The Dayton post office was in a corner of this store.

ROBBERS BREAK INTO DAYTON POSTOFFICE
BLANK MONEY ORDERS, STAMPS AND MONEY TAKEN
LOOTERS LEAVE NO CLEW
Office in Dayton Seems to be a Favorite Haunt of Thieves—Postmaster Made Discovery

Thieves made a return visit to the Dayton postoffice sometime Friday night, and appropriated an amount of money, a pad of money order blanks and several sheets of stamps to themselves. The robbery was committed sometime between 8 o’clock Friday evening and 6 o’clock Saturday morning.

Postmaster Brown, who operates a general store in connection with the postoffice, went to the place yesterday morning, but soon discovered that it did not require much effort to open the building. Some one had been there before him and had pried the spring lock off the front door.

The postmaster has given up the use of a safe, following long years of experience with numerous burglars. He always left the safe open at night, and kept the valuables in a strong metal box, which he enclosed in a sheet iron mail box. Each box had a separate lock and in that way there was no need of a night prowler smashing a perfectly good steel safe.

Postmaster Brown, who is the father of Wells and Frank Brown, the founders of the Brown cafe in this city, keeps his stamps, money order blanks and money in the strong box, but the looters made their getaway with the miniature safe after prying open the mailbox.

Mr. Brown claims that twelve dollars in cash were stolen and two sheets of two-cent stamps and thrity [sic] 25-cent stamps were also taken. Besides these, the robbers took a pad of one hundred money order blanks.

A warning is issued to the public not to accept money orders from strangers, without carefully examining the numbers. The numbers of the orders stolen from the Dayton postoffice were 2,109 to 3,200, inclusive.

The Dayton postoffice has been burglarized several times in the past few years and the village is now considered a mecca for light-handed men. Sheriff Mischke was notified of the robbery immediately after its discovery by the postmaster, and, together with Deputies William Mishke and Joe Hitter, went to Dayton to investigate the matter. No clew was left by the burglars.¹

1. The Free Trader, September 4, 1914, p. 11, col. 1