Forty years at El Paso, 1858-1898; recollections of war, politics, adventure, events, narratives, sketches, etc., by W. W. Mills. Page: 33 of 163

MURDER AND ROBBERY OF GIDDINGS'
STORE (SHELDON BLOCK).
In 1859 the San Antonio Mail Company had its headquarters
on the lot where the Sheldon building now
stands. They had in the old adobe house as large a
stock of general merchandise as any El Paso merchant
now carries. The clerks who slept in the store were a
Mr. Atkins, familiarly known as "Ole Dad," and "Fred"

, a young German. One night Atkins was absent and
Fred was sleeping in the store alone.
The next morning a window in the south side of the
building was found to have been dug out of the wall
and poor Fred was lying dead in his bed with fourteen
knife wounds in his body. A large amount of money
had been taken from the store (there were no safes nor
banks here then) and quantities of valuable goods had
also been carried away. This was evidently the work
of robbers from the Mexican side of the river. No
trace of the robbers or money or goods was ever discovered.
After this murder Mr. Atkins declined to sleep in the
store alone. The writer was at that time clerking for
St. Vrain