Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1912-02-13
THEfTS CAUSE
BANKS WORK
Most Of Stolen Drafts, Aggregating
$4,000, Drawn on Des
Moines.
TWO HAVE ALREADY CONFESSED
Albert Custin Relates an Amazing
Tale Of Mysterious
So Robberies.

Council Bluffs, Feb. 12.-The
theft and destruction of checks ant
drafts aggregating $65,000 by the
men who are alleged to have stoler
pouch of mail from the platform
of the Milwaukee railroad station
here last Wednesday night, is going
to cause the banks of this city, De-
Moines and other towns an endless
amount Of trouble and possible loss
1t was stated today that one Of the
men implicated in the theft remark.
ed that he noticed most of the bank
paper was drawn upon Des Moines
banks and this is corroborated by
the Council Bluffs bankers who have
a force of clerks engaged in trying
to unravel the tangle into which
their business has been thrown by
the loss of this mail.
Albert 'Custin, the second mem
Der of the gang arrested to make q
confession, told an amazing tale and
made a sweeping explanation OF
mysterious thefts that have baff1ed
local secret service men and special
officers of the railroads and the post
Office department. He declared that
he witnessed George Pabst and AL
bert Kreutsinger burning the letters
and the mail pouch which had con-
tanned them. The detailed confes-
sion and statement engaged County
Attorney F. ]. Capell almost the en-
tire day and required several hours
work on the part of the stenograph-
er to take the story.
Custin was stubborn at first and
it was not until Cape1l told him he
had the confession Of Frank Pruitt
in which Custin and Pabst and
Kreutsinger were implicated, that
Custin could be induced to talk.
County Attorney Capell read to Gus
tin certain portions of Pruitt's state
ment. Custin held out as long as
he could then he cursed Pruitt, fol-
lowing with denials of portions of
Fruits statement and ending with
a complete confession of his part in
the mail pouch robbery. which is of
guilty knowledge only as thus far
revealed. a.as s1t8 Ak
well, it looks like you have the
goods on" said ,Custin to Capell af-
ter considerable time in thought.
"And / may as well take my medi-
cine. / suppose it means five years
for me and five years is long time,
but may as well tell you the whole
story"
Custin declared that on the night
of the mail pouch robbery he enter
ed the home of George Pabst from
a rear door, late at night. AS he
entered he was confronted with two
revolvers in the hands of Pabst and
Kreutsigner The guns were lower
ed as he entered and was recognized.
He saw the two men taking pack
ages of mail and thrust them into
a cook stove, which contained hot
fire. He watched them as they SHOW
ed package after package of valuable
mail into the stove, as if it were so
much waste paper. He says they told
him they had burned up about $685.
900 worth of checks and drafts,
mostly drawn on Des Moines banks.
They put the mail pouch into the
stove also.
Custin says in his confession that
he did some hard thinking during
the few moments which followed his
entry into the house of Pabst, and
he concluded that the freedom with
which the two men handled their
guns, when he made his appearance,
and the manner in which they were
treating Uncle Sans mail, that he
would be better off somewhere else.
So he left quietly, as he had enter
ed, and went to the home of John
Pruitt, arriving there shortly after
midnight.
Custin followed his recital of the
events at George Pabst's home with
confessions of numerous robberies
committed by the gang, of which he
had long been a member. These in
eluded box car thefts, including the
breaking of seals on the cars, and
detailed, as far as his memory per-
mitted, the innumerable articles
which were stolen by the gang.
Hunting Lost Men. Al
Victoria, B. c., Feb. 12.-The goYE
"