Robbers Blow Safe at Ney Hardware Store

This event might have qualified for an episode of "Dumb Criminals", if such a thing had existed in 1903. 

Thanks to Dan Hasch for this article from the Defiance Democrat, Thursday, October 8, 1903, front page:

"ROBBERS BLOW SAFE

HARDWARE STORE AT NEY VISITED BY PROFESSIONALS.

 ONLY SCORED TEN CENTS AFTER HARD WORK AND OVERLOOKED NEARLY $700 - 

THEY MADE THEIR ESCAPE.

Two robbers blew the safe in the hardware store at Ney early this morning, wreckiing the safe, but secured only 10 cents, all the contents.  About $700 in a nearby trunk was overlooked.  The robbers escaped.

The hardware store is in the possession of Ed Myers.  Two months ago, he sold the store to M. D. Moog and sons, Porter and Douglas, but the latter had not yet taken possession, the invoice only being started yesterday.  It is believed the robbers reasoned that the purchase money had been paid and was contained in this safe.  The robbery followed with the thieves failure to secure anything for their trouble. 

The people living near the hardware store were awakened this morning by two explosions at about 2:10 o'clock.  The robbers were seen to leave the building rear door which they had pried open.  They secured a hand car and ran south on the Cincinnati Northern railroad to the Hicksville pike where the car was dumped into the ditch and the men continued their flight on foot.  The men were of medium height and both wore slouch hats.  They made good their escape.

At the hardware store it was found that the safe had been wrecked.  The contents amounted to ten cents which was taken by the robbers  In a trunk i the store was an amount of money reaching nearly $700, but its presence was not known to the robbers, and the dime was all they secured, scarcely paying for the nitroglycerine with which the safe was cracked.

The local officers received word this morning of the affair and Sheriff McCarty, Chief Hubbard, and Officers Shea and Wahl drove to the Bend and Sherwood, as it was stated the thieves were probably in that vicinity.  No trace could be found of them and they returned home at noon.

About 9 o'clock this morning, two suspicious parties who resembled the meager description of the pair, boarded an eastbound B & O freight train after inquiring the quickest route to get to Toledo.  The police were notified of their presence, but they left on the freight train before the arrival of the officers."

The Gypsy Camps in Defiance

 

The first gypsy camps mentioned in the available Defiance newspapers were here in the 1890s.  At that time, the wanderers were camping on the fort grounds, and people from town visited the camp as entertainment.

The Daily Defiance Crescent reported on August 6, 1892:

"The gypsy camp at the fort ground last evening at the fort ground was an attractive one... The costumes of the gypsies were elaborate and were becoming to the wearers.  

Refreshments were daintily served by the young ladies of the Epworth League.  This evening another opportunity is presented to those who desire to visit the camp...You will do well to spend this evening with the gypsies."

In 1894, it was learned that the gypsies would walk through the town selling baskets, horse trading, and telling fortunes in their eye-catching garments.  BUT, in 1898, the overall reputation of the gypsies took a plunge in the city. If anything went missing, it seemed the suspicion fell on the gypsy camp, when they were here.

October 13, 1898, The Defiance Democrat:

"HARNESS STOLEN - NOBLE TOWNSHIP FARMER VICTIM OF PILFERERS WHO ARE UNKNOWN.

Sheldon E. Sanford, of Noble Township, had a set of double work harness stolen Monday evening.  The thieves did not wait for the conventional midnight hour, but got in their work while the family was at supper, entering the barn and getting away without attracting any attention.  Suspicion was directed toward some gypsies who are encamped above Brunersburg, and Mr. Sanford, along with Sheriff Eiser searched the camp yesterday but could find no traces of the missing harness."

July 12, 1899  Defiance Daily Crescent - 

"A DIRTY LOT.  GYPSIES ORDERED TO LEAVE THE CITY.  A camp of Russian gypsies pitched their tents in North Defiance yesterday and the greasy, filthy specimens of humanity scattered to all parts of the city telling fortunes and begging.  Health officer Chapman visited the camp last evening to inspect its sanitary condition, which he found very bad.  Marshall Hull served notice on the gypsies that they must leave the city, so this morning, they pulled stakes and left for other fields."

