The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1901-10-25
KObBtRS' GREAT INGENUITY
ACCOMPLISHED BIGGEST POSTAGE
STAMP ROBBERY ON
RECORD.
DRILLED THROUGH STEEL FLOOR
N1NETY-SEVEN HOLES pcDEp
HALF Az INCH OF
STEEL.

chicago, Oct. 23.-Thieves entered the
a of the Chicago postoffice between
Saturday evening and yesterday morn
Ing and accomplished the biggest post
& stamp robbery on record. They Sc
cured $74,610 in stamps of various de-
nominations and escaped. Skill. in
genuity and wonderful endurance were
required to carry out successfully the
plans.
Two brick walls, each two feet thick,
were tunneled through, and a hole nine
teen inches square was made in the
bottom af the steel vault. The air I'M
der the building where the entrance
was made was sitting. Inspector Far
rell was overcome by the bad air yes
terday when making the first ~investi-
cation, and the wonder is that some of
the thieves did not succumb to the
doors and the hard work in SO close a
place..
Entrance was gained to the space un-
der the temporary structure on the
east side of the main building through
a small door. The men the took a di-
agonal path to the main brick wall and
lunneleu lhrOURh 1t.
This admitted them to the space under
the main building, with nothing be-
tween them and the vault foundation
but 300 feet of darkness. The path to
the vault was made in almost a
straight line, as shown by the trail in
the slime and dirt. When it was
reached the wall was broken through,
evidently with a pickaxe, and only the
steel floor remained to be broken
through. 1t was attacked with a drill
and ninety-seven holes bored through
half an nch of steel. A lever was used
and the piece encircled by the holes
pried out.
The stamps taken weighed more than
roc pounds, making the task of trans
porting them to the open air one of
hardship, when the necessity for haste
and the long, dark tunnel with it's fou
air are considered. 1t was accom-
plished, however, and all that was lost
en- route were five cent stamps found
beneath the vault yesterday morning.
Wagon tracks at the rear of the
building led up to the o. entered by
the men and it is thought that a wagon
was used
To Carry Away the Loot.
= When Fred Spaulding, chief clerk in
the wholesale stamp department. closed
the vault Saturday evening it contained
SIC. 06S worth of stamps. He discovered
the robbery yesterday morning about Z
o'clock when he opened the vault to
prepare for the days business. In
spector Stuart was notified in haste.
and all the inspectors, with a squad of
a. dozen detectives from the central sta
ton, were soon busy. The officers that
have examined the work of the robbers
say it was done most skillfully, and 1t
is believed hat both Saturday and
Sunday nights We're devoted to the ope-
ration.
Postmaster Coyne is technically liza
BILE for the whole amount of the booty
and may have to make it good. This,
however. is considered unlikely. Ordi-
narily, when the loss reaches more thar
s., 900, the limit at which the postmaster
general has the power to settle, the in
cumbent is relieved by a special act OF
congress where the loss occurs through
no fault of his. This, it is believed,
will be the course pursued in the pres
ent instance. The vaults, while large
enough. are flimsily built and meant
only for temporary use.