Smyrna times., 1917-01-03
Tllg MAKE BOLD EFFORT
1RDB SMYRNA POSTOFFICE
~ PASSING OF HERMAN
'," W., ry AND FIRING OF SHOTS

..,... Neighborhood and Trio of
To'. ...,ngsrs Beat it Out of Town-In-
,Osctor Plummer on the Job
~. timely passing of Herm an
a,msley, lrI cOlored, who was on his way
! .'ms y, shortly after midnight Thursday
~. .st frustrated one of the most dar-
s .s.ttemus at robbery tried in Smyrna
Iong time. Three strange men,
..oo.ed professional yeggmen, with
'r .omuIete paraphenalia, had planned
snter the postoffice (the old one still
,,nnied on Commerce street, and blow
.,n the safe. While two of the
..onies were in the rear. one of them
.,o5 Cusrd at the entrance to the
.r.vrsv of the building between the
! r,lonial Hotel and Mrs. Longs Store.
\ vas while the "yeg" at the alley
90, IN the lookout that Hemsley came
|, "Halt, throw up your hands ]"
/ No veg called out to Hemsley and at
No same time pointing a revolver.
Hsnsev took no chance to obey these
5gemtory orders and wheeling around
made dash to get around Phillips
Garner on Main Street. By this time
4 hs other yegs came out and with the
nv "Kill Him!' "Kill Him." a
u int was fred. The bullet went wide
If its mark and Hemsley escaped.
Wstchman Broadway Close to Yeggs
At Shapley's corner at the time,
Night Watchman Joseph G. Broadway
vas returning down Main street Oh
Biz beat and would have been due al
the POstOfice probably before the rob
berry could have been pulled off. Hear
ing the shot he hastened his steps anC
not seeing Hemsley made a dasl
for the yeggs who by this time were
beating it up Commerce street and ou
d town. The sound of the pisto
lhots had started the dogs in tn
! neighbOrhood barking and aroused
I number of citizens. Some in tn
4 Colonial Hotel had not retired an
heard the commotion. Postmaster A
Lee Cummins. who lives on Mai
street, a considerable distance fror
the pOstofice, knew nothing about i
until the next morning when in goin
10 the rear of the building, he saw th
Kit of tools laying beside the res
door, The latter did not even sho'
scrstch. The yegg evidently ha
not even gotten to the point of usin
jimmy. Mr.. Cummins picked U
the kit and on learning of the shoe
ing the night before connected Il
story and at once intercepted Pos
OHce Inspector Plummer who was 1
The Dover railroad station ready
board train for Cheswold. M
Hummer was on the job at once al
soon discovered a deep set plan b.
been frustrated.
Tools and Drills Stolen From CIayt,
The blankets found at the postoff
oOOr were stolen from the Adams E
press office at Clayton and the toe
lfom the blacksmith shop of Howa
!. Shuster alsO at Clayton. Inspect
RUNNER was on the case all day d
'ne next day and learned that
Jeggs, whose description answers
ud offenders at the game, were at I
colonial Hotel, and had made inquir.
NaOlng up to their plans. At lie;
Vne OF them, stranger, was seen
'esugating the alleyway and rear
'ae POstoffce. Mr. Plummer has
such information and hopes to
Fen'nd the trio of yeggs before IL
pull OFT any more robberies in otl
1 parts Of the Peninsula. The warn
Has been sent to all offices in De
i ware and the Eastern Shore of Ma
nnd' At 5 o'clock Friday afternr
] %'ee men were seen walking al,
! I' road near Massey's, Md, and
suspected that they were the o
! "n0 attempted to rob the postof