The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

The recent mysterious raids on the ma
tionaI strong boxes in the subtreasuries
at Chicago and St. Louis, from which
$4,000 and SIS, 90 respectively were looted.
are paralleled IN their battling aspects by
several Treasury robberies Of the past,
/ according to a detective in the Treasury
I Department.
In the ST Louis case. # viii be recalled.
a man was tried for the robbery. but ac-
quilted. and In the Chicago case the Of
fcisls are still as much in the air as
ever. Had the money been equipped with
wings and flown OF, the present where
abouts of the bundles Of 81 go and $500
bills could not De enwrapped in more
mystery.
1t is the belief OF some officials that
the thieves who got away with the bills
IN Chicago Will never be aDDrehended. II
( the government has a record Of the bills
they will be discovered. If otherwise. they
will go the way Of all bills. OF course,
every banking house in the country viii
be on the lookout for the bills, and II
( they are newly printed It is probable that
the Secret Service men may get on the
trail Of the hooters.
No Record of Numbers Kept.
II was in 1910 that a case Of Treasury
looting that bothered the government de-
/ tectives marked one Of the biggest raids
on a United States Treasury. 5 man
named HaIleck, employed in Washington.
temporarily got away with $500 in $50
bills. He worked with confederate, q
saloon keeper named Billy Ottmaun. At
lunch time Haneck. with the bundle OF
bills slowed away under his coat, went
TO the washroom Of the Treasury. There
he was met by Ottmann and the money
slipped" After lunch Halleck "discov-
ered' that the money was missing and
( a terrible hullabaloo was raised. The
bills stolen We're OF mixed issues and there
was no record Of their numbers
Treasurer Spinner was heart-broken
over the affair. For weeks the hue and
+ cry was kept Up, but with no results
HaIleck kept at his desk, and no one sus-
pected that the quiet little bald-headed
fellow Of humdTum habits was the dar-
ing lOOter OF the vaults. Then one Of
I those uHaccOuntable missteps that most
criminals make occurred. OtJmauu gave
worthless Facetrack hanger-On-a man
named 'Peg-Leg' BrOWn-Oue Of the $50
/ bills 10 change
The detectives got wind Of "Peg-Leg's"
sudden wealth and arrested him on gem
eral principles. Then he confessed. and
Ottmann and Halleck landed in the pen
itentiary.
During the civil war party OF visit
OTIS was being shown, as the guests Of q
/ Senator. through the Treasury building.
] One Of the party was a dapper young
man whose only striking characteristics
was his extraordinary politeness.
100000 in Notes Disappeared
/ He carried his hat under hi arm and
/ seemed to take a tremendous interest in
! everything. After the party left It was
/ discovered that a bundle Of $4,000 in
/ notes OF various denominations had dis
/ appeared. The dapper young man was
I traced 10 a clipper bound for England,
/ bat as she was by that time three days
out and there WAS 10 cable in those days,
. il was hopeless 20 attempt 10 catch him.
I What became Of the money was never
I learned. but visitors 10 the Treasury after
+ that were relieved Of their hats. How
/ he spent the money or who he was were
matters that were never learned. The
+ Senator whose party he had accom-
{ panied said he was a stranger TO him.
and all the members Of the sightseeing
I party said the same.