Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-05-30

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train that is carrying the mails.
Train rohhing is the most distinc-
tiveb American Of all professions; it
Is likewise the most perilous, bar
none. One OF the most recent exam
pies was the holding up of the Over
land limited. bound from San Francis
co 70 Chicago and points east. 1t was
halted at midnight by 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 rified.
The flying squadron" of postoffice
detectives, with headquarters at Oma-
ha, got after the robbers so quick that
the latter we're 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 o
the holdup men, to the number OF
five, within notwithstanding the
fact that the days Of train robbing 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 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 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
train robbery within thirty minutes
after news of 1t 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 pole with 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
holder 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-
ed districts and near the largest cities.
not long ago a train was held up near
Benicia, Cal. and the mail riied. A
gang of nine men conducted the affair,
and all of them we're captured and
sent to prison, five of them for life,
and the others for terms of fifteen
years to forty-five years.
Thus, the adoption of measures
sternly repressive. the postoffice de-
partment is enabled to prevent the
robbing of mail trains from becoming
though on an average, half a dozen
instances of such outawry 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 1t difficult to deal This is the
pillaging of postofiices by professional
thieves-the extent of the business
being indicated by the fact that dur
ing last year nearly 1000 postoffices
were "burgled."
This seems to be, under present con-
ditions, fairly profitable species OF
crime. Postoffices are easily entered
at night, and there is usually safe
on the premises which, containing as
II does the stock of stamps and a
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
postoffice at South Bend, Ind. was
burglarized, and s1S,65S in stamps and
cash was taken. During the same
twelvemonth the postoffice at Daytona,
Fla, yielded loot to the extent of
$5,436; and $5,240 was stolen from the
postoffice at Santa Cruz. Cal.
The robbing of postoffices is To-Day
a weIl-organized industry, conducted
by tramp-thieves of desperate charge
ter who call themselves "yeggEen.
These yeggmen have practically super
seeded the old-time safe blowers. For
merly the blowing of safes was done
by a few skillful, expert mechanics.
who carried high-class tools and knew
just where to drill into the lock in
order to break It, or where to insert
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