Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-02-08
ROBBERS IN CLOVER.
United States Mail Affords Great
Opportunity for Their
Talent.

Talent.
One-fourth of the money transmitted
about the United States is sent through
the mails What richer harvest could
the train robber want than this? It is
SO easy to rob a mail car when it seldom
carries more than two or three men, and
these are absolutely without any means
of defense. Their work of asserting and
throwing the mail is so arduous that they
have no time to think Of robbers, and
are never prepared for a visit from them.
The consequence is that every effort to
rob mail car is successful, and in many
cases the railway postal clerk is the suf-
ferer for his vain and foolish endeavOr to
protect himself and the property III his
charge. The train robberies have be-
come more frequent of late years, and
the reason therefor is that the despera-
does, who, by the way, have, increased
in number, have aScertained how much
money is actually sent through the mails
and how little trouble it is to contlscate
the contents of a mail car. In only one
or two cases have robbers been foiled in
their efforts to rob the mail car, for they
seldom find a postal clerk prepared for
them, and in nine cases out of ten not
a clerk in the car has a revolver on his
person.
1t is as easy to surprise postal clerk
in his car as the ordinary citizen in the
dead of night at his home. Clerks give
no thought to the dangers of their occu-
pations, and never think of train rob-
bers. Few Of them ever think of locking
the doors of their cars, and, even if
they did, they would be powerless to
ward off an attack from train robbers,
for knock at the door will secure adj
To
take them by surprise. The great won
der of the age, in view of the recent
great robberies of this nature in various
parts Of the country, is that the govern
ment has not made some systematic eff
fort to afford protection to it's mail,
whether it cares for the life of the pos
tai clerk or not.
AS it is today, no one knows when the
mail train leaves at night where the
mail will wind up, or what will become
of the men who have it in charge
When a postal clerk leaves his home for
run, there is no telling whether he
will return whole or fall a victim to the
unerring aim of some desperate along
the line.
Either the mail cars should be fur
nished with sufficient number of men,
whose duty it is to guard the contents Of
the pouches, or the cars themselves
should be so constructed as to be able
to resist the fiercest attack that might
be made upon them by train robbers.
Of late years the amount of money
sent by mail has increased to a remark
able extent. The desperate men around
the country have kept track of the trend
Of events, and they are all aware how
very easy it is to stop a train and con-
fscate the sacks of mail. All they have
to do is to stop the train, take out the
bags and rip them open when the train
has passed on, and if any resistance is
offered it invariably follows that the
clerks are the ones to fall 1t is great
wonder that the government has not
long ago taken some steps to remedy
this great evil, and yet there appears
to be no movement of any kind looking
to protection to the mail and postal
clerk, and the robberies occur with
charming regularity at different parts of
the country. There is not a railroad
in the United States which does not
pass through secluded portions of the
country, where such robberies become
easy, and the worst of it is the offend
ers are seldom caught and brought to
trial.
Not single train that traverses the
country today is without large sums of
bank notes forwarded through the mails.
Sometimes these sums go away up into
the lHousanuS, anu yet Inefe is not so
much as q good stout lock to guard the
treasure from the depredations of the des-
perado, who, armed with gun and a
mask, finds no difficulty in getting what
he wants. In the mail cars there is not
even safe in which these valuable pack
ages may be placed. The car is fitted
with only pouches or cupboards, and the
mail lies there open and unprotected. 1t
is the simplest matter in the world to
gain access to the car, and very easy
thing to pick up all the valuables lying
there in plain view.
forward every. day in the year from 81
to 100000 through the mails. Money
goes through the mails on every train
leaving those cities, and, in fact, every
other city in the country, going in all di-
rectiOnS.
The robbers throughout the country do
not modest the passenger coaches nearly
so much as they used to do. They sim.
ply place guards at the doors of the
coaches to prevent interference from pas
sengers and then proceed to deliberately
open the mail car and confscate the con-
tents. Let the postal clerk refuse to di-
vulge the whereabouts Of the valuables,
or offer a word in remonstrance, and he
is sent to kingdom come without being
given time enough to make peace with his
Maker. The position of postal clerk is
rapidly becoming a hazardous one, and
after a while it will be impossible to find
competent men for the work unless the
guards or protection is furnished, and ap-
parently there is no disposition on the
part Of the government to present rene
dy.
The government, in forwarding this
money of the people, does not seem to
care what becomes of it or what becomes
of the lives Of the men who are employed
to take care Of it. On the other hand, it
takes risks for banks and insurance com
panies by burdening the mails with large
sums of bank bills at so much per pound.
OUCH in hunting down n Criminals and ire re-
lentless when it comes to disposing of or
furnishing them will not deter the desper-
ate men, of whom there are so many
in the country today, from going right
on with this style of robbery, and after
awhile it will be difficult thing for any