The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-11-22
DETECTIVE BRITTON'S STORY.

1.-THE Middletown postOffice rob-
berry," said Detective Britton, who was
formerly a pOstoffice inspector, 'arOus-
ed the authorities to feverish action.
A large force Of men was turned out
to run down the gang. They had done
work in a dozen places. From their
style of breaking safes and getting
; away every time without leaving a
single clue, 1t appeared that they were
in the first rank of crooks While
, was trying to run down one robbery,
would hear of another one almost un-
der my nose. This did not improve
my standing with the heads of the
department at Washington.
One great difficulty in postoffice
and bank robberies is that the thieves
get plumber that can be used without
arOusing suspicion. Money, of course,
goes everywhere. Thieves know
enough not to try and put bonds that
will be questioned into immediate cir
culation. I hunted high and low to
find place where the thieves might
have tried to dispose Of their booty;
to get, If possible, a description of
some Of them. l couldn't even find a
peg on which to hang theory. When
the affair at Middletown came off.
felt like jumping into a grave and tell
ing the sexton to get busy with the
shovel.
Il was within ten miles Of the place,
{ and heard Of the robbery early in the
morning after 1t had occurred l got
to Middletown as quickly as possible
There | found a startling state Of af
fairs. The thieves actually had been
seen at work in the Middletown bank
by the local police which consisted Of
three men. Still they permitted them
to get away.
The escape was made through the
cunning Of one Of the gang, who had
been posted as an outlook in front of
the bank 1t seemed that the police
had seen four strangers in the town
who acted suspiciously. One of them
,! was recognized by constable as a
woman, In spite Of her being dressed
in mems clothes, who had sold his
wife sewing machine.
1T was about II o'clock in the
evening. He notified the other con-
stables. and together they kept watch
on the gang. The constables had fol-
lowed them for time when they OBJ
served a man that seemed to be
| watching them. When the thieves got
into the bank, he entered with them.
Shortly after he emerged and in a
shadow of a tree kept up his vigil
The chief Of the constables after a
while approached the stranger who
seemed startled when spoken to- When
the constable said he was policeman
the stranger appeared delighted and
said he was just the person he had
been looking for.
THE stranger in very few words
explained that he was a secret service
agent. He said he had been on the
track Of the thieves who were in the
bank for week. He outlined a plan
which would certainly lead to their
capture and also the capture Of two
other thieves, who had just robbed
the postofice, which the constables at
that time had not heard of.
THE bogus secret service man and
the three constables watched the
thieves break open the safe door with
drag. saw them pack the money and
other valuables into sack, put out
the lights and leave. The stranger
kept the constables from making an
attack at that time by explaining that
he had three assistants waiting near
the spot where their wagon was wait
ing. BY going there the force would
be large enough to bag the whole
gang without trouble
when the thieves came out the
stranger did not follow them, but went
in another direction. He Quieted the
suspicion Of the constables by telling
them the thieves were going the
wrong way just to see if any one
would follow them. By hurrying they
would reach the wagon before the
thieves and could lie in ambush for