The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-04-07
|R0BBE8 De STAMPS
xEceNEN CRAcK TWO VAULTS
AND GET AWAY WITH
$4,000 WORTH.

with a cunning born of long ex-
perience IN crime, thieves last
aight or early this morning rob !
bed the vault in the office of
Cashier w. McKim Marriott at
ths Richmond postoffice of stamps
ESTIMATED to be worth at least
81, 900 and likewise walked OFF
Nth $160 in cash.
- For audacity the feat was al
most without parallel; for the ease
with which it was accomplished,
it was little short of marvellous,
and for magnitude, it stands first
in the post bellum robberies of
Virginia.
Nor did the thieves apparently
leave behind them any traces of
their identity. The work they did
was clean cut and trim-perhaps
artistic would be the better word
and it seems to have been &C
complished without any nervous
tension whatever on the part of
the offenders.
After the yeggmen had once
gained entrance to the room their
task was easy; in fact, so simple
that one almost smiles at the
facility with which the plumber
was landed.
A Chisel Did the Work.
A chisel screw did the business.
No dynamite was used to disturb
the dreams of neighboring Sleep
ers. The screw, which evidently
was used as pry, accomplished
all that was necessary.
First of all, the outer door Of
the vault, which encases a Mosler
safe of somewhat Anticipated type,
was drilled through, and its in
terror mechanism pried away.
Then the inner door was sub
jected to the same operations and
apparently yielded quite as read
lily.
This tells nearly the whole
story. After that skill was not
needed; only manual labor was
required-the manual labor neces.
STATED by the removal of boz
after box of stamps until the pile
probably reached five feet in
height and numbered over one
million 2-cent stamps.
In the first place, the room in
which the vault is located is about |
as public as anything, could well
be, and the robbers operated with
In less than fifteen feet of Frank /
lin Street. Moreover, they must |
shave entered the room in the full |
kheen of the electric light.
Under Lookout Gallery.
fAs if to add a touch of mock
cry to the business, the robbers
worked directly under the look
out" gallery in which Uncle Sans
inspectors are wont to conceal
themselves when they are spying
on suspected employees.
The north end of this gallery
a closed-up, bo&-like affair, some
what suggestive of a steamship
statef0Om-hangs almost directly
over then doors which so readily
responded ! to the steel of the
thieves. \--N
But this architectural arrange
ment didn't worry the yeggmen.
The only precaution they appear
to have taken was to shift sort
of bookcase obliquely in front of
the outer safe door, so that the
master workman might bore leis-
urely and without too much prom
inence in the public eye.
Postmaster Edgar Allan said
this morning that il had been
definitely ascertain that the rob-
berry involved $S6, 295. "a. OF this
sum $S5 ,O59.90 was represented
by stamps and 81 .235 "a by certi- n
fled checks and currency.
OF the stamps some 100000
worth arc represented by those
of the 2-cent denomination. The
rest, for the most part, are 1-cent
stamps, though the packages also
fnclAde those of ali higher de-
nominations, too. In fact, the
ye%gmen left behind only two Is
cent stamps and three scent
stamps.
= Their booty was packed in
ninety packages, which weighed
- seven and one-half pounds each.
s. AsaggagemaSter Selden, when he
nj the three trunks on the scale,
Ind that they weighed $50
ENDS, and as his early morn
kiig visitor displayed three Wash
ington tickets, he was entitled TO
ship 800 pounds. He was charged
excess rates on 3S5 pounds.
1t is estimated that the stamps |
taken, if pasted on a building sixty /
would suffice to plaster the whole |
|outer surface of the structure.