New-York tribune., 1921-12-19
3 Rob Capitol
iheater Staff
Of $4,000
Continued from pane onsl

pt'sohers lhsldc. slamming the door
upon them and locking it with one Of
Mr.. Falconer's keys.
Left $4,000 on Desk
Then they went back to the urivaie
office, opened The safe and took out the
money bag. They left the place imme
diatclY, without pausing even IN rake
up the $1,000 which lay in compact
ittle bundles on the auditors desk.
In departing they took to a fire es-
cape which leads from window Of tho
private Office to the roof of the thcatcr
lobby. In spite of the darkness. they
found their way across the roof to a
nre escape which leads to an alley
opening on Fifty~hrst Street.
The carriage man on the Fifty-frzt
Street side of the building sow two
OF the men emerge from the alley with
the tan bag, which he thought he rec
ognizcd. Before he could give the
alarm, however, they had jumped into
. taTicab, which stood AT the curb. and
had driven of
In the mean time the four prisoners
on the fourth floor had kicked their
way TO freedom. Maher and Miss
'courtwrlght had managed to free the
hands Of the other two, and by con
certed attacks, they burst one of the
door panels, enabling them to reach
the latch and open the door
Even then they found that they were
locked IN the office. but Falconer re
membered there was hammer about
somewhere. and when they had found
1t they pounded out panel OF the sub
stantial door leading to the corridor
FRANK lylno, "A page, heard the racket
and ran down stairs to report to Mr..
I. g T.t J., -
body was wrecRing the auditors office.
While the page was still in Mr.. Kerr's
oft1ce in came the carriage man from
Fifty first Street with the news shat
two men had run out of the alley oren-
ing on that street with valise of tan
leather which looked very much like
the ono Mr.. falconer used for mis-
money.
MIR. Kerr accom- panied the carriage
man TO the alley. the gate of which he
fourd open, although ordinarily it is
closed. When he got back to ms Office
the victims of the hold-up we're there.
The carriage man was insistcnt that
only TWO men had emerged from the
alley and driven away in the taXicab. Il
is thought that the other made his
escape across the lobby roof TO the
Fiftleth Street side Of the house. where
there Is another ire escape
All three robbers wore gloves, and
although detectives reached the thea
ter promptly, there was not so much as
q fingerprint to point TO the Identity OF
any OF the trio. The only clews they
left are the wire and cord bonds with
which they lashed the wrists Of Fall
coner and Matthews.
The only descriptions obtained by the
I 81
about five feet ten inches tall, who
wore g cap. and the others were four or
five inches shcrter and wore soft hats.
The police believe that they We're thor
oughly familiar with the theater and
with the method Of handling the days
receipts, and hid somewhere near the
auditors Office until he entered with
the money.
1t was just the bandits good fortune
according to the theater management
that the armed guard who generally
accompanies the auditor on such oc-
casions ard stands at the door OF his
Office until the money is ready to be
sent to the bank was absent last ght
Maher. who recoilected that the guard
was away and came to act as his sub
stitute, happened to enter the Office IN
stead Of standing at the door As the
guarC does.
Edward Bowes, managing director OF
the theater. was certain that no former
employee was involved, as in thai case
one Of the four persons who saw the
robbers must have recognized him.
Both Mr. Falccner aud Mr. Mat
thews.' he said, are familiar with the
features of former and present cm-
ployees OF the theater, and both OF
them are positive that none of the
bandits ever was employed in the Cap
itol Theater
The robbery was we'll planned 1t
my opinion the bandits entered the
building while the elevator was at an
upper floor and then walked up the
stairway and concealed themselves near
the auditors office
Mr Bowes said that the loss was coy
cred by insurance.