The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-03-19
BANDIT OvERpOWERS
POSTAL CLERKS; WORKS
AND RIFLES The MAIL
Bold Piece OF Thievlng on
Observation-Disclosures Treats
Capt.yes Kindly.

Spokane. Wash. March 1S.-A lone
~westbound Oriental Limited, the fast
transcontineE,ai train. at Bonner's
Ferry. Idaho. before daylight. bound
the two mail clerks and robbed the mail
and express cars. The robbery was not
discovered until the train reached Spo-
kane at $50 o'clock a. M, more thar
f1Ve hours after the bandit boarded the
train. Employees at the station opened
the car and found one Of the mail
clerks lying bound on the mail sacks.
The other clerk was locked In a closet.
The clerks aid the bandit held them
up, bound them and went through the
registered mail. He then said he would
work the u mail, and proceeded
to do so. AT all regular stops he threw
off the mail and took the outgoing,
sacks. though at some of the smaller
places where The train does not stop he
did not throw off the mail. He stayed
Oh the train for nearly i've hours,
jumping off at the Oregon Railroad and
Navigation junction, two miles east Of
Spokane.
The robber is described as being six
feet tall. He wore a red sweater and
overalls and had a three or four days
growth of beard.
As Inspector.
The bandit occurred admtttance un-
der the guise of a p%ostoffice Inspector,
giving he name of G. w. Bennett.
John Nystrun, one Of the postal clerks,
was on duty at that hour, while the
other clerk, Benjamin Stumpf. was
asleep under a table.
Is there any mail for me?" the
bandit inquired. There ought to be;
please look.
Nystrun complied with the request
and when he turned to inform the pre-
tended inspector that there was none
he locked into the muZzle of a revolver
After warning Nystrum not to make ar
outcry the bandit directed him to gel
into the closet and proceeded to rife
the mails.
In about four hours, Stumpf, who
had awakened when the bandit first
entered the car and had gone to sleer
again when Nystrun informed him
again awakened. Thinking it strange
that he had not been called Stumpf
looked toward the mail table and saw
he stranger sorting letters. AS the
clerk vas crawling from beneath the
table under which he had slept the
him to DC still. He then threw a jump
er over the clerks head, bound his
hands behind him and seated him in
the far end of the car.
When the train arrived at Spokane it
was discovered that six sacks of regis
tered mail bound for coast points had
been cut open and their contents rif1ed.
The sacks for Spokane We're not dis
urbe
III cutting open the mail sacks the
bandit slashed his han and much Of
the mail in the car was covered with
blood. 1t was from this blood stained
mail that q scent was obtained which
~bioodhounds followed as soon as the
robbery was discovered. The scent,
after being followed through several
Spokane blocks, was lost.
Treated Captives Well.
Stumpf II Nystrun tell a remark
able story of their experience. Locked
in the small closet hardly two feet
square, the latter almost tainted from
suffocation after the train had pulled
into Sand Point, thirty-four miles west
of Bonner's Ferry, and, rapping on the
door. pleaded with the robber to allow
him some fresh air. The bandit re-
sponded willingly, and leaving the door
ajar about an inch, secured it with a
piece of rope. Twice later on the way
to Spokane the robber ceased his work
of rifing the mails to sc to the door
Of the closet to inquire as to how Ny
strun was feeling.
When Stumpf demonstrated with his
captor that the cords which bound him
were cutting into his wrists the rob
Der generously loosened the letters and
made every effort to make 1t as COM
Portable as possible for his prisoners.