The Ordway new era., 1913-05-16

an explosive. But the yeggmen prac-
tice much simpler methods. Provided
with no apparatus except bottle OF
nitroglycerine. a coil of fuse and caps.
they enter the postofiice through q
door or window. with the help OF tools
stolen perhaps from q nearby black
smiths shop. III
Meanwhile, two or three men are
stationed outside as pickets. to give
an alarm in case anybody approaches.
or to shoot II there Is occasion. Com
mon bar soap is used to fill the Joints
of the safe door and enough nitro
glycerine is allowed to psrcolate In
behind this "tamping' to furnish the
requisite explosion. Then the fuse is
lighted, and. at safe distance, results
are awaited. When the safe has been
torn open, its contents are hastily
thrown into a sack. All registered
and ordinary mail that happens to
be on the premises Ii rifled and the
thieves make OF. Should they be in
terrupted. they are always ready to
kill. and usually they escape. Now
and then they have pitched battles
with citizens. and the latter. being
unprepared. are apt to get the worst
of 1t. ss&
Such q job II easy. nearly always
successful. and attended by compare
lively little risk. Even II postofiice
robber is captured and convicted, the
maximum penalty under the law is
only five years In prison. A reward
OF 800 to 5000 is offered in cases of
the kind by the government. and dur
ing the last year 329 thieves OF this
class were arrested: but the business
Offers special attractions to criminals
of the sort here described, and SO goes
merrily on.
Recently there has been a new and
rather startling development of this
kind of. industry. The postoffice rob
bers have taken to 'practicing their
profession in automobiles. Upstate in
New York they are going from town
to town in motor cars (stolen, of
course). and pillaging postoffice after
postoffice, in some instances several
of them in night. In this way
gang of yeggmen can easily rifle the
postal safes in half dozen or more
towns between midnight and day
break, speeding away thereupOn to a
distance of 100 miles or more from
the scene of operations and scatter
ing. The car Is left behind; 1t is
easy to steal another one when they
want it.
The stamps stolen by the robbers
are easily disposed OF through a
fence" in some city, who converts
them into money by selling them at a
discount. 1t Is astonishing (say the
detectives of the postal service) how
few questions are asked, and how lit
tie 1t takes to satisfy business people
of the highest standing that it is prop
er to buy stamps which are at least
under suspicion Of having been stolen.
All stamps look alike. and are current
| everywhere at face value. They can
not be identified as stolen goods in
the hands Of either thief or receiver
One OF the most remarkable rob
berries occurred not long ago at Rich,
mond, Va, where the postoffice was
entered some time between Saturday
evening and the following Monday
morning, the vault blown open, and
$S6,295 in stamps and money stolen
Two suspicious strangers left the city
| with several trunks soon after the
burglary, and by clever work the gov
ernment detectives traced these
trunks through several cities to New
| York There they arrested Eddie Fay
! and Richard Harris. notorious yegg