As you can see, the view of the gypsy encampments changed significantly.  What was once entertaining and acceptable, had now become repugnant to the city people.  Not only were the gypsies blamed for robberies, but it was also rumored that they stole children.

On September 21,1899, the Hicksville Enquirer (reprinted in the Defiance Democrat of Sept. 28)reported that the child of Mrs. H. Carr, "formerly Mrs. Ferguson, who parted from her husband about a year and a half ago, was stolen while at play.  The mother missed its presence, and on going to call the little one, no response came.  Then a search was commenced and nearly every house in town has been thoroughly examined.  The father was in town a week ago.   It is feared by some that gypsies who have been camping near the town, have the child, as part of the camp that left today, and every effort is being made to find them."  No conclusion to this story could be found.

A similar blame on the gypsies was made in September, 1906, when Bessie Speck, a 16 year old, living at 1124 Perry Street, was punished by her mother for her lying ways. The girl told her mother that she would just go kill herself, but instead Bessie ran away.

"Later she was seen following a gypsy wagon, and after that, there is no trace of her.  Fearing that she may have been carried out her threat, or that she had been taken away by the gypsies, the parents and friends instituted a very thorough inquiry."  Bessie was found later in Continental - not a victim of the gypsies.

It evolved until law enforcement actively tried to keep the gypsies moving on out of Defiance.  In September, 1907, a band of seven or eight families camped in the grove across from the Francis Street bridge in south Defiance.  They had been feeding themselves through garden filching, hen coop visiting and sometimes begging.  Chief of Police Hubbard and Sheriff Kopp paid a visit and moved them out while leaving a stern warning not to return.

May, 17,1911. The Defiance Democrat.

"GYPSIES HAD SCRAP, RIG FOR SECURITY.

But for the timely intervention of Constable J. P. Eiser, Joe Davis would probably have been carved up by a couple gypsies on Fifth Street early Thursday evening."

Joe Davis had a disagreement with a group of gypsy men and the result was that Joe was beaten soundly, and in the end was facing a knife and a razor just as Eiser arrived on the scene.

The aggressors were taken before Judge Lamb the next morning, having left their horse and rig after the fight as security to their return.

As they waited for the gypsies to arrive at court, a man from Kentucky came and said that they had "borrowed" the rig from him to haul away some junk and it was not returned.  The gypsies, who were "camping near the Ruehle place in East Defiance" never did show.

As late as 1941, the visits of the gypsies continued, only now they were driving cars. In the Crescent-News, May 22, 1941, page 1:

"SECOND ROBBERY BY GYPSIES BRING APPEAL TO PUBLIC BY BRIDENBAUGH

After gypsies staged a second robbery this spring in Defiance county and made a clean getaway, Sheriff John K. Bridenbaugh today issued an appeal to the public to cooperate with his department in apprehending offenders.

Latest victim was Leslie Mills, 83, Hicksville, who was robbed Monday noon of about $50, including his old age pension money.  Although Mr. Mills was unable to get the license number of the car driven by the gypsies, or its description, Sheriff Bridenbaugh, Marshall Robert Lower, Night Marshall D. M. Driver and Mayor M. H. Bevington, the last three of Hicksville, visited the gypsy camp near Angola, Ind., and also went into Michigan looking for the offenders.  Mr. Mills accompanied the officers but was unable to identify anyone at the camp.  He was cutting weeds when the women snatched his purse...

Another robbery attributed to gypsies occurred about a month ago near Delaware Bend, when an aged man lost about $67, Sheriff Bridenbaugh said.  The gypsy women, he said, asked the victim to put water in the radiator of their car.  While he was doing so, one of the women pushed him while another grabbed his pocket book, officers were told."

Eventually, the visits to Defiance stopped and all could rest easy again.

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