certain as to
whether the Gepositors will stand
to lose. We have insurance on Sc
cnrities but l do not know if this
insurance covers the Liberty bonds
of these depOsitors. Ii will be de-
intely known soon, as soon as ve
communicate with the insurance
company" Mr.. Bradford said that
the safe blowing job last night is
the first that has occurred al the
bank.
Sherrard is practically uupro-
tected at night as are other villages
of similar size No policeman is on
duty and there are no plants or
railway stations where men work
at night. In TACT the WhOle tOWH
slept peacefully through the nigh.
undisturbed The yeggs We're ap-
parently fully informed as TO this
and knew that chance of detection
was comparatively slim.
Immediate communication was
made of the robbery TO Sheriff
Fleming OF Aledo this morning and
Rock Island, Moline and Davenport
police were informed at once
+. E. Sincox, one Of the heaviest
losers, declared today while the
gang obtained $500 in Liberty
bonds in his safety deposit box, he
would gladly let the yeggs have the
bonds If they would return the yal-
liable papers they obtained This
is the situation Of a number OF
others.