Four Dublin businesses were robbed on the evening of June 8, 1938. Working in the dark of night, the robbers bound three men after slugging one victim. They blew open the safe at the Dublin Bottling Works, taking $200 in cash, $4000 in warehouse cotton receipts and a $127 cashier’s check. These same men held up the Majestic Cafe and took $35 in cash. The door of the Hoffman company was forced open and an unknown amount of merchandise was loaded into an automobile. After that, the robbers broke into the Reid Motor Company and fled in a 1938 black sedan they stole there.
The first victim was John Ray, a 60 year-old watchman. Two men accosted Ray on the town square at 1:20 a.m. One man held him with a gun while the other bound and gagged him.
After forcing open the door of the bottling works, the men pulled Ray just inside the door. A third gun man stood guard over Ray while the safe was blasted. A photograph taken at the Dublin Bottling Works shows the door of the safe was blown off the hinges. Officers thought a fourth man was waiting nearby in an automobile. A 1933 model automobile was found abandoned one mile from Dublin on Highway 67. It may have been left by the men.
Ray said he was unable to describe the man who stood guard over him because the gunman did not stand in the light. The Bottling Works shared the original photograph with us. Both the safe and the cash register had signs that read “Dublin Bottling Works” on them.
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