The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-22

into Wabash avenue. in front OF the
art building.
Of the s74.61O in stamps taken, s4.7l2
were in postage due" stamps. AID
$3.50 in special delivery stamps. So The
convertible stamps amounted to So
SOS. but of these $4.S2S were Pan-Amer-
lean stamps of and 10-cent denOmina-
tions. q
F. c. spalding, chief clerk Of the
wholesale stamp department, diScOS-
cred the robbery when he opened the
vault at ESQ o'clock. The safe had
been locked, with its contents appar-
emily secure, at p m saturday Mr.
Spalding at once notified POstOffice In
spector Stuart. who hurried from mis-
home and at once began an investga-
ton, assisted by his deputies and a
squad of detectives from the city hall.
After completing the search the IN
spector said:
1T was the largest stamp robbery
ever done in the history of the postal
service in this country. To get to the
vault the mer entered through trap
door. \ few feet in they encountered
a brick wall, which they dug through
rather than prOwl around looking for a
clearer route. The wall. like others
under the bull ling, is of fiimsy con-
struction. and it could not have taken
them long to pick their way through il.
Traces of the Thieves.
"A hundred feet or so further on they
ran against another wall. and this also
they dug through. On the way they
also encountered a number of pipes,
and as the floors are but two feet
and in some places three feet above
the ground they tunneled under the
plpes. Their whole course is plainly
marked in this way.
The wholesale stamp vault, like the
cashiers vault and the money order
vault. is supported by a brick wall.
IL forms a square, and / DfOre the rob-
b-ry was alright. In this the rob
bers b-Cke two holes. possibly to Sc
cure more air. for the plj-ce undOubt-
edly was very foul, or to have an eX-
ira place OF egreSs in case of diScov-
cry. For light they used dry batter
les, one Of which they left behind.
This battery one of my men discov-
cred 1t and the wagon tracks are
the only clews we have at present.
The space under the vault is large
enough to allow man to stand up
righ and their work must have been
comparatively easy with the drills and
steel saws which they used. The
stamps We're arranged IN twenty
p u a bun1lss. and the weight of the
load they carried off must have been
door. a few feed in they encountered
the packages down to others waiting
below As their progress must have
been slow carrying even one bundle
through all those tunnels, crawling on
al IourS, Judge they worked Tor
hou $ getting their booty to the
Wag n.
Evidently they felt perfectly secure,
missing the cashiers vault. where
there was $4,000 in cash and a great
GU Mt ty Of stamps. / cannot tell now
how many men worked at the job.
Every effort will, of course, be made
to recover the property and capture
the men who took it,
Postmaster Frederick T. COyne is in
Washington. He is responsible for the
loss until an act of congress frees him
from it. For amounts up to s., 900 the
postmaster general has authority to
lie 1--we pOstmasters.
OF the stamps stolen LIS 600 were
1-cent and 1.662.900 2-cent stamps.
They got $50 81. 800 81 and los s.
stamps, but Inspector Stuart said they
would have difficulty in dispOsing OF
the .arger denominations.