Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1908-03-20
LONE HIGKWAYMAN
RIFLES MAIL CAR
DARING ROBBER ASSUMES ROLE
OF INSPECTOR ON THE GREAT
NORTHERN MAIL TRAIN.
Rides Over 100 Miles to Spokane,
Going Through Registered Mail
at His Leisure.

Spokane, Wash, March 16-As
Stunning all the airs and authority 0
a veteran postofice inspector, a dar
ing highwayman boarded the Grea
Northern westbound Oriental Lin
tied train just as it pulled out o
BOnner's Ferry, Idaho, early Sunday
morning, and holding the two mai
clerks at bay at the point of a re-
volver. locked one OF them in g
clothes closet and tied the other to a
chair with ropes, after which he
rode a distance of 100 miles into
Spokane, spending three hours and
40 minutes rifling registered mail,
loading and unloading mail sacks
along the route and putting cOmplac-
emily at cigar the while.
The lone robber dropped off the
train at a railroad crossing inside
the citw limits. carrying with him
It is believed, much valuable plumber
in satchel. Just how much he OBJ
tanned is not definitely known.
Mail Clerks Benjamin Stumpf and
John w. Nysteun, who were held at
the mercy of the robber, tell re-
markable 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, 81
miles west of Boomers Ferry, and
rapping on the door pleaded with the
robber to allow him some fresh air.
The bandid responded willingly and
leaving the door aiar about an inch,
secured it with piece of rope. Twice
later on the way into Spokane the
robber ceased his work of rifing the
mail sacks to go to the door of the
closet to inquire as to how Nysteun
was feeling.
When Stumpf demonstrated with
his captor that the cords which /
bound him were cutting his wrists,
the genteel robber generously loo3- |
ened the letters and made every eff /
fort to make things as comfortable /
as possible for his victims.
While ripping open the registered
sacks the pseudO-inspector cut one of
his fingers and many of the pieces of
mail were blood-stained. Blood
hounds were put on the trail of the
robber, taking the scent from one of
the bloody packages, and followed
trail several blocks through the resi-
dence district to a carline, where the
scent was lost. 1t is believed that
the highwayman boarded car and
rode downtown.
When the train reached Spokane,
John Nysteun, one of the postal :,
clerks, was found locked in the
clothes closet, where the robber had
put him, while Benjamin Stumpf, the =
other clerk, was helpless under the
able with a jumper drawn over his
read and his arms tightly bound. p
t was then that the story of the rob- b
very was first learned. p
The highwayman got $40 for his il
rouble. according to postofice in Il
pectors at Spokane. u
ADMIRAL Evans Praised by Secretary. >,
Washington-Se Secretary of the
,avy Metcalf has wired the following =,
elegram of congratulations to Rear :,
.dmiral Evans and his men:
1.-The navy department congratu- !,
ties you and your officers and men !,
{ the Atlantic fleet upon your ar
val at Magdalena bay in exact ac- G.
,rdance with the itinerary and also IT
pom the efficiency of the ships at
lie time of their arrival"
Secretary Metcalf has announced bl
at the department has decided to tn
nd the battleship fleet around the Wis
orld, thus undertaking the greatest IN
at in naval history. 20
The start westward will be made ap
ON San Francisco July 6. This TAI
,uld appear to indicate that the Al
ips will not go to Puget Sound. the
the
erry VIII Command Atlantic Fleet fa,,
Washington, March 1S.-Rear-Ad- T.
raj Charles S. Sperry will be COM N q
Inder-in-chief of the Atlantic bat 20.
ship feet when it leaves San Fran 60,
co in July to encircle the globe.
is important detail was decided on
President Roosevelt at his cabinet Ihe
terday. Rear Admiral Evans, at Fey
personal request, will be relieved ol
the command at the conclusion of Ag
big naval review at San Fran the
20, May s. We
hell
John II. Walsh Convicted. lion
lineage r. Walsh, former T
sidant OF the Chicaon National