The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-22
BIG STAMP ROBBERY
oovERNMENT HEAVILY TOUCHED
IN CHICAGO.
s7461o OF STAMPS STOLEN
oopRERs SEEM TO HAVE HAD A
VERY EASY THING.


Wholesale Department and Then
waited Until Sunday When They
carried on Wagon Load of
stamps-The Robbery Not DiscOv-
orod Until Monday Morning and
There Is No Real Clue to the Burg
lars.
chicago. Oct. 21.-A sensational rob-
herv which netted the perpetrators
S74s1O in stamps, was discovered here
thie morning when the wholesale stamp
donsrtnent of the postoffice was OPP
ened for business.
rapid investigation developed the
fact that the burglars had crawled un-
der the flooring for about 300 feet, bored
. hole in the bottom of the vault, Sc
cured the stamps and escaped, carry
ing their booty in a wagon.
The work of forming an entrance to
tbe vault had evidently been going tor-
ward with the greatest patience Tor
many days. 1t is believed, however,
that the intention of the thieves had
hean to enter the cashiers vault, IN
which there was $35,000 in money and
etarns valued at hundreds OF thou
sands of dollars. The bottom OF the
vault is of steel, half an inch thick. In
chic OF holes were bored until space
1S inches square-just enough to aliow
4Sa entrance of a mans body-had
been so weakened that it was possible
N take out the whole plate with niue
difficulty. A dry goods box stooa over
the hole thus made, and concealeo 'iie
cork of the robbers while 1t was IN
oroerass When discovered to-day, the
anger marks of one of the burglars
we're still discernible on the dust OF the
hox which he had pushed to one sloe'
Didn't Dream of Robbers.
So carefully had the job been
Manned that men working in other
PARTS of the building had not tne
Slightest inkling of the daring ROBBERY
being worked almost under thelr noses
The robbers drove up to the south
east corner of the postof1ce bullolng IN
A. wagon, the tracks of when coulo DC
seen plainly to-day. The bulldlng Is
tenoporary affair, and the men had only
80 onen a little door to admit them
selves under the flooring. To reaeh the
q vault It was necessary to crawl about
n 90o feet over odds and ends OF boards
which Uttered the way. The route eyi-
IDENTIFY had been carefully studied, Tor
al a detective who went under to-day
g without knowledge of locations became
ii lost and was nearly overcome by the
81 fouI odors before assistance could
reach him.
Having secured their plunder, the
Il robbers loaded it into the wagon
4 drove across a vacant lot and turned
into Wabash avenue in front of the
art building. ..
712 were in postage due" stamps and
$1,000 in special delivery stamps. The
convertible stamps amounted to $751;
S2S, but of these $4S2S were Pan Amer
sican stamps Of and 10-cent denomina-
tons.
Had All Sunday to Work.
F. o. Spalding, chief of the whole
sale stamp department, discovered the
robbery when he opened the vault at
7:50 o'clock The safe had been lock-
ed, with it's contents, apparently Sc
cure, at 5 D. m. Saturday. Mr.. Spald-
ing notified Postoffice Inspector Stuart,
who hurried from his home and I'M
mediately began an investigation, as
sisted by his deputies and a squad of
detectives. After completing the search
Inspector Stuart said:
The Largest Ever Committed.
TT was the largest stamp robbery
ever committed in the history of the
postal service in this country. To
get to the vault the men dug through
the brick foundation wall and hum
dred feet or so further on they en-
countered another wall and this they
also dug through. On the way they
met with a number of pipes, and as the
noor is but two feet and in some places
three feet above the ground, they tun-
neleO ha mir
course is plainly marked in this way.
The wholesale stamp vault, like a CASH
Ter vault, and the money order vault
Is supported by brick wall. 1t forms
square, and, before the robbery, was
alrtght. In this the robbers broke
TWO holes, possibly to secure more air,
LOT the 2lace undoubtedly was very
loul, or to have an extra place of
eegress in the case of discovery. For
Hght they used dry batteries, one of
which they left behind. This battery
ana the wagon tracks, are the only
cues we have at present.
Robbers Worked for Hours.
The space under the vault is suff1-
Ciehtiy large for a man to stand up
Ilsht and their work must have been
coInparatively easy with the drills and
steei saws which they used. The
stamps were arranged in twenty pound
.,-NN~"s anu TIE Weight VI Tile lOdo
Ihey carried off must have been 500
pounds. Evidently one man handed the
pdcKages down to others waiting be-
ioW' AS their progress must have
Deen slow, carrying even one bundle
I'M through all those tunnels, crawling on
al Tours, l judge they worked for
on.
Apparently they felt perfectly Sc
e'e, though somewhat disappointed
a. a. missing the cashiers vault where
nere was $4,000 in cash and a great
Sudntty OF stamps. / cannot tell now
oW many men worked at the Job.
very effort will. of course, be made
~ ~ recover the property. and capture
'"g men who took it,"
ostmaster Frederick F. Coyne is in
Iva "oashington. He is responsible for the
80 unth an act of Congress frees him
polh IT, For amounts up to $1,000 the
gStnaster General has authority to
'eleVe postmasters.
ool the stamps stolen 1,776,000 were
s.it-eent and 1862. 900 were 2-cent
sS5alnps' The robbers got l50 81. SO7
ana lO5 IS stamps. but Inspector
hart said he thought they would
49, aifhculty IN disposlng OF the
'' ger denominations
-s-o-s
hnttery az boilers TxpIoded