The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1913-07-12

an explosive. But the yeggmen prac
tice much simpler methods. Provided
with no apparatus except a bottle OF
nitroglycerine, coil of fuse and caps
they enter the postoffice through a
door or window, with the help of tools
stolen perhaps from a nearby black
smiths shop.
Meanwhile, two or three men are
stationed outside as pickets, to give
an alarm in case anybody approaches.
or to shoot il there is occasion. Com
mon bar soap is used to fill the joints
| OF the safe door and enough nitro
| glycerine is allowed to percolate in
behind this "tamping' to furnish the
requisite explosion. Then the fuse il
lighted. and, at safe diStance, results
are awaited. When the safe has been
| torn open, it's contents are hastily
1 thrown into a sack. All registered
and ordinary mail that happens to
be on the premises is rified and the
thieves make off. 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 it.
Such job is easy. nearly always
successful. and attended by compare
lively little risk. Even if a postoftice
robber is captured and convicted, the
maximum penalty under the law is
only five years in prison. A reward
of $500 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 a
gang Of yeggmen can easily rife the
postal safes in half a 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; it 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
nond. Va, where the postoffice was
some time between Saturday
evening and the following Monday
morning, the vault blown open, and
1925 in stamps and money stolen.
Two suspicious strangers left the city
With several trunks soon after the
and by clever work the gov
detectives traced these
runks through several cities to New
FORK. There they arrested Eddie Fay
md Richard Harris, notorious yexa