The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-01
ROBBERS In TOWN
BUT THE POLICE WILL NOT EF-
Feet THEIR ARREST.
Chief Cone Says the Government is s
Dead Beat, and That the Wichita
Police Wont Turn Hand for
1.-THE Chief Has Griev-
ance and Speaks of 1t.
Mt. Hope was excited yesterday morn

Mt. Hope was excited yesterday morn
ing
! When the good people of the quiet town
arose from their slumbeis aud went
abroad to greet the beautiful morning
they heard only the heeting Interrogation,
did you hear of the robbery"
Some time during the night burglars
went into the postoffie of that village and
there crack ed the postofiice safe snd robbed
it. The contents were Sl4o IN cash and
some valuable documents belonging to the
Office and which are of no value TO any
body but the postmaster and the govern
ment. All the evidence goes to show that
the work was done long after midnight
and not long before day bre X. One man
heard the explosion of the safe and he
states that il was betweent Sand 4 O'Clock.
A great hue and cry was raised and
telegaams sent to this city at once Inform
ilg the officers of the robbery.
About the time the telegram arrived the
robbers also arrived. They are here
now and as safe from ar
rest. so far as the police
are concerned, as if the were hidden in the
rocks of the South sea islands. The fact
of the matter is there is polar coldness
existing between the miniOns of Governor
Lewelling and the minions of Uucle Sam.
The reason for this is that in police circles
Uncle Sam is regarded as the rankest kind
of dead beat. He does not treat the po-
lice right and every postoffice be has in
his realm may be robbed and the police
man on his beat would not lose minute
of sleep over it. The cause OF this exist
ing coolness and indfferedce on the part
of the police origin Ated in the case of the
postofiice at Hume, Missouri. last fall
hat postoffice was robbed and the thieves
fled but no one knew whittier. Oae
night the policemen of this city noticed
man Offering stamps for sale at John
Goodyear's and they watched him. When
he left Goodyear 5 they tracked him to an
old house on South Fourth ave. They made
a decent on the house and captured the
man, his two pals and nearly 5000 in
postage stamps. The robbers hired an at
torney to get them out on habeas corpus,
and to resist this Chief Cone had to hire
an attorney and pay SIS costs IN the pro-
bate court. After taking things easy a
Missouri officer came over and took the
robbers back with him. Their trial was
held in Kansas City, but in order to con-
vict them it was necessary to get the
evidence of the Wichita police. Chief
Cone went to Kansas City three times as
witness, and upon his evidence the rob-
bers were convicted and sent to the peni-
tentiary for ten years each. The govern
ment allowed Chief Cone mileage for one
trip, and that is all they would give him.
He had to bear the expenses of the two
other trips himself and the government
wouldn't allow him cent for the legal
fees and expenses incurred here to prevent
the prisoners from being turned loose
under habeas corpus proceedings. The
result was that instead of getting re-
ward for capturing the thieves. as he ex-
pected, he WAS out of pocket Sl7O. Rufe is
''agin the government" since that hour,
and promises never to lay hands on any
man that robs Uncle Sam, with one
and that is in case the Wichita
postoffice would be robbed.
That the men who robbed the Mount
Hope Office are in town there is not much
doubt, and if they are caught the sheriff
must do it.