The Washington herald., 1917-04-06
NOTED TRAIN ROBBER
ESCAPES FROM GUARD
E. Grady Webb Was on Way to Serve
25-Year Prison Term.

The Postohice Department issued a
''communique" last night. merely an
nouncing that H. Grady webb. with six
or seven aliases. had escaped from u
Southern Railway train at Charlotte, N.
G., on Wednesday, while he was being
taken to Atlanta. Ca. to serve twenty
ffve-year sentence for train robbing.
That's about all the official statemen.
said except to point out that Grady's
crime consisted of holding up B. & o.
train No. i. near Central Station, W.
Va. on October 8, 1916. and robbing the
train OF ninety packages of unsigned ma
tional bank notes.
Only yesterday, 1t was believed that H.
Grady webb's career had had twenty
sentence to the penitentiary and 5usi
when the government was telling RI.
porters about the sentencing of Webb
and a companion, w. Eugene Diez. for
the robbery, 1t had to take back part or
the story and admit that Webb was at
large.
Nothing was said about how he broke
away from his guard.
Cut on Mail Car
The robbery of Baltimore and Ohio traia
No. 1. occurred near Central Station. ".
Va, in a mountainous region sparcely
settled. Two masked men crawled over
the tender of the engine after boarding
the train at the water tank and held
up the engineer, Grant Helms, and fire.
man, c. r. Knight and ordered tn.
train stopped in Rock Cut. not far
from Central Station, where rock walls
rise almost perpendicularly to heigh.
Of about sixty feet. The engine and
mail car were detached and run about
two miles west of Rock Cut by two Of
the robbers. A third robber. who ap-
peared on the scene at the, cut, escorted
the train crew and postal clerks back to
the train.
The robbers fled aftsr obtaining ninety
packages of unsigned National Bank bills
amounting to approximately 100000. and
opening the throttle of the engine. which,
with the mail car attached. ran wild un-
til the steam on the engine gave out. The
engineer located his engine in good shape.
indicating that the robbers were familiar
with locomotives.
Through the description OF the unsigned
bills 1t was possible to trace the robbers.
The first definite clue was obtained on
January IS. 1916, when a stenographer
employed by a machinery company at
San Antonio, Tex, presented one of the
bills for deposit in her postal savings
account, bearing the rubber stamped sig
natures OF the officers OF a Boonville
Ind, bank, for which it was issued
This bill with several others, was
traced back to a person known as John
Harrison, 1914 South Press street. San
Antonio, Tex. who later proved to be
Charles Jefferson cJeff'D Harrison. He
was arrested and a search OF his resi-
dence revealed a robbers outfit and rub
Der stamps Of the bank officials. while a
number of the bank bills were found on
his person.
Rounding Up Robbers.
W. Eugene Diez, the third man in the
robbery, was arrested at Denver. Colo.
Some Of the bills were found on his per-
son and later he confessed to the robbery
and led the inspectors to a lonely spot
on the mountainside near his home at
Hot Springs. Ark, where nearly $4,000
was dug from the rocks.
H. Grady Webb. the ringleader and
brains Of the gang, was apprehended
January 16, 1917, when he enrolled as a
student in the Eclectic Medical Univer-
sity. Kansas City. Mo-, under the name
Of Wallace White. Some OF the bills
from the West Virginia robbery were
found on his person.
The cases of W. Carl Bentz, Charles
N. Harrison, and others not yet tried,
will soon be concluded.
This gang has terrorized the South and
Southwest for years in their hold-up and
robbery OF trains.