Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-08-15
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MAIL ROBBERY EXTRAORDINARY

Chicago Mail Boxes Relieved of Their |
Contents for the Past Two Years, and
Over Million In Pace yalne Stolen |
Thousands of Letters Containing Checks, |
Drafts, Money Orders, Money. and other |
Vaiuabies Gobbled by the Thieves, and
Many Destroyed The Criminals.
CHICAGO, Aug. l5-Frederick Won Ober
kampf and Thomas Mack were held yester
day by United States Commissioner Hoyne,
the first named for examination and the sec
ond TO the federal grand jury. They are
charged with wholesale robbery of letter
boxes, extending over period of two years,
involving the theft of thousands Of letters,
including Enclosures Of drafts, checks, and
postotiice orders, aggregating an amount
known to exceed 81 ,0oO, 900, face value.
Won Oberkampt, the chief Oft 'nder, who
SAYS he is a member of noble German fam
lily, has been lodging for more than year at
30 North Market street, with Herman kngel,
and taking his meals with Mrs Christian
Dohrn, Mt | g Erie street. He came and
went At irregular hours, and said he was EN-
ployed As a translator and writer by The
Daily Stats Xeitung. Mrs. kugel observed
him time and again come into the house with
his pockets stuffed with letters, and once
upon entering his room Unexpectedly, saw
him burning bundles of them A short time
ago Won Oherkampf offered check for s.
to Mrs Duhrn in payment for his board. the
genuineness of which Mack certified to The
check was found To he genuine, but the in
dorsement was n forgery. Mrs Dohrn there
upon swore out warrant for Won Oher-
kampfs arrest.
This was THURSDAY last, and Friday night
about o'clock the Delinquent hoarIer was
arrested at the corner of Washington and
Market streets, where he was to meet by
appointment Miss kugel, IA sister Of Herman
kugrl The police searched Won Ober
kampf', room at the kugel residence and
found a trunk filled full Of letters, packed
neatly, and all torn open and addressed diff
ferently Col kldder, chief poStotiire in
>pector for this division, Was then notified
| Won Oberkampfs Old room at $50 Market
street, was also searched, where another
trunk full of mail matter was found Won
| Oberkampf was taken TO the East Chicago
avenue station
On Saturday and Sunday the prisoner
Stuhhornly refused to tell anything, hut
Monday be admitted in part his guilt, and
| directed the officers to room in the Metro
| politan hotel which he had recently occupied
| The officers searched the room and found a
valiSe filled with broken mail matter, and
bunch OF KEYS.
| Won Dherkampf said he had a confederate
named Mack, living at SlO5 Cottage Grove
| avenue The detectives went to the house
and krreSt9d Thomas J. Mack They also
found III one of the rooms a package OF open
ed letters and u bundle of stolen checks. Won
Oberkampf declares however, that Mack is
an innocent man. and he had in mind an
| other man. What was found with Mack, he
says, was left with him
All the captured mail matter was taken TO
| Col dder's office and there spread out in a
rtranga medley. There are stamps, writing
PADS, bits Of jewelry, piles of trust deeds,
| mortgages insurance policies, drafts, checks,
| for large and small amounts, money orders
| and promissory notes. The whole number of
| letters is roughly estimated at , SEQ A
| singular feature in the whole collection is
| that in every case the stamps have been torn
| off 1t would seem that an important mo-
| tive in the robbery was to get the stamps,
and the value of the stamps alone on the
| letters saved, and the probable number of
| those destroyed must have been considerable.
or course It is impossible TO estimate the
amount of money stolen by the thieves.
| There is not much sent in letters proportion,
ate TO the number sent, but in 50 large a
| O uantity Of mail the cash must have been a
good deal
The thieves probably had KEYS to the
| street boxes, or had a confederate in the
carriers force The locks to the hoxes,hav
been changed within the last SIX months. but
the steailnLs have teen going on Just the
same
Said Inspector Kidder to reporter in
handing him the list of checks, etc, found
in the room, OF the men That is incom-
pate We have only had time to overhaul
about half Of the stuff We have here on
the floor" as he pointed to the great stacks
of letters, many more checks, drafts, mort
cages, money orders insurance policies and
other brc-a-brac There is no doubt in my
mind that the gang of which these men arr
part huve stolen 10 the value of a million
dollars No one can tell how many they
have negotiated or destroyed What we
have here will probably almost reach a quar-
ter of a million dollars. All the stuff
We found is outbound mail from
Chicago The loss can not in
any way be rhsrgeahle to Ut connected
in any manner with the Chicago postofiice
The robbers captured this stuff before il
renChed the Chicago postoftfce 1t was nippeC
just after being dropped in the boxes. per
hapS before the ink dry Now | want
YOU to state that the owners will not gel
these checks, drafts and other papers until
after these men are tried They will theI
all be returned to the writers.
THAT the men have not been idle lately i,
evident from the fact that among the plum
der is one check payable to Sprague, War
ner q Co. for 81 000 dated Aug Q, the day
on which the warrant for Oberkamp's ar
rest was issued
The Herald publishes the list spoken o
: above, and it uumners in part forty ",
I checks for various sums; eighty-siK drafts
for sums ranging from - cents to $1,000
+ and sixteen money orders, calling fOr from
10 - TO $50
Type Writing Contest in Toronto.
TORONTO, Ont, Aug l. At the sevent
D annual convention of the Canadian Short
hand society Monday an interesting featur
t was a type writing contest, comprising Ell
/ tries from both Canada and the Unite
= States Among the contestants were Mis-
\ | Orr, Of New York F McGurren, of Sal
2 Lake. Miss McManns and Miss Grant, c
New York. and r. W. Osborne of Rochester
| Commercial correspondence and legal ev
dence were read to the operators, and fiv
minutes given to eacn Miss Orr, OF Ne'
u York, won the gold medal, and MIR McGul
. rem the silver medal Ont OF possible j, Bi
> points Miss Orr made 4 Ei5
Convention of Fire Ladies'
MINNEAPOLIs, Mimi, Aug. I5-Abou
l0J visiting firemen from all parts of tn
states convened here yesterday Chief Stet
son, Of the Minneapolis department, deliy
cred an address Of welcome, which was RI
: sponded to by Chief Joyner, of Atlanta
i Ga. The session will last several days SON
r OF the most noted fire chiefs in the countr
ara present
a CHICAGO BEATS THE GIANTS. z
Anson's Colts Put Up Winning Gnm