The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-10-21
NUMBER Io42.
RO BBBRY OF A POS4OFFICB
Thieves Tunnel Into Il Temporary
Building at Chicago.

S:rmpS to the Value Of Nearly SD
OO2 Securcd-OmciaIS Thus Far
Unable to Obtain any Trace of the
MSn Who Carried Out Daring Plot.
CHICAGO, oct 21.-Robbery Of the Chi
case p7stofcc by almost exactly the
same means which was used in the recent
gold robbery at san Francisco was dis
covered today, and the loss to the Gov
errment Is nearly $500
A secret tunnel was found under the
temporary postodice building al Michi-
gan Avenue and washington Street
Through it the robbers gained access to
the vaults and stamps agrrcsatiug aboat
the amount mentioned were stolen. De
tCctives from the Central police station
and the Secret Service agent Of the Pos
tai Department are following every clue
thus far presented to discover the rob
B,rs.
The city is films in the lake front park
nj this point ard the work Of digging a
tunnel and the earth excavated would
easily pass unnoticed.
Entrance 10 the vault and the extrac-
ti0n Of the stamps probably took place
during Sunday or last night when there
was the least occasion for opening the
doors at any time during the week
Opportunities for uudisturbed tunneiing
jnto the temporary postofice are good in
the locality OF the lake front. At night
there are few persons in the vicinity east
nj the building and work Of that kind
C0Ild be carried on in the darkness with
d. rFrsn T.F az
able that the work took weeks.
Further Investigations n mau- by the city
detectives and the postofIi,a officials show
that the robbers gained Al entrance to
the place from which they worked under
meath the p0stofice by breaking open a
little door I'm the board wall which sur
rounds the foundations Of the building
The postodico being temporary structure
Is on poles and there is a space Of three
feet between the floor Of the building and
the ground. After getting through the
trap door. the burglars Crawled forty feet
10 q 2-fOot brick wall that separated an
addition from the main structure. This
they broke through. They then crawled
nearly coo feet under the main floor Of
the postof5ce 10 point directly under
the brick foundations Of the various
vaults. BY mistake they chose the south
NeAA4A ND 'I .tlctAt NIl- MS contained lllt
wholesale supply Of stamps. II they had
taken the next vault TO the north they
would have secured S6O0OO0 in cash and
stamps.
First breaking through the two-foot
brick foundation. they bored section
out Of the thin pine floor and began ope-
rations on the bottom Of the vault This
IS constructed Of quarter-inch steel. In
Il they bored uinety-seven holes, none Of
them through until the whole job was
ready Then a few moments work with
the drill and hammer broke a section
nineteen inches square out Of the floor Of
the vault and access was easy.
They TOOK from the vaU'. enough 90
load good-sized wagon In the vehicle
they drove away. and bcyord Michigan
Avenue no trace Of them can be found
by tho police and p0stoGice officials at
work on the case. The amount OF stamps
was exactly sI7S62 worth Of l-cent
stamps. S3--S worth Of 2-cent stamps.
ana enough miscellaneous stamps TO
make q total Of s7tm0
No trace was left 10y the men other than
the work done on the walls aud floors. ex-
cept q dry cell electric battery used to
rupDly light in the work This was
fourd on the ground under the vault
There are also finger marks and numer-
Gus tracks in the mud. II is believed by
The officials that AZ least three men work
ed on the job.
II the absence Of the postmaster F z
COyne. the search is under the charge Of
Inspector j. G. Stuart. who has a force Of
six inspectors and twenty city detectives
At work. Every city in thu country has
been notified and an trains are being
watched Owing 10 the fact that the
stamps are nearly an OF low dcnomina-
tions Il win be extremely hard % catch
the robbers while disposiug Of their booty.
Inspector Stuart states he is certain the
robbers Weso men perfectly familiar with
the plan and construction Of the post
Office. There IS usually a sum Of money
approximating S25. Gf0 In the vault entered.
The Chief PoSt0f7ce inspector received
a despatch this afternoon from the in
Spect0r In charge OF the Chicago division
Informing him that during the night from
Saturday 20 Sunday unknown persons had
tuuncled the vault Of the Chicago tenn
porary postoflie@. bored hole in the iron
plates covering the foor Of the vault and
secured entrance thereto. and stole from
the vault stamps valued at nearly S1I GO
CROWN PRINCE EXPECTED.