The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-05-23

a. az standing offer which tn,
Too postoGice dep artm n
GSP makes for the capture o
anybody who ventures to pillage {
train that is carrying the mails.
Train robbing is the most distinc
lively American of all professions; il
is likewise the most perilous, ban
none One of the most recent exam
pies was the holding up of the over
land limited, bound from San Francis
co TO Chicago and points east II was
halted at midnight by a red lantern
placed in the middle Of the track three
miles west Of Omaha, and the mail
car was plundered seven pouches OF
registered letters and packages being
thrown out and rifed
The flying squadron" OF postofice
detectives, with headquarters at Oma-
ha, got after the robbers so quick that
the latter were actually unable to
make their escape from the city. AS
sisted by the corps Of professional
bandit hunters, under Chief w. p.
Canada, they captured every one {
the holdup men, to the number Of
five, within a Notwithstanding the
fact that the days of train robbng as
a safe and easy method of acquiring
wealth are past The government will
spend unlimited money to catch such
outlaws, and the railroads offer addi-
tional rewards for their seizure, alive
or dead. Pursuit Of them nearly al
ways winds up with a desperate fight,
and the shooting is to kill
Chief Canada has under him eight
men, all Of them dead shots with rifle
or pistol They travel in a special
car of extra length, half of which is
occupied by stalls for nine horses.
Arrangements are such that they can
be on their way to the scene of a
train robbery within thirty minutes
after news of it has been received.
Arriving there with fresh horses. they
can telegraph for relay mounts as
they are needed-two of the men be-
ing expert operators, who can easily
climb a pole with a portable instru-
ment. They know how to follow a
trail that no ordinary person could
distinguish, and final escape for the
bandits is almost out of the question
Train robbers have grown much
bolder within recent years. Formerly
they piled their highly stimulating
vocation in remote and isolated parts |
of the country; nowadays they do not /
hesitate to operate in densely populat- T.
ed districts and near the largest cities. /
not long ago a train was held up near
Benicia, Cal, and the mail rided. A .
gang of nine men conducted the affair, .
and all of them were captured and .
sent to prison, five of them for life,
and the others for terms of fifteen
years to forty-ftve years.
Thus, the adoption of measures
sternly repressive, the postofice de-
partment is enabled to prevent the
robbing Of mail trains from becoming
more popular as a form Of industry
though on an average, half a dozen
instances Of such outlawry occur
every year But there is another kind
of criminal enterprise which has
shown tendency to increase alarm
ingly, and with which the authorities
find it difficult to deal. This is the
pillaging of postofices by professional
thieves-the extent Of the business
being indicated by the fact that dur
ing last year nearly 1000 postofIices
were "burgled."
This seems to be, under present CON
ditions, a fairly profitable species Of
crime. Postofices are easily entered
at night, and there is usually a safe
on the premises which. containing as
it does the stock of stamps and
sum Of money representing postal
funds, may be expected to yield any {
where from a few hundred to several
thousand dollars. Not long ago the I
DOstofIice at South Bend, Ind, was
and $1S,G53 in stamps and {
cash was taken During the same ]
.welvemonth the postoflice at Daytona,
Fla, yielded loot to the extent of
S5,436; and $5,24O was stolen from the I
oostoftce at Santa Cruz, Cal
The robbing Of postohlces is today {
wellorganized industry, conducted {
by tramp-thieves of desperate charac- !
.er who call themselves "yeggmen."
These yeggmen have practically super :
jeded the old-time safe blowers. For
nerly the blowing Of safes was done |
~ few shllful, expert mechanics, c
Who carried high-class tools and knew I
ust where to drill into the lock in ,
rider to break it, or where to insert {