Jackson County Treasurer Robbed

BAKER, BRYAN, RAY

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 3/24/2008 at 12:38:53

The Maquoketa Excelsior
October 23, 1873

Robbery

The Jackson County Treasurer’s Safe Opened, and
Twenty Thousand Dollars in Money Stolen.

No Clue to the Perpetrators of the Daring Crime.
One of the Most Successful and Neatly Performed Robberies of the Season.

Our city was terribly excited on Monday morning by the news of the robbery of the safe in the Treasurer’s office at Andrew the night before. Mr. S. L. Baker, of Andrew, came into town about 8 o’clock with the startling intelligence that the entire funds of the county had been stolen, and no clue left behind by the robbers. The facts, as we get them, are as follows:

At about the usual hour for building a fire in his office Deputy Clerk John S. Ray went to the Court House for that purpose. On ascending the stairs to his office floor he noticed that the door of the Treasurer’s office, which is opposite his own, was open. Thinking it strange, he ventured in. No one was there, but he was surprised to see the doors of the Treasurer’s safe open, and other evidences of something wrong.

Mr. Ray immediately raised an alarm, and the people of the town hastened to the Court House to find the treasury of the county robbed of all its money and a large number of cancelled county warrants. The windows were curtained with maps, etc., found in the room; and thus concealed the bad work that had been accomplished.

Mr. James A. Bryan, County Treasurer, was sent for, and at once repaired to his place of business. In the meantime a card had been found with several figures, and upon it being shown to Bryan he exclaimed: “These are the combinations of the numbers which open the safe!” How the robbers had gained this knowledge of the combination remains a mystery. Certain it is they had it, and were thus enabled to enter the innermost vault without noise or trouble.

Between $15,000 and $20,000 is said to have been in the safe, and as every dollar was taken that amount was stolen. Why the cancelled orders were taken is a great mystery. One would think that a man with sense enough to open a safe would know better than to carry off a large lot of worthless papers. No clue is as yet found, but some parties are under a terrible suspicion, and on our streets yesterday their names were openly proclaimed.

The annals of safe robbing do not give an instance of so complete and so easy a success. The doors opening into the office were unlocked, the safe was unlocked; nothing was broken, torn or in any manner injured. An easy, noiseless robbery of a large sum of money rewarded the efforts of the thieves. No tools were used and left behind to tell the tale; no marks or tracks to show the number, size or any particulars of the party engaged. It was a smooth, scientific robbery, and the skill of execution was well rewarded.