The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-10-01
CUT THRU
WALL BUT
MISTAKE
LOCATION
Enter Cloak and Suit House
and Hair Store; Diamond
Store Escapes

That gang OF fagan0h crookS
employed a youthful Oliver Twist to
do the actual thieving ip the attempt
to reach the diamond and 5eweiry
stock OF Lafayette. Inc. In the
Haight building. Second ave. and
Pine ST.. early Friday. Ii the police
theory OF the attempted burglary.
The thieves owe their failure to
They attempted to chiscl their way
to the jewelry shop from the base-
ment OF the building. but in two at
tempts landed in other stores in
stead.
The May Holland Hair shop. 1884
Second ave-. and II. Rasmussen's
cloak shop. 1888 Second ave-. were
both entered by the thieving mem
bers OF the gang Tills were looted
in BON store.
THINK BOYINvOLvED
IN THE ATTEMPT
Police advanced the theory that .
boy was involved in the looting. aft
er examining small hols In the
four-inch reinforced plaster wAu b.
tween the Rasmussen and HeIland
shops- Only an extremely small
man or boy could pcssable have
squeexod thru tho hole. police say.
The Haight building Is on the
southeast corner OF Second ave. and
Pine st The cloak shop. formerly
known as Gordon's. occupies the cor.
ner. the jewelry store 10 next and the
hair store Is next to the building
entrance at the south end Of the
building.
All three stores face on Second
ave. The jcwelry storc extends only
half way back the depth Of the build
ing. Rasmussen's extends behind II
This Is what fooled the burglan-
The burglars entered the building
by the entrance that leads TO the ele-
vator and building offices. They
descended stairway to the base
ment
Entrance to the basement Of Ras-
mussen's was easy. as only q slen-
der lath held shut two unlocked
doors. The lath was hurriedly pried
off.
FASHIONABLE CLOTHES
PASSED UP
The thieves found themselves IN
the sumptuously decorated show.
room. with draped dressing compart.
mcnts lining the wall. The floor u
covered with soft. heavy carpet.
Thousands of dollars worth OF
fashionable clothes were passed up
by the thieves, who satisfied them
selves with stealing s13 from tho
cash till in the office.
That the burglars were fastidlOuD
and possibly dressed we'll in the
hope OF better eluding police suspi-
cion after the robbery was indicated
when Rasmussen found that they
had used his washroom and soiled
several towels.
After completing their toilet. tho
thieves tthe number of towels used
satisfied police that there were more
than one mani ascended the interior
stairway to the main floor Of the
cloak shop.
CHISEL WAY
THRU WALL
On the south side OF this room
Is a balcony. The thieves chose the
innermost end OF the balcony as the
place to dig thru to what they imag-
ined was the jewelry shop. With
chisel. nippers and hammers, they
finally made hole in the wall.
1t was then that the youthful tool
OF the gang was used. police say.
He was evidently boosted thru the
hole and dropped down into the
room where he was supposed to
gather all the jewelry in sight and
return. II is believed that he would
not have tried to make an exit thru
the jewelry store door. as this is pro-
tected by an alarm.
But the lad found himself once
more in the wrong shop. He had
been dropped down into the Holland
Hair Shop, After stealing $25 from
the till there. he went out thru the
Holland store door.
FINGERPRINTS ONLY
CLUE LEFT
When he arrived to clean out the
Frank Nishimura. OF 500 King St.
found the hole in the wall He noti-
fled police. Motorcycle OFFICERS
George T.. Reynolds and o. h
Holschmaker were detailed. Later.
Detectives Jack Lands and Jim
Byrnes were assigned to the case.
Fingerprints in the plaster dust
left in the Rasmussen store is the
only clue police say they have to
work on, beyond the Pagan theory.
! The thieves injected some humor