Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-19
Bold Work of Bandits In Fairmount
Park, Philadelphia.
TRANSPORTATION COMPANY VICTIM
Employees Bound With Wire While
the Safe is Cracked.
NO CLEW TO BANDITS


masked robbers. probably ten in number,
early this morning raided the receiving Of
flee of the Paramount Park Transportation
Company at Belmont, in Paramount Park
and after holding up the receiver and five
other employees of the railway, blew open
the safe, securing $1,000 the company's re-
ceipts for two days.
Frank Levan, receiver; Frank Watson
and Henry B. Whitehouse, conductors;
James Cavanaugh, fireman of the power
house; Philip Eaves, electrician, and WILL
lam Cadmus, laborer, ere bound hand and
foot with wire. In addition to the men who
actually committed the robbery, others
operated miles away from the scene by de-
stroying telegraph and telephone wires con-
Meeting with the trolley company's main
office.
The Paramount Park TRANSFORMATION Com
pany operates various lines of trolley cars
through the park for pleasure riders. The
traffic being unusually heavy on Saturdays
and Sundays the robbers evidently decided
upon this morning as being a good time
to make big haul.
Men Completely Surprised.
The en- named were all in the office
when the burglars made their appearance
Each intruder was armed with reyolvers
and they took the employees completely by
surprise. 1t was the work of a few mo-
ments for the robbers to pinon the work.
men, who were rolled over to one side of
the room. with their faces to the wall After
nearly two hours work, the safe was rified
OF its contents and the gang disappeared.
The entire city detective force is on the
case, but the cracksmen left no ciew.
Frank Levan, the night receiver one OF
the men gagged and bound by the robbers
told this story of his experience:
While l was standing at the southern
door of the office next to the stalled cars,
l heard footsteps in the rear. Turning,
l saw two men with masks on their faces
They had two big revolvers apiece in
their hands and came directly up to me
at the desk. l saw at once that it was
up with me- They told me not to move nor
cry out or they would Kill me. One fellow
who was of enormous size, stuck one of
his pistols against my ear. They took me
into the conductors room and tied my
hands and feet with wire picture cord and
laid me on the floor, with my face to the
wall. The electric lights were burning
brightly all the while, and when l got in
the conductors room L saw Whltehouse
was being held up in the same way by
other desperadoes, also with masks on,
and being bound and gagged.
Guarded by a RObber.
When we were laid on the floor a man
was detailed to guard each of US. In
few minutes in came another victim, who,
n, w
went through the same thing. Then some
more of the men came in and We're bound,
and by this time l thought there must be
twelve or fifteen desperadoes at work in
the car barn, and that they expected to
gather in the whole list of employees and
then crack the safe, which contained about
$4,000 The burglars worked very quietly.
They whispered whenever they said any
thing to any of their number They turned
our bodies away from the safe, so we could
not see them, and started to work on the
safe.
- ..They must have been accomplished
cracksrnen. for it only took them ten min
utes to blow the safe. The works inside,
however got tangled up, and they worked
and hustled 10 open the door WIDER lor an
hour and half.
THE explosion of dynamite filled the
rooms with vast lot of smoke and nearly
choked US. The tools they must nave eoi,
ten from the machine shop, as they started
10 work at once when they had US bound.
Threatened to Shoot.
9Th, guards put us in a most unpleasant
frame of mind, for they frequently threat
ened to shoot US if we made the least out
cry or motion. 1 think they must have had
a wagon to take away the cash. because it
was largely made up of dimes, nickels,
quarters. half dollars, which is very heavy
and not easy to get away with.
Shortly after the money was taken the
guards, who were over us with drawn pis-
tolls, left, telling US to be quiet or we would
be shot. After considerable tusseling, Phil
ip Eaves, the ectrician, who was one of
those bound, got himself unloosed, and he
then Embossed us. / tried to reach the city
hall by wire, but the wires on both tele-
phones had been cut, and L had to run in
the pitch dark cross country to thu Belmont
pumping station, where l gave the alarm,
and they telephoned in from there shortly
before o'clock to the city hall and in
formed the detectives"
Employees Suspected.
The car barn of the trolley company in
which the receivers office is located stands
in a deep ravine leading from Belmont
mansion, pleasure resort, to the Schuyl
kill river. The building is surrounded by
heavy timber land and its isolation rem
dered it perfectly adapted for the work OF
the robbers.
The opinion is expressed that some one in
the employ of the company was either
member of the gang or in COLLISION with
them. The robbers are believed to be local
crooks.
Nitro-glycerine was first tried on the safe
but that failing. 1t was drilled open with the
companys own tools.
Peter Duffert and Charles Smith, who say
they live in Newark, N. j., and Albert
Leeds of Philadelphia We're arrested in
Fairmount Park this afternoon on sus-
picion of being connected with the robbery.
They were sent to prison for further
hea ring in default of ball.
~