The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1891-11-11
RUN DOWN AT LAST
Capture of a Clever Gang of
Letter-bOX Thieves.
THEY HAVE STOLEN 100000
Bankers swindled Out of Large Amounts
by RAISED" Checks

Number an Expert Penman- Hard
Work of tho Authorities in Ferreting
Out the Robbers.
NEW YORK, Nov 11.--After months
of diligent search aud patient watching
the PostofIice authorities have at last
succeeded in capturing one OF the boldest
gangs of mail robbers that has ever
operated in the cities of this country.
They have successfully pillaged mail
boxes Of their valuable contents for near
ly year in every prominent city of the
Union In this city they operated in
May last by breaking open several let
ter boxes and stealing their contents.
The prompt action of Postmaster Van
Colt, who had every box in the city
watched for several days, soon caused
the gang to abandon New York.
Harry Armstrong, alias ''Sheeney,"
who was caught here by Postoffice De-
partment Inspector j. e. Jacobs, is the
last of the gang to be captured. The
Others Of the gang are; Charles Hub
bard, alias "Charles Diamond, who is
the leader of the gang; T. G. Boalan,
| alias IT. Clayton, and j. X Stratton.
The latter three were caught a week
ago in Atlanta, Ga. Stratton and Hub
bard were then taken to St. Louis for
trial, and Boalan to Nashville, Tenn.
These four thieves have been operat-
ing since August, 1890, and have robbed
the mails Of more than 500, 000 The
| postoflice inspectors have checks for
amounts aggregating s25 600 which the
robbers stole and had cashed at banks
| all over the country. These checks were
l., Lat hpN-au in,
| Pittsburg, Chicago, st Louis, Indian
| apolis, Baltimore, Denver, San Fran
cisco, Louisville Cincinnati, Nashville,
| New Orleans Atlanta, st. Paul, Roch-
| ester, Syracuse, Kansas City and many
| other places
Post Office Inspectors J. E. Jacobs and
! r. Morrison, of this city; A. ". Sproes-
| ser, of Washington; Paul A. Williams,
! of St. Louis, and A r. Holmes, of Gin
! cinnati, who hunted down the gang,
| travelled thousands of miles to capture
the thieves. They followed the gang
from city to city for months and were
| led a merry chase
/ The members of the gang never
stopped more than a few days in one
city. They would open the letter boxes
! with false keys, abstract the letters and
take them to their lodgings. They
opened the letters by steaming. Those
that contained cash or checks were de-
| stroyed and those that had neither were
resealed and remailed.
The checks were altered where they
were payable ito order'' so as to re ad
"to bearer" and in many instances
were raised. The writing was re-
moved by means of acids. One of the
thieves was not only an expert penman,
| but also an artist. Where checks were
- .,
the acids. He had all kinds of crayon
pencils, and with these he first retinted
the checks and concealed the di scolora-
tion made by the acid before filling them
in again
AS soon as the thieves got their checks
cashed they always went to some city
/ remots from the scene of their last rob-
berry.
The members of the gang did not al
ways travel together. Sometimes Uhey
would separate and each thief would
"work" a town. They would then
come together again in one of t he large
cities.
The inspectors could have arrested
certain members of the gang sooner but
they wanted to get them all, and for
that reason they delayed the capture.
Gen e. G. Rathbone of Washington,
formerly Chief Postoffice Inspector, put
the inspectors on the case last February
The inspectors first visited the banks
that had been swindled and got a de-
scription of the men who presented the
checks for pay ment. The descriptions
varied greatly, showing that the thieves
were in the habit of Disgusting them
selves
Inspector Jacobs managed to get hold
of some correspondence between Hub
bard and Prentiss Tiller, who is serving
a five years. sentence at jackson, Mich,
for robbing the Iron Mountain Railroad
of SIG, 600.
The letters that Tiller wrote to Hub
bard showed he had formerly belonged
to the gang of letter box thieves. The
gang made their headquarters at
saloon kept by j. Carrero, in Louisville,
KY The inspectors followed Hubbard
about and after Il time got to know
other members of the gang by sight.
Three weeks ago the inspectors fol-
: lowed Hubbard, Boalan and Stratton to
I Denver The thieves went from there
to Dallas, Texas, A fair was in progress
and the Dallas police refused to allow
them to leave the train, as they sus-
pected them Of being crooks. They then
proceeded to New Orleans and from
there travelled TO Atlanta.
Folsune House In their room and on
their persons were found 60 letter box
keys, 10 mail pouch keys, three saws. IL
files, two boxes Of crayon pencils and
several bottles of acids. The thieves
were locked up in the Atlanta Jail, and
on the following day Inspector JAG obs
hud himself committed as a counter
! feiter He was put in cell between
Boalan and Stratton. He overheard
them calling out 10 each other that hey
, must swear that they were strangers to
I one another and also learned of the
/ whereabouts of Armstrong aud Of the
/. fact that Stratton had shipped satchel
i. to himself at Atlanta
This satchel was seized at Louisville.
1t was found to contain a full set OF
burglars tools, several gold watches and
q great lot Of jewelry. Inside the case
Of one of the watches was engraved
| HClarence o. Stedman "