St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-03
FOUR FENCES IN A FIX.
They Had Several Thousand Dollars
Worth of Postage Stamps to Sell
at Discount.
Finally They Found Purchaser Who
Gave Them and the "Swag" to
the Police.
The Stamps Recovered are the Pro.
ceeds of the Minneapolis POST
Office Robbery.
The Men Under Arrest Believed to
be the Agents OF the
Thieves.
The minneapolis Robbery.

Special to the Globe.
CHICAGO, Aug. 2.-The postofice in
spectors who have been investigating the
robbery of the Minneapolis postoffice, which
occurred July s, succeeded to-day in locat-
ing over 81, 900 of the stolen stamps in this
city and in capturing four men suspected Of
being implicated in the crime. Last week
Inspector George B. Kidder learned that
parties were offering to sell large quantities
of postage stamps at liberal discount
to prominent business firms in the
city. One attempt was made at one of the
departments in the city hail. another at
bank on La Sale street and another at a
mercantile house On Dearborn street, and
others at different places in the business
district. The parties did not have the
stamps with them on their first call at any
of these establishments, but
PROPOSED TO DELIVER THEM
if bargain was made. Saturday morning
two men called at the jewelry store of l.. E.
Crandall & Co., No. ia Wabash avenue.
and negotiated with the proprietor for the
sale OF s., 600 worth of stamps at 60 cents
on the dollar. Suspecting that the stamps
were stolen, Mr.. Crandall agreed to the
terms offered and told them to deliver the
property. They said they would do so the
same day. but in the afternoon they reap
peared with the statement that they were
unable to obtain possession of the stamps
that day, and would deliver them at 10
o'clock Monday morning. In the mean
time Mr.. Crandall notified Inspector Kid
der, and the latter made arrangements ia
bag the game. He procured the assistance
of Pinkerton's detective agency, and a
shadow was put upon the Wabash avenue
establishment, while the detectives
were detailed to watch other places
where the alleged stolen property
had been offered for sale. Inspector A. E.
Smith was detailed ia
IMPERsoNATE A CLERK,
of certain bank, and was to appear al
Crandall's with a certified check tor the
amount agreed upon. Shortly after 10
o'clock this morning two men in buggy
drove up in FROM of No. ia Wabash ave-
nue. and entered the store, carrying box.
They went upstairs and opened the box in
the presence of the proposed purchaser and
the two inspectors. and the work of count
ing the stamps began. This proceeding
was understood by the men to be for no
other purpose than to verify their
statement concerning the actual value of the
property. 1t was aScertained that there
were So, 900 in 2 cent stamps and 81. 800 in
1 cent stamps. all in full sheets. The rest
were in parts of sheets or in single pieces,
and consisted OF 4, 5, 10, Is and 80 cent
stamps and special delivery stamps. The
total face value was something over So, 600,
and the price asked for the total was
trifle over So, 400. AS soon as the stamps
were counted Mr.. Kidder
CALLED IN THE PINKERToN MAN
and told him to take charge of the tive
strangers. The latter were badly fright
ened and insisted they were innocent of
any crime and began to explain how they
happened to be in possession of the prop
erty. They were told that they would not
be placed under arrest at once if they would
go quietly with the detective to Pinkerton's
agency and submit to being kept in custody
there until further Investigations could bs
made. They agreed to this and upon their
arrival at the agency they told straight
story as to how they were trying to sell the
stamps for another man who had offered
them commission. That is, the man had
told them they could have the stamps for
So, 900 if they could secure purchaser for
them, and they calculated at least to make
$500 by the deal. They gave the name Of
the man who furnished the stamps, and he
was subsequently
FOUND AND TAKEN IN CHARGE.
But ne alSo5declared that another party
had given him the stamps to sell, and that
he knew nothing whatever about their his
tory. This led to a fourth arrest and this
captive declared that still another party
was the culpable one. The inspectors re-
fused tonight to disclose the names of any
of the parties in custody. Two of them are
said to be penitentiary birds. and one Of
them is prominent Chicago business man.
This latter parsonage was released on his
own recogniZance until tomorrow, but tho
others were held at the agency. The in
sp9ctors are undecided what course to pur-
sue in viewof the statements that,have been
made. They are inclind to think all of the
men are fences" but they do not believe
they have got any of the robbers. There
will be further Developments There is no
question that the stamps are portion Of
the property stolen from the Minneapolis
postoffice, as that is the only robbery within
the past five year or more where such a
quantity was taken. The Minneapolis
thieves got SIS, 900 in stamp, and portion
of the doodle is supposed to have been
sent to New York.