Sunday morning globe., 1901-12-08


the express compauy's quarters at the
South Onion Station was oycrhau,ed in
search OF the missing red awhide trunk.
IL was not TO be found Word was telc-
phoued 60 the main city Office iu Franklin
/ street TO hunt for It there aud In every
] branch Office throughout the city.
Carrying the investigation still further
/ Nir Spencer found that this trunk had been
| waybilled Saturday afternoon IL had been
[ packed ln a certain express car
Ordinarily au express messenger goes in
every express car But the car containing
the Jewel trunk was so full that no express.
man was sent with 10. This would have en-.
abled the robbcr 20 carry On his operations
10 the car undisuurbed. although il would
have left him but little room The rigid
/ rule of The company was followed. how
ever of sealing the car rhi, was done by
cl8mping a round piece of lead over a wire
twisted around the car lock This DartiCu.
lar car had been filled and sealed iu provi.
deuce saturday night It had been attached
to the train leaving there at 90 Sunday
morning and due iu Boston at o. a. m
The man was called up who had received
the car and whose duty it was to- check up
the contents
When questioned about the cars seal he
said it had shown no signs Of being tam
uered with.
But where t- The red rawhidc trunk that
should have been boo tbat car' asked the
manager showing the way bin which de-
-erhed Mr. Martini baggage
U cannot account for it 7ir said the
clerk listed Sunday morning The entire
contents of chat ear for delivery and that
trunk Was among them
Here was the great mystery. and one 10
seems tElt can only DE explained hv the
trick already described
I,wa- at FIRST suggested that the trunk
might have been stolen from the car after
Do was uusealcd and opened when the
checking clerks back was turned and be-
fore he had time TO lis, it for delivery
This seems impossible. for the car had
been -idelracked and run up to the Adams
Express c0mpauy'5 own platform in the
rearof the South Union Station None but
the express compauys own employees are
allowed on that platform
The appearance of a stranger there ON
Sunday moluiug when the checking up of
the cars was being done would have attract
ed attention at once. Iu fact. au especially
strict watch was kept on account of the
local eNpressmeus strike at that time
Every emp.oye of the company was closely
questioned ou this point Not one had
seen any outsider that morning inside the
gates which bar out the public from the
platform
Even If a thief had managed TO get upon
the platform how could he have managed
to take away a Ioopound trunk without be.
ing detected iu the act
Yet the treasure trunk was Ola the way.
bill
Tt had surely left Providence Or at
least it had been trundlcd out ou the plat.
form and was intended Co go into that car
A careful investigation was also begun at
the Providence end. The tunk was traced
through every hand that it had passed
through
The driver who had issued a reccip, for
The odd looking red awhide trunk at Mr.
Martins Office remembered delivering it at
the express company Office at the provi
de1ea Union station
The man who took it from the wagon ra
called putting 10 Iu "a certain corner of the
freight r1om
The man who trucked 1t out ofthc freight
room am hour later called upon a traiuman
20 help him lift itup intothc express car
The traiumau also remembers the red trunk
he gave alift on 1t, as he says
The express messenger who had charge of
the car then listed this precious rusty red
trunk on the Boston waybill
So there Is no doubt the treasure box got
SO far ON It's way.
But how could it have been abstracted
from locked and sealed express car be-
tween Providence and Boston Only by
the presence Of concealed thief In that
car.
Every stage of It's progress seems TO be
accounted for-aud yet the trunk didn't
materialI1e" as the spu,ualists would
say.
This robbery was executed so adroiuy as
to recall the iuscruable operations of that
king of express thieves Oliver Curtis
Perry whom the police of the whole coun-
try tracked for years before they captured
and convicted him.
Chief William Watts of the Boston
police detective bureau and author of the
famous detective book our Rival. the
Rascal regards lhis as one of the clevercst
pieces of express robbery that has been
done for years.
Mt LeitH of Piukcr,ou's New England
agency and j. he said a few days ago.
ARE now following uu valuable clews Boo
Boston and other cities. We are looking
up the people who would De likely TO do
job of this SORT Besides this, we are keep
ing watch ou au fences and pawnshops
But not piece of jewelry answering TO the
description of that in the missing trunk has
yet come 20 hand
This trunk of iewelry may have been
spotted by some professional thief weeks
OF months ago. when Mr. Martin was on
some previous trip The fellow may have
laid a deep plot and taken that particular
time for putting his plan into operation
when the Adams Express company was
avcrworked, on account of the strike among
the local Boston expressmen.
"Of course. the trunk may have simply
gone astrly But if it was stolen we viii
surely catch the thief sooner or later"
Mr. George C. Lcith, New England man
agcr for piukertous National Detective
Agency has taken charge of the case Tor
the Jewellers Protective Union
"Of course we are working on the theory
that This trunk was stolen" he says. 'I
have a case in mind that occurred on Feb.
ruary s. 1894. that may prove to be almost
b.