The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-04-04
BURGLARS LOOTED KATO STORES
UNDER CLARE OF, BRIGHT LIGHTS

with greater freedom or ease than
the burglars who entered five diff
ferent places of business in Mankatb
Saturday night or early Sunday morn
ing and carried away such goods or
articles as best suited them in their
nefarious trade. The burglars also
seemed rather playfully inclined, and
in one of the places entered the safe
was jammed and banged up as if an
amateur craftsman" had been at
work
Briefly outlined, as near as can be
judged from the chain of circum-
stances, burglars in the city, some
time after midnight crawled through
the rear window of the George Laven
garage, 215 South Second street,
opened the front door from within
and drove out of the garage with a
truck belonging to Mr.. Laven. Be-
fore leaving the garage the thieves
ransacked the private office and test
ed the safe, but were unable to break
it open.
/ From the Laven garage ii is pre-
sumed the burglars drove to the
rear of the Stein Clothing store.
Evidences were to be seen in the
gravel in the rear Of this store where
the truck was backed up so 1t would
be necessary to lift the clothes but
short distance. A nearby ladder
was pressed into service, the thieves
forced the window and made their
way into the store. The window
opened directly on the top of one of
the show cases in the suit department.
Burglars Were Discriminating.
Discriminating indeed were the
burglars. They choose only the best
suits of A. Nj. Stein and company,
South Front near Walnut street not
far from the police station empty
ing five cases containing suits. The
suits were sizes So, 80, 40 and AZ.
To avoid having the light seen while
they worked the thieves wheeled a
row of raincoats in front of the racks
from which they were taking the
suits. Despite this protection the
thieves must have been in position
to have been easily seen from the
street as the clothes were taken up ov-
er the showcases and out of the win
dow.
Second Time Invaded.
After securing their booty the
thieves bethought themselves of
manner in which TO safely dispose
of the goods. From STEMS store
it is evident that the truck, loaded
with the stolen clothing, was driven
to the alley in the rear of the Dur
enberger harness shop, 528 South
Front street. Here they climbed up
the rear of the building to one of the
windows, forced the window open
and thus gained access to the build
ing. Once inside they proceeded to
the front of the store. tempered with
the safe, but failed to get it open,
and then carried three new. steel
bound trunks TO the rear and loaded
them or the trucks. The trunks We're
taken from the front part of the store
while the safe with which the burg
lars tempered stood close to the
front windows. On the sill OF the
window to the harness shop there
were marks where the thieves push
ed the heavy trunks out. One of the
trays to the trunks was left in the
store. Two of the trunks were thir-
ty- four inch trunks and one was a
thirty six inch. This is the second
time that the Durenberger store has
been invaded by burglars, in the past
nine months.
Packed the Clothes.
Evidently the thieves felt quite
secure in their retreat behind the
Durenberger store. 1t was discov-
cred this afternoon that the truck at
this stage was backed into a shed of
the Mankato Manufacturing plant,
Just across the alley. In backing in
the truck was run into chain, and
pulley attachment and tore it down.
This smashup must have made q
considerable racket.
It is believed that the burglars
took opportunity at this time TO
stolen trunks. Sunday afternoon a
buckle to one of the trunk straps
and piece of trunk cord were found
in the shed, evidences that the pack
ing was done here. Another interest
ing article found was-an cid suit of
clothes which one of the men evident
ly discarded before leaving.
The old suit was reddish blue
serge of diagonal weave and was
about fit for short man, weigh
ing somewhere around 40 pounds.
The suit was well worn and ripped
in the arm holes. Doubtless the
owner is now decked out in one of
the $50. latest models of spring at
tire taken from the Stein establish
ment.
After the goods were packed the
next act Of the thieves was to take it
TO the depot and check it out for ST.
Paul. The three trunks were check
ed out of the Omaha passenger de-
pot.
Enjoyed Feast in Bakery
Following the safe disposal of their