The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-09-21
BOLD CRACKSMEN
ROB CITY SAFE
Invade Office of City Clerk
During Council Session
Get $3.50 Cash.
LEAVE NO CLUES
Robbers Must Have Been Some
what Familiar with the In
terror of City Vault.


nosha in years took place sometime
between o'clock and midnight Mon
day night when unknown cracksmen
went into the office of City Clerk
George Harrington on the ground floor
of the city hall, opened the big steel
vault in the office, and got away with
nearly $3.50 which had been in the cash
drawer. The men got away with their
loot without any alarm being given,
regardless of the fact that the Office
where the robbery took place was with
in forty feet of the police headquarters
and regardless of the fact that scores
of people were in the city hall during
the hours in which the robbery took
place.
The money secured was in the cash
drawer in the vault. $114.50 of the
amount was the property of the West
ern Improvement company of Racine.
1t had been paid to the city clerks
assistant on Monday afternoon by R.
G. Lewis of Exchange street, who was
the first man to make a payment for
the paving of the street. The other
money taken was the personal property
of City Clerk Harrington 1t was i'm
possible for him to tell just how much
he had in the cash drawer, but he
estimated the total amount secured by
the cracksmen at $3.50.
Banked His Roll On Monday.
The city clerk had banked his "roFl"
on Monday afternoon. He had gone to
the cash drawer and noticing that there
was in the neighborhood Of a hundred
dollars in currency there, he decided
that this was too much money to have
in the safe and he made deposit of
$75 in the bank during the afternoon.
The thieves did not take all the money
in the cash drawer. In a box in anoth-
err compartment of the looted drawer
was small change to the amount of SO
or SIS and evidently this did not ap-
peal to the robbers. So far as could
be found, nothing in the vault save the
cash drawer had been touched. There
was no evidence. that the thieves had
made a search of the place and the
drawer which had contained the money
was the only one that showed any in
dication of having been disturbed.
Thought Someone in Vault.
City Clerk Harrington had been in
the Office and in the vault just before
the opening of the meeting of the city
council and when he left the office, he
had left the vault with the "day COM
bination" pending his return from the
council meeting. He closed the door
to his Office as he went to the council
chamber.
81 saw four fellows sitting about the
hall" said the clerk this morning, "but
l paid no attention to them and I could
not even suggest description of them
They were young fellows. Two of
them sat on the bench up in front and
two of them back by the city engi-
neer's office. I thought that the door
locked when l left my office, but it is
possible that it didn't, as the lock has
been out of repair and the door may
not have caught.
II had no occasion to return to the
Office until the meeting of the council
was over and then Pauper Commission
err Saftig came down with me. I went
to put the council records in the vault.
Someone has been fooling with this
combination I told Saftig, but it was
late and I did not think anything fur
Their of it. put the books away and
locked the vault and we did not dis
cover the robbery until this morning."
Police Have No Clues.
The police have absolutely no clues
to the identity of the men who robbed
the city safe, but it is expected that an
effort will be made to find some finger
prints on the cash drawer and these
may aid some in solving the mystery.
Members of the police department were
in and out of the city hall all during
the night and not one Of them saw
anything to indicate that the Office of
the clerk was being robbed. Evidently
the robbers had carefully planned their
entrance to the building and had timed
it to make the visit to the vault while
the clerk was in the council chamber
The police officers had not noticed any
lights in the Office of the clerk during
the evening.