Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-12-26
BOLD WORK.
The Cincinnati 2OstOlIlce Robbed--A
Daring and Ingenious Baid ON
The EOney.0rder Desk.
Five Hundred and Twenty five Dollars
Carried OF Under the Noses Of
Clerks and Customers.
rom the Cincinnati Enquirer.l

Clerks and Customers.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.i
One Of the most remarkable Tobberies,
| in the cOolness and daring, ever perl)e-
trated in Cur city, took place yesterday.
| The room in which mOuey-orders are
cashed in the p0st0flice building was the
! scene of operations. The time, between
half-past one and half-past two III the
afternoon, at which the loss was discOy
cred, it was crowded with people pre-
senting their orders for payment. Cne
gentleman, of some fifteen or eighteen
| in waiting, had presented ten or twelve
| orders at once, and Mr.. EastOn, the
cashier, who is an elderly man, had
gone as usual TO compare them with
| the books. In doing this he necessarily
turned his back TO his desk, which
is protected from the public by
one OF the iron screens OF
railing in use in most banks and count
| ing-rooms. As he came back he was
observed to grow pale and show other
signs of strong emotion. He eXcitedly
asked: " Has any body seen any One
| inside Of this counter?" No one an
swered, sud Mr. Esston resumed the
payment of orders, having evidently,
| ON recovering his presence Of mind, de-
| termined TO keep the cause of b s alarm
quiet. That his excitement was oCca-
stoned by the appearance of thiugsI OD
1 his desk was afterW ard developed ia the
manner which we shall briefly relate.
! Mr.. r. G. Shinkle, secretary OF the
I Pilots association, was Que of the men
waiting to get an order cashed, and lsC
Mr.. Easton replied affirmatiyely tC
/ the questions shOwered upon him as
| to whether he had lost anything would
| have told him then what he called al
! the Office to tell him afterw8rd. While
waiting his turn Mr.. Shinkle was sey
eral times annoyed by being heavily
showed against by a heavy-set, red-ftIced
man, with Burnside whiskeTs ami 3
plug hat, and noticed him twice putting
money in his pocket. He was about to
! tell the stranger thst he was not at the
right desk to buy an order, when his at
tention was attracted by something else.
| Mr.. Shinkle also noticed particularly,
when he turned to see who was showing
him, tall, smoOth-faced man, with s
dark overcoat and slOuch hat. Both
of these had left The room before Mr.
Easton had betrayed by his manner
that there was anything wrong.
LATER IN THE AFTERNOON
Mr.. Shinkle, in conversation with q
| friend, told what he had seen, and was
recommended to 60 to the pOstOffice and
| impart what information he had. Ac-
companied by the gentleman in cues
ton, he did so, aud found Mr.. EsstOn
closeted with Officer Jim White, and
! CONSERVATION generally reigning in the
| money-order department. Before the
! robbery two packages OF new treasury
notes, bills ranging from five to fifty
dollars, had been lying on the desk, pro
/ tected by the iron screen, and hildeD
| from covetous eyes by q heavy sheet OF
! Manila paper, which had been lying
against the grating on the inside. The
holes III the screen are not OVER an
inch and half in diameter, and yet il
was through them that the money was
| stolen. Detective White at once r.cOg-
nized the two men described by Mr.
| Shinkle as well-kaOWn operators, but
| thinks that they must have had Il as
sistance of third party in the robbery,
the naOdus Operdndi of which must
have been as follows: Two small aoles
were punched in the Manila paper
THEY have the appearance of having
! been done with a steel pen.-REP.
one near each end of the screen.
Through these the men watched the
10 Otions of the clerks inside, standing
back TO back so as to cOncea
their pal, while he distracted the
money. This was evidently done
with a wire or other instrument
manufactured for the purpose, or witt
! long piucers. The bands of the pack
ages were first broken, and then the
money pulled ont, three or four bills al
a time. The work was done will
wonderful GOODNESS and deliberatioIl, ant
all but one hundred and seventy-fiyt
dollars of the one thousand dollars wa.
obtained by the bold thieves. That thi:
would have gone also tad few minute.
more been given the expert Operators
there is not q doubt. Mr. EaStcn die
not announce his loss on discovering il
thinking that hushing up the nlattel
would facilitate the pursuit OF the
robbers and recovery Of the money
It was, however, common IUmnl
on the street during the nigh
that a bold and heavy robbery
had been committed at the custom.
house. Nevertheless. it was only by
special efforts that Enquirer reporter:
were able to Obtain the correct ard in.
teresting details for their readers. Thi:
/ is the second time that our pos office
has been robbed in almost q similar
way. Five years ago a successful raid
was made in nearly the same style, and
il is suspected that the same hands have
been engaged ia this affair. Certain il
/ is that the work was not dolle by
nOvices in crime. Although White
| thinks that he has "turned the eaidr on
| the men-that is, established the iden-
/ titv of the rogues In his own miud-up
| to the hour of writing he hes not sue
ceeded in finding them. Indeed it is
almost certain that they are ere Il is far
| from the city with their booty. Mr.. Shin
kle, we should say, in further explana-
nation of his not calling Immediate at
| tention to what he had noticed, did not
see anything suspicious in the action OF
| the men, till they left without pr esent-
| ing orders, one saying 10 the other, Gan
I right He would not have thought
even this queer except for Mr.. Easton's
question. The men were not gone a
second when the latter spoke, ami had
he confessed the truth. instead of going
on paying orders, and affecting that
nothing special was the matter, success
/ fdl chase might have been made,
although that is questionable, Fourth
street being so dsHsely crowded that,
once down the steps Of the custOmhOuss,
the thieves were duubtlsss soon lost IN
the crowd.