YEGGMEN LOOT STORE
Providence Forge Establishment Entered—Several Thousand Stolen
SAFE IS BLOWN OPEN
Work Apparently That of Export Thieves—Bloodhounds From State Farm on Trail
Bloodhounds were this morning brought from the state farm and put on the trail of the thieves who last night broke into and looted a store at Providence Forge in New Kent county, blowing open the safe and making away with several thousand dollars in cash and merchandise.
Early this morning Sheriff Sydnor¹, of Henrico county, received a long distance phone call from J.B. Richardson, of Providence Forge. apprising him of the robbery. Mr. Sydnor at once got into touch with Luther Scherer, of the Chesapeake & Ohio, and made arrangement for bringing the bloodhounds from the State farm to this city.
It is the hope of the police that with a fresh scent to work on the dogs may be able to locate the thieves in a short time. The police are of the opinion that the robbery was perpetrated by experienced yeggmen on account of the apparent ease with which they accomplished the entry to the safe and the fact that they got away with a large quantity of merchandise. That a large amount of merchandise was taken away leads the police to believe that a wagon was used to haul It. How the thieves managed to elude discovery on this account Is not known and this fact indicates unusual daring and ingenuity on their part. It is thought that there were several of them, as it is not believed one man could have accomplished the entry of the store, the breaking of the safe and the making away with & large quantity of goods by himself. Encumbered with the goods it is not thought that they could get far, and for this reason the police hope to nab them early. Arriving at Providence Forge the dogs were immediately put on the trail and will be kept on it until tonight if the thieves are not captured before then. Sheriff Sydnor issued orders for a sharp lookout to he kept for suspicious characters in Henrico county, as it is said that the thieves made their way in this direction.
-Evening Journal (Richmond) 13 July 1916
"Yeggman" was an early 20th century word meaning safecracker.
