The Failed Heist at Shaw’s Boarding House

About 8 o'clock Sunday morning, three men made a determined effort to break into the boarding house of T. W. Shaw, situated at Hatch's mill. At the hour named, a daughter of Mr. Shaw was awakened by somebody placing a plank against the window of the room in which she was sleeping. The room is situated in one corner of the house, overlooking the bay, and to get to the window, the men had to construct a kind of scaffolding out of the floating lumber. Upon hearing the noise, Miss Shaw apprised her father of the fact that someone was trying to break into the house. Mr. Shaw armed himself with a revolver and stationed himself at the window, ready to give the burglar his quietus as soon as he put his head in the window. But the burglar found it no easy task to effect an entrance, for no sooner had he reached the window than he slipped and fell into the bay. He repeated the attempt three times in succession, and then started off for the mill. In a few minutes he reappeared on the platform of the house with a longer plank. Mr. Shaw, in the meantime, followed into the front room, through the window of which he could see three men, one of whom was armed with a revolver or a bowie knife. They were discussing the feasibility of making a ladder and trying to get into the house through one of the upper windows. Mr. Shaw, thinking the time had come for action, aimed with his revolver at the man holding the plank and fired. The fellow was evidently struck, for he fell immediately, but before Mr. Shaw could get out, he recovered himself sufficiently to amble off toward his companions, who were beating a retreat toward the wharf. Upon examining the room yesterday morning, it was found that two auger holes had been bored through the floor from underneath the house. It is presumed that the holes were bored for the purpose of introducing chloroform into the room in order to make its inmates insensible. No clue has yet been obtained of the men. The object of the thieves was undoubtedly robbery, as the men had been paid off at the mill on Saturday night, and many were boarding at Shaw's.