Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-21

and looted will serve. Here 1t is in HAIR
own words: 81 was in Butler on April IL,
1892 at the Nixon Home Hotel lett
there with two defendants end Dowd
(who has since committed suicide) on the
evening of the 11th. We went by train to
Grove City, in Mercer county. Thomas
Hughes and went ON to Grove City; the
other two got off few miles this side:
Hughes and / walked back on the railroad
and met the other two about mile and =, 2
half out of town. We remained there TIL
night came on. We had laid our plans BE-
fore leaving Butler, and at midnight We
were in Grove City. RAYMOND and Dowd
procured tools for breaking into the post,
Office at q carriage shop. We waited
till q few lingering lights went OUT
then we went at the postofice. An attac. !,
on the door failing, window was forced
open, and the door opened from the INSIDE
/ watched at one corner OF the oulldlng'
and was called in when someone was dis.
covered to be sleeping or to have eiep'
| there. We all waited and watched while 9
gentleman passed along the street OUTSIDE
| the postoffice. Then Dowd drilled the safe,
put in cartridge and exploded it we
were outside when the explosion took place.
Dowd and Raymond got the safes content,
and put it in a satchel. We then walked
back to the railroad, and tried to operate q
handcar, but couldn't So we divided the
money: nv share was $S5 or SIS. The
stamps we didn't divide. Hughes went to
Butler, and we three followed the railroad
track till daylight, when we cut acros:
country toward Sandy Lake. We goi
breakfast at a farmhouse, and buggy te
take us to Sandy Lake, at Jackson Center.
Not Much Profit in the Business.
The other robberies were done in the
same general style. They would get into
ueiuhboring town in time to hire buggy in
which to drive to the postofice picked out.
Hall seems to have done the hiring OF the
conyeyapces and to have acted as general
manager of transportion for the company.
While his companions were "a-burgling'
he held the horses at safe distance. DE
usually had two hour wait while the post
office was being robbed. The Ridgeway
robbery netted them SIS apiece. Pleasant.
willie turned out a little money and some
stamps. Knox was a small producer, and
the Chicora Job resulted in $40 cash tor the
witness and his pals. To transact all thii
business between April IL and 25 kept the
burglars busy, and the discouraging fact
was made clear by Halls testimony that
the profits must have been all swallowed up
in railroad fares and carriage hire. They
were continually on the move, and they
never walked when they could ride.
A rather unusual feature of this patron
age of chaises is that the robbers paid for
the horses and buggies they used. For ex.
ample, the gang, after its first exploit,
hired horse and buggy from woman in
jackson Center for s. and then paid boy
81 to take it back when they reached Sandy
Lake. They also patronized good hotels,
for Hall swore to registering with some Of
his companions at such hotels as the Belle
vue in Oil City and the Mansion House in
Titusville. The cross-examination of Hall
may extract some more interesting details
of business-like burglary.
The United States Circuit Court will not
sit to-day, and the case goes over till $50
o'clock on Saturday morning.