Name/Title
Brewers Retail Store and StaffEntry/Object ID
BrewersRetail2Description
BREWERS RETAIL
SAFE ROBBED OF $3,000 FOR SECOND TIME IN THREE MONTHS, 1952
"It is believed that the same thieves who robbed the Brewers' Retail Store on Wilson Street on earlier this year, appeared on the scene again and left some $3,000 richer. This time the pattern was quite similar to the last, except they were a little more bold and entered by the front door, As a result of the two robberies the store has lost over $4,000 within three months, to the day and probably to the hour. The break-in was discovered at approximately 8:15 am on Monday morning when store manager Fred Horan came to work and noticed that the lock on the "Out" door had been jimmied. Chief Carson Smith of the Perth Police answered the call. On investigation, it was discovered that the thieves had used a C.P.R. crow bar to pry the lock from the front door, and, after gaining entrance, they drilled a hole in the safe, inserted nitro-glycerine and blew the safe door by inserting wires into the near-by floor socket. The robbery was somewhat different to the previous, in that the safe was not moved from its location and dragged into the refrigerator and blown, but worked on and blown in its original location. The moving of the safe was hampered because after the last robbery the Store management had the safe bolted to the floor. The store had been checked Sunday afternoon by management and later by Chief Smith around 2:30 am Monday morning. As a result of this it has been ascertained that the robbery took place sometime between 2:30am and 7am. Neighbours in the vicinity heard loud noises about four in the morning but thinking that they were railroad torpedoes, did not take much heed of the manner. During the two robberies no beer was taken. At the first robbery there was $5.43 in change left and the second time, $5.08 in burnt black coins were left. Thus, there has been two successful "safe jobs" within the town of Perth, both at the Brewers' Retail Store, both on a Monday, both probably at the same time, both within a period of three months and both probably by the same thieves".
Pictured to the left is Store Manager, T. A. "Fred" Horan. Perth Brewers' Retail Store Staff, left to right; Walter Allan (stock handler), Lloyd Cunningham (truck driver, winner of the Ontario Safety League award for 7 consecutive years of safe driving), Gerald Latimer, seated, Ivan Penfold (records clerk).
NOTE: In the article, there was mention of "train torpedoes". A railway detonator (torpedo in North America) is a coin-sized device that is used to make a loud sound as a warning signal to train drivers. It is placed on the top of the rail, usually secured with two lead straps, one on each side. When the wheel of the train passes over, it explodes emitting a loud bang. Typical uses of detonators include:
A warning, caution or stop signal in dense fog, when signals are difficult to see.
A warning of a train stopped on the line ahead by an incident or accident-the train crew are usually responsible for placing the detonators
A warning of ongoing engineering works ahead
When a signaller or other railway employee requires to stop approaching trains in an emergency
To alert crews working on the rails if a silent, runaway train or train carriage is approaching