The evening world., 1891-05-06
5000 MEA on THE TRAIL. !
But the Letter-Bo1 Thieves
Elude Them all
Daring Robberies Which Bnffie POST
Once and Police Authorities.

Postmaster Van Co,i ssid iee morning thai
the auiAor.,ies had not seeeseded in capturing
the thief OF taievts Who have committed re-
Gently Ieriss Of excessive ROB peries OF United
states letter Doxes n tbs eify. tut ne would
not say that tasy han not discovered . clue
TIE entire pol!e. force OF / on men AMI IN
sq1al number Of letter carriers have teen
doins detective duty In Iooknz tor tas rob
bsrS. PROBABLY At no time in the history Of
the country has . uroasdOe; been parsued oy
such sn army and escaped deieetaou-
TAs u ne mos; amAI.nE part Of the sGair.
and no effort hss been spared By Isspscor
Byrues's men, Upied s;Aes Secret service
aren,s and the PosirAsss hlmssif to ran
down the criminal
Tae story the tssfts, which uEs pueisbed
txelRsiveiy In THE woEip tsis morning . ise
m1s. remarkable in ths msnosy Of the Post
I Oaee Autaoritis& not 20 much In the vaIue Of
IN Itt;ers stolen, Do, bseaase of tae sAin vita
vhIss tse letter boIes hIve teea rined and
the sarevdne-s VITA vsiea the perpetrators
have eseAped detee;ioe-
! Nigsuy boxes nave teen despoled Of their
corteata The tsieyes bad duplicate keys.
| and the fis were net noticed uaul numerous
complaints sbost msslnE letters we're re-
eeiyed- Taen an inquiry uLs instituted
| II vas found that . roX aAi been broken
/ open aot the lock earned on. tey to O,
tai. lock Vas no do1bi nAnaflc,ared. aad -
/ oae key unioeks ali hrisr boxes ihe ihieyes
bad no din1e1liy In opening any box ,hsy
p,eAse+
The roboer1es and complaints Ahon! letter.
| vhIea did nos reaea tbsir Destination in.
/ creased Thea Poe; i Astsr Van Coti called OF
tEe police for sss.stAncs.
| He eoneluIei that the thieves not only pro
vIssd themselves with . ksy. bot vita letter.
| carers uniform Tsry knew exactly The
time when the collectors made ihetr rouads,
ami one Of iatm Tearhed the box he wanted tC
roo Just a cad o; the regular eol-te:Jr.
No one would suspect nGa IN gray unL
form viii tse rscui ton !sAiasr bag tmpsyIus
a letter soz o: b-isE ihlei, AHd IN ihs vAl
he ESCAPED s;:ennoa-
| general o-te- WAs is3ued 10 tue police u
watch IoT the cunning impersonAior Of one o.
Cnele Sans uea Of letters. and 10 be doaolJ
yigiInI Postmaster yAn Cot; rai hLs carriers
en- PATROL day. and aAi every box uaIeeed
Wien taIs .preeautioa vas taken the thefu
oeaset.
The Postmaster And Inspector Byrnes them
selves pairoilei the streets for two niEhts II
the "Ttnderioin PTeeIne;s where most o
the rooseTses oeearred, although the thIsve
did No, coz ene their operations 70 thAs dissriei
Detectives RsHly and von GeriehIsn and ~
seere, service sssnu were on dIiy in the sAa'
locality - the Inspeetor and Postmaster. Bu
the 1sa diInI drag intO tssir net
Po.tmAs;er Van C0tt and ot,sr Post-one'
ome.as ueTe no, Inclined 20 be eenmun,eatiy'
On the subiee, tAis morning. Tns former
the ouly oas uho voald talk ~ al and Ne sAid
! very little
.'li u best ~ 70 disenss the matter q
! prsssnt, he sati In answer 10 . qsesItoa
"Tnere have teen several rooosrles OF lstte
boxes and ve are rTylnG 70 catch sae IhieE
'.win yoa Stale how many ana vhsre III
rosoeries tooE placer"
'.Thtre we're aooat six OF eight lvo1l'
rAissr not n me the IoealI,y.s
"Yoa hays been doing detective dury yoaf
self.-
81 have been doing what / can vas n
modest reply. "Tae letIsr-earrIeFs have beei
dong Spee:al duty and assisting tie police. W,
have had every Letter box covered"
And e0uIdn'r get trace Of the thief'"
"IvonT say taaLss
| '.Tnen there AAs bS<n an ArresG-"
"So 70. yet.
Mr.. Van COT decIisei 10 commit himself O
diseass the subject farther.