Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-07-02
RA|LROADERS HELD
FOR CAR ROBBER|ES
Four Men Face Federal Hearing
Two Are Placed Under Bail
And One Goes Free.

when four employees of the Pcnnsvlvan'a
Railroad recently arrested rs the result of
Investigations OF mysterious freight ca
rohberics in the Edge Moor wards of the
railroad. were stood up for a hearing III the
t'nited States District Court room before
Magistrate Barnet Guckman. who is
acting commissioner in the absence of
United States commissioner Mahaticv.
The United States being at war and the
Federal Government operating the rail
roads of the country made the offcnse
with which the men were charged. an
offcnse against Uncle Sam. In the piping
tunes of peace the otfcnSe alleged would
have been one merely III contravcntion OF
State law and the State therefore would
have handled the case
The four prisoners were II Smith,
J. \. Oakley, X. A. Elliot and James
Horner At the conclusion of the hearings
llurner and Oakley were each held under
81 900 bail to await the action Of the Fed
cral Grand Jury Elliotts ease was con
tinucd until July @, on account of the
absence of government witnesses. and
Smith was discharged. the government
conceding that its evidence against him
was insufficient
The arrests were made by state de
tcctive Mccoy. Captain Ward. of the
Pcnns> WANNA police force and some 81 his
operatives after lengthy investigation
of thu, Edge Moor ward robbcrcs Two
other prisoners, arrested IN connection
with the roi,bcrics have not vet been
turned over To tho Fedc-nl authorities hy
the authorizes of the state,
smith was tho first az Tho, four arralgnod
before So,tirr Gluckm9n. and blended not
riiilty. / nited states District Attorney
Charles l. Curlcy represented the govern
rrnt and phiiin Garrett was counsel
for the defense
Thomas i Bradhcld an cmployc of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company here,
was the hr>t witness called by Mr. CurIcy
He showed VA wavhill tho shipment Smith
Was alleged to have tempered with was
= sh,pmcnt II socks from the Defiance
sock Mills m Charlc-town : G. ~ tho
L NJ Townsend COMPANY of New \ orn
and that tho goods we're IN Edge Niuor
ward in transit in | Mon Pacific car M
$50,
+ Frank Tyre. called next. sud hc MAS
a conductor III The employ Of the L r n
II wl- his tram that brought the car INTO
the ward ~ he night It was robbed lie
sand the ear was scaled when nc left il in
The ward Cross examined bv Mr. Garrett.
he testified that the way he know this WAS
because hc had no memorandum Of
broken seal IN tho book in which he kept
his tram records
r. NJ Ralph, a salesman for the con
signces. said that when the shipment was
received it was not orcnci by his company,
hut Immediately delivered to customer.
The customer soon complained that thn
box was short several pairs Of stockings,
but this evidence was objected % ty MI
Garrett and the objection was sustained.
He said his flrIn bought all the output ~
the Defiance Mills. and ne positively
identified the brand on the stockings sHId
tn be stolen ny smith as the brand al
ways put on his company stockings tie
could not say the stockings found ~
smiths house and submitted 10y VT
uTley as evidence. were The stockings
Sald 70 nave becn Stoien from INC par
tcuiar shipment IN question:
Nhen Nj. GaTrc't asked me case ~
dismissed. the Covrrnincrt "ncricd the
evidence was inSuthrirhi ana The raSe
wa cropped.
Whcn arraighed 'ahltN Also IH.9d'd
not gnhty the Spcr 'hc rharG' t'Hiug
larceny 81 merchandise from and
- l.. car Ne 43"3'
NtncSs ifradneid showed waNphI
covering Shipment q Shilta nom me
Niuctf-feahodv ON PanN roy, y r.,
10 NJ; AIKEN I'As''r merchant
william }. Newell 2 conductor testI- ca
thaf the car was sea ied when LETT IN ne
ward ny his crew John tiall, one OF the
patroimen OF the tdge Moor yard re-
memhcred that al OF The seals on The
cars % NeWeA train were examined ny
HIM that night and were @ N
Julian heut salesman for the Ciuctt
Peabody Company, was next called. He
identified the shirts introduced as evi-
dence OF brand sold by his finn
hen cross-cxamined. ne said he was N
the store OF the consl gnee soon after the
goods were received nd he saw the order
was short several shir Is. He also said the
brand OF shirts IN evidence was wldcl,
sold IN this section but he could not posi-
lively identify them as belonging TO the
Shipment received by Mr.. Aiken. The
SHIRTS were OF peculiar style and pattern
the company had only recently issued
and II was unlikely any OF them had been
sold IN ms territory
Mr.. Aiken next took the stand His
testimony showed the shirts before the
were Of the same peculiar
size and pattern a. those % his order
captain Ward said lac found { he shirts
IN Oakley nous with several other
Il. tIcies. j Is. SharpIess q checker for
the railroad company, sad he examined
the consignment after II was found
broken open. and some Of u on the car
floor. George h Met INNS q tlmekeeper
m the employ OF the railroad showed by
his records that he dcfenda;t worked n
the Edge Moor yards Is a brakeman on
the night OF he robbery