| Show BANDITS HOLD 10 CAPTIVE L LOOT VAULT OF I Time Clock on on Safe 4 Conceals Exact Losses G Gang ng Uses Oxygen Torch Efficiently fo to o cutWay C Cut t tWay Way Way- From Flat Through W Walls of B Brick ick and Steel Br By United Press CHICAGO Sept 5 A 5 A time lock ticking toward the th opening opening opening open open- ing hour tomorrow concealed today the value of ot loot obtained by burglars who burrowed through steel concrete brick and andwood andwood wood into the Koch Cos safe deposit vault on the near south side The gang which brought Drought Its oxyacetylene oxy oxy- acetylene torch and other equipment in a truck held 10 persons members member of two families Imprisoned for tor 14 hours in flats above the real estate firms firm's o offices ices The looters' looters efficiency and their canniness iJ in discarding jewelry and other valuables that might have been identified convinced detectives the they would have to seek skilled profession als also Their investigation on was was' along these lines Rogues Rogue's gallery portraits of ot notorious criminals were displayed to the victims This was only a slender hope however however how how- ever Inasmuch as the actual e executors ecu tors of the robbery were seen by n no one A gang of ten men none o of whom has bas been been identified Is sus HAS HAS HAS' SUSPICIONS Police Lieutenant Joseph Ronan who was a a nemesis ol of when the latter were ere known as pete m men they men they now are re called torch men men said said said- h A The gang I am convinced om com committed mUted this burglary also is suspected of similar jobs at a Highland Wis bank a Cleveland bank a Chicago and another Chicago safe deposit vault This gang has two torch men men operators of ot the oxy acetylene equipment equip equip- ment and ment-and and a plot man man man-he he gets the layouts of the places to be entered The rest except for the leader are desperate gunmen who act as guards The suspense of waiting for tor the tim time lock to operate added to the anxiety of scores of persons renters of boxes around Koch Cos Cols entrance today Most of the were small smal merchants and wage earners LOSE SMALL S1 AMOUNTS Franklin Koch an officer of the company declared most of the box holders lost only small amounts amounts 50 5 or 60 and 60 and scoffed at reports o of loss He said the total tote would not exceed He indi his father Frank J. J Koch president president dent of ot the company may have been the heaviest loser though he doubted police reports that the elder Koch had in the vault The real estate c company's p ny offices fi are are in a poorer on me Lne near south side a circumstance that tha aided the burglars While they were behind the building removing oxygen tanks from their truck Robert Bauer who lives nearby was outside buying buying buy buy- ing a newspaper probably bootleggers Bauer told Casimir newsstand newsstand news stand owner Wed just get into trouble trou trou- ble if it we called the police S So neither either or Bauer did anything anything any any- thing about it The burglars burglars' plans were set In motion motion mo mo- tion at 2 p. p pm p.m. m. m Saturday when George a street car conductor drove into his garage behind the Continued on Pace pue Two BANDITS GET 1 lOOT Continued from Page Pace One building With him was Robert Kruse 20 his nephew Two men stepped forward and showed me gold stars said La La- They told me Were government government gov gov- men looking for an escaped convict named Brown and we want wani to search the building I took them to my apartment on the third floor My wife Mary and my mother Mrs Anna Doody were there The men produced revolvers and made us all go to the second floor There my sister Mrs Gussie Kruse was made to go into the bathroom bathroom bath bath- room with us and the men stood guard over us They were the only two we sav saw ALLOWED TO EAT We got hungry and they marched us back upstairs and let us eat eat the dinner my wife had been pre preparing aring We asked them to cat eat but the they During the evening the bandits made prisoners out of callers at the home These included in order Mrs Kruse's two daughters Mrs Luella Edmiston and Mrs Grace Laughlin the laUer's latter's children Adeline 13 and Mary ary Sue 7 months and Lee Edmiston Mrs Laughlin was allow allowed d to retire with her baby and nd the others others' sat around playing cards reading or doz doz- ing The two guards constantly joked about their plight At 4 a. a m. m Sunday the guards warned against any alarm for halt hall an hour tore out telephone wires and left Mrs Kruse's second floor flat was the center of the operations of the theother theother theother other members of the gang The living liv liv- in lag ing room is above the safe deposit I vault which is in the rear of the thereal thereal I Ireal real estate company's offices The burglars drilled through the hard hard- wod floor sawed away joists and removed removed re reo re- re moved layers of bricks The oxy acetylene torch believed to have been used to break down the mortar joining the bricks then was called into play to cut through the steel of a vault where records were kept This vault is 15 on Koch Cos mezzanine mez mez- floor Then the gang had to burn through the steel floor of the re record ord tault vault and smash a layer of concrete Finally the torch was used on the copper and steel layers of the safe deposit vault giving access to the boxes Discarded papers and jewelry were found in the in-the the Kruse apartment after the gang had left together with three oxygen tanks |
