The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-12-04
LACKAWANNA
OFFICE ROBBED
Thief Cody Appropriated $l98.
Seemed to Know all About
the Office Arrangement.
MISSED A PACKAGE OF SLIPS

MISSED A PACKAGE OF $1,H5
Directed an Inquirer to Restaurant
While at Work. Supposed to Have
Taken Freight Trainlto Morris Plains,
Followed with Special Engine but
Not Caught. Railroad Company
Loses Nothing.
Morristown is evidently not inyul-
nerable against the depredations Of
railroad robbers, as some thieves in
need of pocket-money ''got next to
themselves at noon on Tuesday and
did very clever turn at the Lacka-
wanna depot by depriying the ticket
agent of some of the earnings of the
road, Everything about the breaking
suggests the familiarity of the thieves
with this way of making living as
we'll as a great knowledge with the
habits of the local station agent. In
some respects the affair resembles the
modus operandi of the burglars who
took part in the recent breaks at
Bloomfield and Watsessing. Who did
the deed and how did the thief get off
4 furnish a Chinese puzzle that the rail-
road people have as yet been unable to
solve satisfactorily
According to the most reliable sour
ces. it appears that Station Agent
Thomas +. Flynn began to get hungry
about noon Tuesday and at 1903 locked
up the office and went across the street
TO lunch. He had been out only a few
minutes, when a stranger, about five
feet seven inches in height, dressed
4 not too we'll, StrOlled into the waitislg
room and walking carelessly up to the
door of tive ticket Office fumbled with
the lock m0rnent as if unlocking the
door, aud then disappeared from view
A minute or rbwo had passed @Flen a
gray bearded >stranger STEPPED up to
the window and asked where he
might get an oyster stew. The man
in the Office stopped his work and,
pointing Up the street. said, S'MOu will
get a first-class enc up the lime little
way" Gnd the passenger moved off
unsuspecUingly. Soon after this
Frank Peer, df Rockaway, who hap
pencd i'm during the foregoing conver-
satiom, ettsuallynoticed taan dressed
in q grayish suit come out of the
ticket Office and having reached the
platform. strolled off up the tracks.
Station Agent Flynn, ON returning
about seventeen minutes after the
noon hour, was surprised beyond meas
ure ito fFnd that the spring lock on the
door .gf the ticket Office had been
forced open with some sharp instru-
ment, presumably a jimmly, and that
the cash drawer had been rified of all
the portable money to the amount Of
$l9S. Scattered around the Office
floor were;anumber of checks, while
concealed under sheet of paper, the
railroad man was Overioyed to find a
bundle OF bills amounting to Sl,7g5
which tjhe robber had overlooked in
his haste "A pistol which Flynn was
accustomed to keep near the cash
drawer. however, was f0und to have
Disappeared
The police were Immediately nOti-
fed and Policeman Brennan was de-
tailed to follow upa freight train and
find out whether any suspicious char
acterS had boarded the train, which
must have pulled in soon after the
robbery wascOmmitted.
No clue Of any sort was discovered
however tial evening when a police
mans attention was drawn to poorly
dressed individual, having one coat
sleeve empty, who was in the act Of
boarding the 7 O'Clock freight. The
tramp was placed under arrest and
marched into the ticket office, where
| he was closely questioned as to his
whereabouts at the time the robbery
occurred. 1t was evident that the
man was somewhat under the influ-
ence of liquor, so that when he boast
! ingly declared that he himself was a
safe-blower of some reputation, the
officers thought but little of his claim
and let him get to work on the safe in
| the ticket Office. In less time than it
takes to tell it the spectators were
surprised to see the safe thrown open
to view, the combination not seeming
to bother the crook in the least.
The fellow was taken to Police
Headquarters and searched. 1t was
then discovered that the empty sleeve
was fake for the mans left arm was
bound tightly across his chest with a
surgical bandage which made him APP
pear more helpless than he really was.
Further examination disclosed the
fact that the man had wooden leg
below his knee. Letters in his pocket
showed that his name was Orrin
Langwith and that he had recently
been discharged from the prison at
Trenton and belonged in Paterson.
He was accordingly given four days on
the charge of being drunk and dis
orderly. Although the man claimed
to know something of the robbery, no
evidence has been found laying the
matter at his door.
Railroad detectives are still looking
for the robber as we'll as the spoils. AS
Station Agent Flynn is under bond he
will be liable for the amount of money
lost.
DIR. Hurlbut's Bible lass.
At the Sunday School Teachers
Bible Glass this evening, Dir. Hurlbut
l.. ~ 49,