Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1909-12-04
CONFESSEDTOCRlM
MAIL CLERK TELLS HOW MAIL
CAR WAS ROBBED.
Tom L. Gordon says G. D. Howell Was
Coached by Him in Mail-Car Holdup
-Robber got on car at Bonners Ferry,
Representing Himself to be an Inspec-
tor-Left Train at Spokane.

Branding Charles d. Howell, formerly
postmaster at Havre, Mont, as the dar-
ing bandit who, on March Is, 1908, in
the guise of postal inspector, held up
and robbed the mail car of the Great
Northern Oriental Limited at Boomers
Ferry, Idaho, Thomas l.. Gordon, rail
way mail clerk of E1013 Thirteenth av-
enue, Spokane, has made written con-
fession to United States officials and
Special Agent John S. Delaney of the
Great Northern secret service with head
quarters at Spokane.
Howell is now in the King county Jail
on a charge of being the Boomers Ferry
bandit and also of being the thug who,
on October 10, 1909, held up the Great
Northern express office in Seattle and
made away with $4,000 loot.
Starting with the slender clue Of the
mere mention of Gordon IS name in a
letter written by Mrs. Howell to her
husband in Seattle last September
Special Agent Delaney, with the as
sistance of Postoffice Inspector G. B.
Welter, attached to the Spokane Of
fee, worked the case up to the climax
which was reached when, according to
these officers, Gordon wrote down in
black and white that Howell was in
structed by him how to carry the role
of postoffice inspector, what clerks
were on the mailcar of the Oriental
Limited and where to look for those
pieces of mail which were likely to con
tain money. Howell, wrote Gordon
afterward admitted to the latter that
he perpetrated the Boomers Ferry hold
up and that it neeeted him almost moth
ing. His spectacular work gave him
about $26, according to United States
officers.
Begged to Keep Wife Ignorant.
Immediately after the confession
Gordon was arraigned before United
States Commissioner w. H. Hare anG
bound over to the federal grand jury
which convenes April 2. Bail was
fixed at $4,000. Gordon was ther
locked up in the county Jail, charged
with being an accessory after the fact
DuOIll1 OtlOIO luC olttl QOO4S ON UNI
behind him he begged the officers no
to let his wife know of his disgrace.
Since his incarceration at Seattl,
Howell has been identified positively by
four men as the Boomers Ferry ban
dit. These men are w. j. Nysteun anC
Benjamin r. Stumpf, mail clerks, wht
were on the car when it was held up
James Hoagland, formerly hotel MAJ
at Boomers Ferry, and John Peterson
a cook, who testified at Howell IS prelim
mary hearing in Seattle that on the da,
of the Boomers Ferry mail robbery hi
saw Howell pacing up and down the de
pot platform at Boomers Ferry carrying
the mail sack and postoffice inspector
bag, which he threw into the car jus
before he boarded it. Peterson testified
that he saw Howell throw these two ar
ticles into the mail car. The inspector
kit was stolen. With the mail sack tn
thief carried away scores of registered
mail.
The Robbery.
The holdup of the mail car at Bon
ners Ferry was one of the most spec
tacular robberies in the criminal an
nails of the northwest. The robber Of
boarding car assumed all the air an
authority of veteran postoffice inspec
tor. After exchanging a few word
with the clerks he covered them with
revolver. One he locked in a closet an
the other he bound with ropes to
table. He then calmly sat down and
lighting cigar, proceeded to ransac
the registered mail. He rode into Spc
kane thus occupied. He dropped off tn
car just after the train entered the cit