Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-06-20

IN TRUE WESTERN STYLE.
A Philadelphia Trolly Office Held Up
by Masked Robbers.

W MdShCu lluUUclSs
ALL THE MEN ABOUT THE PLACE
BOUND, GAGGED AND ROLLED
OUT OF THE OFFICE. WHILE
THE THIEVES BLEW OPEN THE
SAFE AND CARRIED AWAY
FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS,
TEE RECEIPTS OF A BIG DAYS
BUSINESS-THE WHOLE DETEC-
TIVE FORCE AT WORK ON THE
CASE.
PHILADELPHIA, June ia gang
of masked robbers, probably ten in
number, early this morning raided the
receiving office of the Fairmont Park
Transportation Company at Belmont,
in Fairmont Park, and after holding
UP the receiver and five other employees
of the railway, blew open the safe, Sc
curing $4,000, the company's receipts
for two days.
Frank Levan, receiver; Frank Wat
son and Henry B. Whitehouse, con-
ductors; James Cavanaugh, fireman of
the power house; Philip caves, cleo
trician, and William Cadmus laborer,
were bound hand and foot with wire.
In addition to the men who actually
committed the robbery, others operated
miles away from the scene by destroy
ing the telegraph and telephone wires
connecting with the trolley company's
main office. The Fairmont Transpor-
tation company operates various lines
of trolley cars through the. park for
pleasure riders. The traffic being I'M
usually heavy on Saturdays and Sum
days, the robbers evidently decided up
on this morning as being a good time
to make a big haul.
The men above mentioned were all
in the office when the burglars made
their appearance. Each intruder was
armed with two revolvers, and they
tOk the employees by surprise. 1t was
the work of few moments for the rob-
bers to pinion the workmen, who were
rolled over to one side of the room.
with their faces to the wall. After
two hours work the
SAFE HAD BEEN CRACKED
and the gang disappeared The entire
city detective force is on the case, but
the cracksmen reft no clue.
Frank Levan, the night receiver, one
of the men gagged and bound by the
robbers, told this story of his expert
ence:
While | was standing at the south
ern door of the office next to the
stalled car. I heard foot steps 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 I'D TO me at the desk
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 pic
ture cord and left me on the floor with
my face to the wall The electric
lights were burning brightly all the
while, and when | got in the conduc-
tors room | saw Whitehouse. was being
held up in the same way by other des-
peradoes, also with masks on, and be-
ing bound and gagged
When we were laid on the floor a
man was detailed to guard each of us.
In few minutes in came another vic
tim, whom | think was Watson, a con-
ductor, and he went through the same
thing. Then some more of the men
came in and were 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 con>
tanned about $4,000. The burglars
worked very quietly. They whispered
whenever they said anything 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. 1t only took them 10 minutes to
blow the safe. The works inside. how
ever, got tangled up and they worked
and hustled to open the door wider for
an hour and half.
The explosion of dynamite filled the
rooms with smoke that nearly choked
us. The tools they must have gotten
from the machine shop, as they started
to work at once when they had us
bound. The guards frequently threat
ened to shoot us if we made the least
cutlery or motion. | think they must
have had a wagon to take away the
cash, because it was largely made up
of dimes, nickels, quarters and half
dollars, which is very heavy ans not
easy TO get away with.
Shortly after the money was taken
the guards who were over us with
l..