Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1920-09-15
BANK OF PBNDLEToN ROBBED.
S6OONn Cash Stolen, Along with a
considerable Amount In Bonds.
Daily Mail.)

The Bank Of Pendleton was enter
ed on Tuesday night or early We'd
nesday morning, and the big bank
Yaulty was blown open, the work CIV
Ing ample evidence that it was per-
formed by experienced yeggmen.
some 5000 or 5000 in silver was
taken and bonds and other negotia-
Die securities, amounting probably to
severai thousand dollars, was stolen
from the individual lock boxes Of
customers of the bank.
me robbery Of the bank was tho
WORK Oh an organized band of yegg-
men. says the officer who Is at work
| on the case, and the work was done
WIN precision and accuracy that
showed experience and not amateur
ish work on the part Of the yeggs.
| me yeggs entered the bank from
the rear, but perhaps before enter
ing the bank they entered a neigh
boring blacksmith shop and helped
themselves to such tools as they
might need In prying open windows
or doors OF the bank. Entrance hay
ing peen gained, the yeggs then went
ABOUT their work in business like
manner and blew open the big vault.
| me vault Is located in the center
or the building and Is protected by
| TWO doors. The outer door, heavy
steer door, was removed by a charge
OK nltro-glycerine, and then the in
ner door was blown open. The in
terror or the vault Is large enough
to allow the storage of many lock
boxes, and the bank was a familiar
depository Of many people of pen
dieton, who kept their own boxes in
SIDE the vault Of the bank. The vault
also contained small safe, which
the thieves took the trouble to blow
open, only to find that it was empty
| me lock boxes Of the customers
were r11ed. The papers in each box
seemed to have been jumbled up,
ana IN many instances the papers of
nttle value, or which would be hard
TO negotiate. were left either in the
ooxes or thrown about on the floor
Of the vault.
IL was in this vault that the rob-
oers secured the money which was
iost py the bank. The money was all
IN silver, the paper money being Sc
curely locked In a modern improved
safe, which the yeggs did not at
tempt to open.
Among the silver was q big sack
or pennies, some SIG or $40 in value
The yeggs cut this sack omen. and
seeing that they were only pennies,
merely threw them to one side and
continued their search for larger
coins. The silver they secured was
practically all the bank had on hand
The weight Of this silver, though in
consequential. would not be less
than 80 pounds.
Vault Equipment Old.
The doors to the vault were of old
hechanism, and were put in when
the bank was built some twenty wears
ago. The vault was oe rather ohso-
leJe type, and The hank has for the
past few wears kept The greater part
| ot itsfmon3y in aew and m moiern
safa rrI.thorher par, of the building
! rms new safe, a b)rglar-pr0of af-
ialr, Is supposed 10 be practically
burglar proof, and evidently is, from
the fact that, though they passed
right by 1t, the burglars either made
no attempt to open it, or were unsuc-
cessful in their attempt.
| In answer to the questions of the
reporter, Mr.. Sadler the cashier of
the bank, explained that it is GUS
tomary to leave the bulky silver CT
or the new safe. Space being limited
ana the silver having such bulk, the
safe would soon be filled with COM
paratlVely small amount of silver.
Inc Dllls and more valuable papers
are always carried In the new safe.
While the silver was locked up in
the bank vault.
Town Poorly Protected.
The town Of Pendleton is practi-
| caliy without officers during the
night, according to Mr.. Sadler. The
yeggs blew the vault without maxi
Ing great deal OF noise. and though
some people who live in the neigh
| Dorhood of the bank say that thew
were awakened by the detonations
/ or tic blasts, they did not attribute
any Importance to the sounds. The
explosions were so we'll muffled as
not to give an alarm, and the yeggs
had as much time as they needed in
which to rifle the bank vault,
The yeggs were forced to use three
charges OF explosives before thew left
the building. The first charge was
used to remove the outer door of the
bank vault, and the second was used
to blow out the inner door of the
vault, while the third was used to
blow open the small private safe
which stood locked in the bank vault,
This safe, however, was empty. It
having been just set in the vault ont
Of the way.
Detective OH tho Case.
special representative of the
American Bankers Association is on
the case. He arrivQ yesterday and
began his investigation. According
to Mr.: Sadler, he has stated that il
Is his belief that the work was that
or an organized gang of thieves. The
thieves are expert yeggmen and have