The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1924-02-28

in the basement after having hxed the
fires, when he heard mumbling COM
ing from the second floor in the VII
cinity of Edward Dayton's Office.
"Come on up here fellows, We'll go
upstairs, l think there is someone up
there" he shouted down the basement
stairs. Immediately he heard the
sound of men running across the bal
cony floor. Dashing up the stairs, he
was just in time to see the two burg
lars running down the back fire es-
cape. By the time he had gotten to
the fire escape door, they had started
the car which stood in the alley and
whipped out of view before he could
read the numbers on the license
plates.
Then, fearing that the management
would not want the facts known, he
made no report until Willard Welch,
assistant manager of the theater, ar
rived shortly before 8 o'clock. WEIGH
at once notified Dayton of what had
happened, and Dayton in turn called
the police. .u
Find Cash Safe.
WEIGH opened the inne4 door of the
safe and found all of the money. The
stacks of bills, the entire receipts of
the weekend, with the exception of
the money which had been used to pay
off the vaudeville acts, was just as it
had been when he and Dayton had
locked it up shortly after IL o'clock
last night.
The robbers, however, made ''wag-
es" for their work Three dollars,
which Dayton had tossed in the top
drawer of his desk, as petty cash
fund, had been taken, and all other
drawers in the Office had been pulled
out and ransacked. The police believe
this was done in the hope of finding
the combination of the safe.
The police say the job was done by
expert safe crackers, due to the fact
that the outside door had been mas
tered without the aid of dynamite. The
robbers had apparently tested until
they had found the four way combina-
ton of the lock. This, the police say
proves that they thoroughly under
stood their business, for the safe is
one of the most modern strong boxes,
and would stop anyone but experts.
Worked for Hours.
The robbers probably got into the
theater shortly after it closed last
night, it is believed. Just how they
gained access to the building is a mys-
terry, for none of the locks seem to
have been forced, and none of the
glass in the windows, which are &C
, cessable from the fire escapes, was
broken.
One theory which has been ad-
vanced, is that they went into the
mems smoking room and hid there
until the house was closed for the
night. Another is that they may have
gained access through one of the win
dows of the ladies' rest room, which
was found unlocked this morning. The
window ledge is considerable dis
lance from the fire escape, and the
police point to the danger of discov-
cry, to which the burglars would have
had to subject themselves in order to
use this route. The window ledge
shows, no suspicious marks.
The safe is located in the employees
clothes closet which opens off the
managers office. Due to the regusa-
tion which prohibits the operators
leaving their coats in the operating
booth, they are kept in this closet and
the managers door is never locked.
Thus from the moment the burglars
stepped out into the empty theater,
they had nothing to block their way
to the safe.
Hereafter no funds will be left in
the building on Sunday night, Edward
Dayton stated. When the theater
closes, police car will be called, and
the money taken to the safe at head
quarters from where it will be trans
fered to the bank on Monday morn
ing. Mr.. Dayton stated that hereto
fore, ordinary caution has been used,
but from now on it will take robber
of the ''first water" to get as much as
nickel from the theater. in addi-
ton, the employees are to be armed
to prevent daylight robberies.
Mr.. Welch will hereafter be given a
police guard to take the receipts of
the theater to the bank, the police an
nounced.