The New York herald., 1921-12-30
Leader Hires Safety Box to
Study Plans for Raid at
Pearl River, N. Y.
PILES OF CASH UNTOUCHED
Police Watching for an Auto
{! mobile With Injured Occu-
| pant-Derby Hat a Clew.

e'PeStes DtoPutCt tO AE NEW IOkk
PEARL RIVER, N. Y, Dec. 29.-James
B. Moore. paying teller. and Sigfried
Butz. bookkeeper, were cleaning up
odds and ends of business in their
cages in the First National Bank dur
ing the noon luncheon hour to-day
when well dressed man stepped up
to the window and asked to look at
his safety deposit box rented about a
month ago.
Five minutes later Moore and Butz
lay dead back of their desks, where
they had fallen in desperate hand
to hand conflict with bandits. Both
were shot through the heart. Adolph
Miller, watchman, who had heard the
shots and ran in, was lying outside
the cashiers window shot through the
groin. One of the bandits was escap-
ing through a rear window bleeding
from one or more wounds, leaving a
red trail across the snow in a lumber
yard to an automobile waiting half a
block away.
The bandits did not get a penny,
bank officials announced later. In less
than ten minutes after the first shot
was fired factory whistles were
shrieking an alarm and half of Pearl
River, armed and in automobiles, was
on the chase.
Trick Planned Clevcrly.
The man who planned this new trick
In the modern orgy OF bank robbing
first appeared few weeks ago and
deposited some securities in a safety
box which he rented for a year He
wore u derby. looked like the average
well to do business man and twice dur
ing the last two weeks had called at the
bank at just half-past twelve noon He
was seen several times around the
bank and In the streets. Pearl River. q
neat village of 500 persons in the north
crn tip Of Rockland county. near the
border line. notes the appearance of
strangers, but no one thought to find
out who he was or why he had rented
the safety box. His key to the box
gave him entry to the bank
Noon is luncheon hour in Pearl River
Business is practically suspended while
William A. Serven, president of the
bank; the postmaster merchants, clerks
and workmen go home to eat. The rou-
tine of the village was observed yester-
day. Mr.. Serven had strolled out with
the cashier of the bank to go home n
little after IL and the four other bank
employees had followed.
The bandit picked the exact moment
when there were only two employees
on duty. Those two were off guard
Their pistols were in their desks. but
the thought probably furthest from their
minds was robbery as they took aivan-
tage of the breathing space to catch up
with their balances.
When the bandit entered the streets
were deserted. He walked up to Moore's
window and called for his box A little
later when the officials and the police
arrived they found many evidence OF
what had occurred in the few minutes
of tie attempted holdup and the con-
fict that followed. The exact details
of what happened will not be known
unless the bandits are caught and tell
the story.
Tragedy Is Reconstructed.
The safety box was on fable in a
little Office in the rear of the bank, re-
served mainly for the use of customers
1t was empty. The window from this
office to the lumber yard in the rear was
open. Pieced together as closely as pos
sible. Sheriff Alfred Fl. Merritt and the
State and local police said that this was
about what must have happened:
When Moore carried the safety box
into the rear room he was covered by
the bandits pistol. The bandit then
opened the window and his confederate
entered. The theory is that there were
two men only in the plot, the second
Being the outside man In charge OF the
automobile, who was called to the rear
window to guard against surprise
Moore must have made break back
into the bank. Several persons in Offices
above the bank and In the post Office
next door heard seven shots fired in
rapid order. Butz must have been
alarmed by Moores call or a shot and
stepped out OF his cage. He fell dead,
face down
Adolph Miller had been a watchman
for years on the railroad crossing. n
few yards from the bank door. Lately
he had been employed as watchman in
the Dexter Folding Company factory,
one or the big industries In the village.
n block across the way from the bank
He heard the firing and ran into the
bank. He had just time to reach the
cashiers window and take one glance
inside the bank, and then he fell with
q wound which may be fatal
But In that one second Miller saw
three men. he told between gasps n few
minutes later, before he lost conscious
ness, and was hurried to the Nyack
Hospital. He saw one man lying as II
dead. He saw two men locked In each
other's arms. fighting on the floor. and
said he was certain that Moore was the
one on top. beating the other in the
face with his fists, close beside Butz's
body. Both were covered with blood.
III Miller's eyes saw accurately the
bullet which killed Moore must have