Demoine courier., 1855-07-12
Great Robbery in the Post Office by
q Nephew Of the Post Master.

plants have been MADE by The depart
ment at Washington TO the Pos, Office in
this city Of the abstraction Of large sums
of money at this point from letters re.
ceived for distribution from all quarters,
north, cas-, south and west. The robbe-
ries have no, been Of small bu. of large
sums Of money, in one case to the a.
mount of three thousand dollars which
had been forwarded from an Illinois Riy.
er town about :hree months since. The
amount OF money distracted altogether.
il is estimated will not fall far shor, of
between fifteen and twenty thousand
dollars.
Ii will be recolIected .ha, some months
since, through the agency of that indie.
fa,igab!e police officer, Allan Pinkerton,
Esq.,, a young man named Perry Den
nis.on. a nephew of the Post Master was
arrested on charge of abslrac,ing money
from the mails. He was held 10 bail in
the sum of 81 $500, which was procured
by lis brother, Theodore +. Dcnnis,on,
who made a pre.ence of going Gus. to
procure the sum from his relations, bu,
it is since thought, obtained j, here, hav-
ing probably stolen from lime to time,
more than sufficient 10 pay that sum-
Perry Dennlston has never appeared
since he was bailed out and probably
never will. Since the arrest and exam
nation Of Perry, the robberies have
rather increased than diminished and OF
late became SO frequent, and Of an ex-
tent SO alarming, that the Department a,
Washington sent on word here tina,
somtfhing must be done and that speed
lily. Accordingly Mr.. Pinkerton was di.
recled 10 make. investigation into the
affair, which he commenced by a general
surveillance OF ali the clerks in the Office
numbering some forty or fifty. After a
while his susp.cions rested upon Theo
dore +. DennistoD, brother of Perry, and
nephew of The Post Mas'er, who with
a salary OF only $500 per annum was
living in a very expensive style, frequent
ing Young America, houses Of i'll fame;
in fact. establishments of all kinos where
pleasure was to be purchased. For a.
bout two months, NJ. Pinkerton kept a
strict watch on his man, and for the past
two months he scarcely ever left him.
He followed him 10 all his haunts Gis
guised in various ways' He slept un.
der the beds in houses in which the
young man was staying. In fact he dog
ged him so closely that every action OF
his was laid open TO him. In a short
time he found tina, Dennis,on was en-
gagged in exchanging money at various
brokers Offices in the city. On Tuesday
last he exchanged $465 atMorford Bros,
$l95 at Huntington e. Cos; and other
sums al other Establishments, amounting
in all to $l,3l0, which was ,he extent Of
but one mornings plumber.
1t might here be ADDED, that Dennis
toms business in the Office was what is
called "piling,"t that is he piled The letters
for distribution as they were taken from
the bags, and a man who stood by him
distributed them to the bags destined for
various points. Chicago being a distrib-
u,ing Office. q vast amount of matter from
the Eas. and Yves. is resorted here, and
is taken from bags which are not open.
ed at any other point. For instance,
letters and packages from Galena, or any
other western point destined for the Easl
are put into bags at Galena, which are
not opened until they reach here. They
are redislributed here, and the bags for
various points in which they nre placed
are not opened again till they reach New
York or the points for which they are
destined. The Department al Washing
ton Of course was led to suspect. from
the fact that matter which had been
mailed at Galena and other places, and
distributed here. never reached its desti-
nation, that The depredaiions were com
mitted in this office, and directed Mr.
Pinkerlon to devote ais whole attention
to ferreting out the thief. The resu!'
was the arrest of Denniston after a very
taborious but inGefatigable investigation
Having received information that his
man intended 10 leave the city on Sun
day, Mr.. p. proceeded TO his boarding
house on Monroe street, on Saturday
morning. and arrested Denniston,. who
appeared greatly agita,ed. He took two
gold dollars from his vest pocket wher
arrested, and threw them away, proba
bly, under the impression that Mr.. p,
had ''spotted him" like he had his
brother, by marking a gold dollar and
placing it in a letter. Upon searching
his writing desk, sl0O in gold and s3s
in bills were fonnd. Six dollars wal
found in a wallet. Behind a picture o
the Virgin Mary in bis room, between
the wooden back and the picture. $l.4O:
in Eastern bills were found. Behind
picture OF an Indian warrior, concealed
in the same way, were $1,000 in East
ern bills. Behind a picture of High.
land Lovers" 5000 was found. In
daguerreotype of his mother, $500 wal
found, viz, six $50 bills. In al the
sum found amounted TO about $4,000.
A shor, time since the DeKnistons
who had came to the city very poor,
purchased a valuable farm for their father
and ii is thought have been investing the
fruits Of their robberies in other ways.
On Saturday, after arrest, Dennistor
owned up to the abstraction Of the money
to the Postmaster, and to VIM. J. Brown
Esq, the agent Of the Department. He
says he never s,opped to read the letters