A SERIES OF FIVE DARING CRIMES.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 4, 17 January 1905, Page 3

A SERIES OF FIVE DARING CRIMES.

:A band of expert burglars made a daring raid on five shops and offices in the Strand lately, and by means of a skil ful plan; audaciously carried out, ! scored a great success. ; .The scheme of- the .burglary must' .have been carefully* laid beforehand, and the judgment and precision of .hose who worked it out; shows them to have been' masters of their craft. -Nos. 143, 145, and 146, Strand, form portion of a block of buildings opposite the , Gaiety Theatre, and it was these premises which the burglars ransacked so thoroughly. On the ground floor of the three- premises are the shops,/' of Messrs Palfrey . and Bowen, hosiers, Messrs Paget and 'Go , jewellers, and "Mr W. ; Olmstmasjtibsier. Above these shops are four] floors. ; Those at No.---145 are occupied as business premi ses by Messrs Paget, who haver the. .shop,.. below, those at 143, above Messrs Pal IVey and Bowen's. shop,by the offices of the Yachtsman, and; those at 146 by theStrand Engraving Company and the Art Photogravure Company. C The premises are all connected on the fourth floor by a parapet which runs along outside the -top windows: This parapet it was which enabled the bur glars, after entering one house, to get, along to the other two. .TJ_W.KI.LEBY AND CASH STOLEN. ■-',"' ' ' ■ ;■' ..-'-'' -1 Early in the morning it was noticed that burglars-had been at work in the shops, and Messrs Page t's^, manager on arrival found; that the lock of the fro/it door had been interfered .with, and that the door could "riot- be opanech -A locksmith was sent for, and with policeman waiting for entry, .and an expectant crowd on the pavement, the door was at last opened. , Inside there were-striking evidencesof the burglars' work, though there was no trace ;;of the men themselves. The showcases. in the' windows had been stripped; and scores of empty jewel cases lay about behind the counter. Drawers had been opened and the heavy American till carried into an inner ojfice, and there forced open and rifled.: v The rooms upstairs were all found'to have been ransacked; The shop door had apparently been fastened to prevent entry from; the street. Among the property missing are watches, gold arid silver chains, pins,, brooches, charms., and other articles of jewellery. - The daring of the burglars was strikingly displayed by the way iii which they stripped the. unshuttered shop window -within a couple of feet of passers-by. in the "Strand. They gave further- evidence of their coolness in dealing with the till. Having carried it into the inner office; they burst it open, and an enipty cigarette-box found ' by its side suggest th:Vt they enjoyed a quiet smoke during their work. The .large safe in the centre of the shop was untouched, it probably being considered unsafe to attack it within a -lew feet of the street. The burglars' haul from Messrs Paget comprised, so far as at present known, ' the jewellery mentioned and the petty cash from the till. SAEE TOHCED. Next door, at -vlessrs Palfrey and Bowen's, they met with additional success. Tkey went straight to the safe which contained the day's takings, and proceeded to, open it, forcing the door j in the most workmanlike mariner. In the j upper 'floors they burst their way into the offices of the Yachtsman, opened many drawers, and made a passing attempt at the safe, which, how-ever,-resisted their efforts. The, safe here is close to the window, and a determined endeavor "to open it might have- attracted attention. Leaving the offices. of the Yachtsman the burglars went to- another floor *and made an attempt to force' the offices of Mr F. K. Ginn, stamp dealer. They "did not succeed in getting the door open_ . Most of the other rooms in the building were. forced -and ransacked, though so far as can be discovered nothing of any great value was taken away. Finally, an examination of the third house, No. 146, Strand, showed th^fc the shop of Mr Christmas, on the ground floor had~been untouched, but that on the floors above the premises of the Strand Engraving Company and tluArt Photogravure Company had been broken, opeii. A safe was forced, in similar workmanlike fashion to the one in the shop of Messrs Palfrey ancl Bowen, ancl the money it contained" (about £5) was taken. 1 HOW TIIEY ENTERED . "How the burglars effected their entry to the premises is not yet known, but it is surmised that they took up their position in the premises next; door to No. 143, which" are. in the hands of builders. When.'-, the time came for action a plank from one of the windows at the back would put them, on the leads behind, No. 143, and then the opening of ,a window 'on the landing would give them easy admittance.