Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1903-10-28
che X. ana l..
EX p Il ESS
ROBB
By w. BERT FOSTER
Copyright, 1908, bD y. c. Mcclure

One of the most peculiar cases thai
ever came under my notice, said Cap
tain Sphinx, was the X. and L. express
robbery, which occurred when | wal
a member of the old steamboat squad
My work consisted mostly in investi
eating river piracies and keeping Q
sharp eye upon that small but exceed
ingly active fraternity of smugglers
who operate in New York harbcr.
The X and L. Express company had
an office on Long wharf, at the foot OF
Jones street, and, doing a foreign bust
ness only, as they did, their storage
rooms were on the wharf too.
The storage shed was two story
building of brick. The Office, which
adjoined it. was at the extreme end OF
the wharf. 1t was built of wood and
corrugated iron.
Craft were passing the end Of the
wharf all night long. There was fer
l
dock had its keeper, and the property
Of the company itself was watched by
an old and trusted Waterman. Be-
sides, the gates of the wharf were
locked at O'Clock in the evening, and
If lighter had left the place it would
have been spied by one of the police
patrol boats which ply up and down
the river all night long
Yet that shanty was broken into, and
out of it was removed safe weighing
a couple of tons and containing money
packets and valuables to an amount
that made the entire downtown police
department wake up with a decided
shock.
The X. and L. people were wild. and
well they might be- The chief took
hold of the matter himself, and l was
one of the men selected to go down to
the scene of the robbery with him.
And l tell you frankly l was sorry to
be put on the job, for as soon as l
heard the circumstances surrounding
this break it looked 70 me like blank
wall that would be mighty hard either
to climb over or dig through.
The first report we got was that the
two story office had been blown half to
pieces by the force of the charge of
dynamite which the robbers had used
to try to force the safe. And yet no
body along the water front had heard
the explosion.
That was bad enough for a begin
ming. And when we got to the wharf
we learned that, despite the wreck Of
the building, the burglars had evident
~ been unable to force the safe and
had finally carried it away with them.
The corner of the structure was torn
away, and as soon as the chief learned
that the safe in question had stood
right there where the floor was gaping
ana the walls blown out he declared it
to be his belief that the force Of the
charge used to open the safe had
blown the iron box clean through the
wall and that it was at the bottom of
the river. He was so sure of this that
pany's offices for a diver to so down
and poke about in the mud near the
dock.
1t was between Z and O'Clock in the
morning when we had first been in
formed of the mystery, so the job was
not many hours old. The company's
Waterman was already in custody and
was scared blue. 1t seemed that he
had been sitting up daytimes with his
sick child for the better part of week,
and he had just keeled over on this
night and slept like log in the stor-
age building-was sleeping, in fact,
when the lOngshOremen came TO work.
He swOre the robbery could not have
been committed before midnight. He
had made his regular rounds until aft
er that hour.
Then made the discovery by talk
ing to the first clerk who had arrived
on the scene that the door of the office
building had been locked the same as
usual, nor had there been a window
Therefore, added to the |
rest of the mystery, was the question, |
How had the robbers entered the office |
and mounted to the second floor, where |
the safe was kept? But the chief was
so confident that the safe really had |
not been stolen, only blown through |
the wall and had fallen into the water, |
that he would do nothing until he had |
heard the report of the diver.
But looked over the wreck again.
The force which had carried the safe
away must have been irresistible.
Chairs were smashed; one desk was
mass of wreckage picked up in
,orner piece of what supposed to be
part Of picture frame, for one side
# the stick was heavily gilded.
"Where's the rest Of the pictureT' l
lsked the head clerk, and l showed
lin the bit of gilded wood.
"Why, there wasn't a picture on the
WALL" he declared 81 don't know
where that came from"
Now. that was little thing. but it
vas too odd to be overlooked. set
ny mind at work upon that broken
iece of wood.
AS it was not a picture frame and
here had been nothing in the office
hat was gilded. | could not understand
ow it got there. AS | stood in the
wrecked room and looked through the
jagged hole in the wall which gave me
clear view Of the river my eyes
ested upon big vessel being towed In
D her dock.
Ii was clear day, and the sun flash
d from her brass work and trimmings
nd glittered upon her massive figure
cad. And the sight sent an illuminat-
lg ray into the fog of my mind.
The diver had arrived with truck
,ad Of paraphernala. but took trip
long the docks, going aboard each yes
Ell In the neighborhood and interview
I@ CNf% al