Clinch Valley News, Jeffersonville, VA

December 19, 1902

MANY BURGLARIES

Tazewell and Russell Suffer Great Loss of Property.

For the past two months or more Safe blowers have been at work on stores in this county and much valuable property has been destroyed. Last Friday night Compton's store, four miles north east of Lebanon, was robbed and burned. Loss several hundred dollars. No insurance. Just a few days previous to the above robbery and burning the store- house of S. F. Combs & Son, on the headwaters of Weaver's creek, this county, was burned. Before this building caught fire the safe was blown open. The explosion tore out one whole side of tho building. loss $12,000. Insurance $6,000. On the 9th. of October burglars, supposed to be the same band that burned the above mentioned stores, set fire to the store of the Jenks Mercantile Co., of this town, resulting in the destructlon by fire to goods, buildings, etc., to the amount of $58,000. We trust the guilty parties will be captured, but at present no clue has been found us to their whereabouts. - Lebanon News.
About Oct. 1 burglars broke into the P. O. here, securing about $1000.00, and a week ago burglarized the store- house of the Graham Supply Co., and another store in that town. It all looks like the work of the same hands. No clues hove been obtained, and, so far as we know, no effort is being made to capture the theives. The counties of Tazewell and Russell should jointly raise a fund and put a sleuth on the truck of these nimble manipulators of dynamite and the "jimmy."