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Show li Is H 11 SALT IffipEI Exceptionally Clever Burglary Is Committed at the Heidel.-hcrg Heidel.-hcrg Saloon. JIO.W AXD CHECKS TO AMOUNT OF $500 TAKEN Very Peculiar Methods Appear Mo Have Been Employed by Thief. Leaving behind him evidence which characterizes him as either an exceptionally excep-tionally clever crook or a bungling tyro, a safe cracker entered theUcidol: berg saloon sonic iiiiic after J-:50 o'clock Sunday morning, opened a small safe and escaped with approximately .$100 in cash and $100 in checks. The burglar also ttfok the strong box and the cash book which it contained, besides be-sides the data regarding the sales, a small book containing records of the business of the past year. The burglar left no clue. l)iit ho overlooked negotiable nego-tiable stock certificates valued at .o,0H0. Entrance was aaincd through the skylight sky-light above tho lavatory. According to the story fold by Karl II. Mayer, sole proprietor of the Heidelberg, Heidel-berg, he and two employes of the saloon sa-loon loft the place at 12:.r0 o'clock Sunday Sun-day morning. Mr. Mayer said ho was positive Ihat he had closed and locked tho combination of the safe before leaving; leav-ing; in fact, ho had made the statement state-ment to his employes as he was closing the door of the safe that the crooks would get his money somo morning. Tho police consider this incident stg-nificauf, stg-nificauf, as it removes the doubt that tbo safe had been left open. Some lime during flic morning the safe cracker entered the saloon through the skylight in the rear, and in the full glare of the arc lights, which ho was unable to switch oir. wheeled the safe from behind Ihe cigar counter, along tho narrow space behind the bar and out into tho lavatory. Here he proceeded to open the sdrong box at his leisure, and did this, according to (.he police, by aid of Iho combination, which he inusi have had. Thought to Be a "Blind." After opening the safe and rifling it of its contents. Iho burglar knocked off fho knob of the combination, left a small stone cutters' chisel aud a drill Iving alongside the safe, broke the locks off the back kitchen door aud went out into tho darkness. One feature feat-ure of his work which sets him apart from all other safe crackers who have worked in this city, is that he carried off the hammer with which ho kuocked' off the kuob of the combination, arid lett the drill and. chisel lying iu front of the safe. The first person lo discover the robbery rob-bery was James Pico, a porter, who entered en-tered to clean up the saloon Sunday morning at 7:30 o'clock. Pico waited until the arrival of tho cook, John Solomon, who telephoned the news to Mr. Mayer, and Mayer immediately went down to Iho saloon, and after making an examination, telephoned to the. police. An expert in tho employ of the police po-lice department made an examination of the door of the safe and reported that in his opinion the man who had opened flic safe knew the combination and had merely knocked off the knob as a blind. The export, gave as a reason rea-son for this belief tho peculiar mechanical mechan-ical construction of the safe door, which made it impossible to open the safe without tho combination being known, cvon after the knob had been removed. Tho combination and the locks of tho safo were in perfect condition con-dition when examined Sunday morning by the police. Theories Advanced. Mr. Ma3cr could give no possible explanation ex-planation of the,- affair which would lielp the police. Tic stated that bht three persons knew the combination himself, an employe who was above suspicion, and the man who had put in fho combination. When asked as to the exact, amount of inonoy in the safe, My. Mayer said that he "was unable un-able to sav, on aceouut of the fact that the cash hook had been takon, but he added that it was more than S-100. Two theories have been advauced in police circles regarding tho person who did the work. Ouo is to the effect that tho man was perfectly familiar with r.ho habits of the persons employed in the saloou. knew on which night there would be the greatest amount of cash onjiand (Mr. Mayer slated that he had failed to bank on Saturday), and in some, way had secured the combination. Those supporting fhis theory point to the fact, that the leaving of the chisel and drill, the carrying off of fho hammer ham-mer and Iho knocking otf of ti:e knob indicate the work of a tyro in fhv safecracking safe-cracking business. They also ask wTTv a safecracker should take a cash book and be careful to select it from among a number of olhors in tho safe. The other theory is to the effect that the man who did tho job was au exceptionally excep-tionally clever safo export, who opened the combination after liste.uing to the falling of the tumblers. Those who ar. viince this theory contend that the ro-'maindor ro-'maindor of the "evidence" wns a blind. |