Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1888 — An Attempted Robbery. [ARTICLE]

An Attempted Robbery.

About one o’clock last Saturday morning Night-watchman Myers came out upon Van Rensselaer street from the alley that ruus in the rear of the business houses on the south side of Washington street, and saw a man standing beside one of the windows of McCoy & Co’s. bank. As soon as the m&n saw the night watch (not knowing Whg he was, probably,) he, the man, broke and run across the street. The night watch continued to observe matters from a safe distauce and pretty soon another man jumped out of the bank window aud followed his companion in the direction the former had taken. Myers now considered it a proper time to exercise his authority as a “comprehender of all vagrom men,” and—no, lie didn’t call on the thieves to hold up their hands and submit to arrest, but he ran back into tjie alley and made a brave and successful effort to wake up Abe Lopg, who sleeps in his drug store. This enterprise proving successful the valiant watchman extended his field of operations and awoke Vic AVilley, who sleeps iu AVilley & Sigler’s store. The three then repaired to the scene of the attempted robbery afid and finding the window wide open, they thought best to send for Tom McCoy, which was done. Tom came oyer and investigated matters a little but finding no evidence of anything having been stolen, all hands, including the night watch, resumed their peaceful dreams. In the moruing the burglar’s tools were found inside the bank where they had been dropped by the man who was seen to jump out of the window. They consisted of two ordinaiy twenty qMSpny spike t nails and two small pieces of old scrap iron. It is evident that thjß burglars were® not professionals. In fact it is probable that the two men or boys were a pair & local sneak-thieves, who, finding the window unfastened had crawled in with the hopes of finding a little stray change in the money drawer. AA 7 ith the tools they had they could not have hoped to break into the bank vault in forty year’s uninterrupted labor.