The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-13
MOTOR HOLDUPS ALL
OYER METROPOLIS
CONTINUED from Eos, PAGE.

there.
AS the men in the rear room were
disposing of him Schmidt says he heard
others enter the store. Then on a signal
from these latter, and warning him
to keep quiet or be killed, the men
hurried from the store. AS soon as he
heard the front door close Schmidt
struggled free and ran into the street
yelling for the police. The men were
getting into big touring car across
Fulton street and Schmidt got a num-
Der which he has given to the police.
He says the men drove leisurly into
Grand avenue, followed It to Atlantic
avenue. and there turned east. Schmidt
says the car was Packard.
Schmidt told Detective Capt. John B.
Coughlin in charge of the Brooklyn
bureau and Detective John McKirdy
OF the Grand avenue station that he
had~fost $1,000 in bonds and 81 900 In
cash. Later he told reporters that he
had lost $4,000 in cash and So, 900 in
bonds The bonds were in denomina-
tons OF $50 and 500. he said. and were
not registered. The cash was in ones,
fives, tens, twenties and fifties.
One of the men who tied up Schmidt
wore a straw hat and the other a dark
soft hat Both wore dark clothes. The
red headed man had been drinking
heavily and was violent In his language,
threatening several times to blow
Schmidt to hell If he did not do as
ordered.
In many respects the description of
| the Brooklyn robbers comedies closely
with that available for the robbers in
! Manhattan.
Districts Poorly Patro1ied.
All of the neighborhoods in which the
holdups of yesterday morning were per-
petrated were sparsely patrolled. 1t is
said that the number Of men attending
the police campfres at Sheepshead Bay
has resulted In a necessary reduction of
the number of men on post.
According to the accounts of the VIC
Tins there were six and possibly seven
men in the party. Only three or them
entered the hotel Hobbies as a rule. All
were young, Broadway types, dressed in
dark clothes with caps pulled over their
eyes. All of them appeared to have
been drinking last night, but there is
every evidence that the crimes had been
planned carefully.
Both at the st. Paul Hotel and at the
/ Holland Apartments within the last few
days persons have been observed about
the doors at night. They disappeared
when efforts were made to learn their
business. Within the last week a man
q
lobby Of the Hotel Richmond, where an
attempt at holdup was foried last night
by the refusal of the clerk to open the
door, This man stood behind a pillar
and looked the situation over. When
the night clerk left his books the man
quickly disappeared into the street
1t wasepartly this recollection that
kept II. j. Gorgas, the night clerk from
opening the door yesterday morning. He
k.fs fH.N h.
| mond was made simultaneously with
that at the Holland, next door, for when
he did open the door, Immediately after
the men had moved away. he saw
| man standing In the doorway of the
Holland who motioned him to keep
away. He went back into the Richmond
to get assistance, realizing that the
trouble had landed next door. When he
again went into the street with his night
porter at his heels he saw the men
bundling into a car and saw Gerald
Croney, the night clerk of the Holland,
| running into the street.
Holland Night Clerk Battered.
Croney was the only one of the men
held up yesterday morning who put up
| a fight. AS a result he had a badly
| battered nose. where one OF the bandits
struck him with the butt OF his re-
/ volver.
81 was sitting reading a paper" said
! Croney in describing his experiences to
reporter for THE SUN last night, and
pointing to the desk and chair at the
| end of the small, narrow hallway of the
| apartment. 81 heard a big car draw
| up in front and saw three men come in.
| When I looked up from the paper they
| were in front of me and three guns
were pointing at me.
1 i.
| of the men asked and I told him that
We had no money in this office and no
| money for guys like them anyway. They
| kept me covered with their guns while
| they ransacked the desk. Then ~ofie of
| them started for me and as he came
| grabbed him and threw him over a filing
| cabinet. I had him bent back there and
was just hauling off to land him a good
| one in the wind when one of the others,
| calling me a name, hit me in the face
| and on the shoulder with his gun. /
let go and they went through my pock-
cts. taking S62 of my own money. Then
| they backed TOWARD the door with the
| guns still or me. AS soon as they got
out I ran after them and tried to see
! the number on their car, but they had
| either. taken it off or covered 1t. for
| couldn't see it,
! Croney. who is a husky Scotch boy,
| WAS lne HeTO VI BueSlS the nOIei
last night. Pretty girls stood around
and listened with awe while he told the
| story of the encounter. The guests have
| started a movement to repay him the
money he lost. Croney does not believe
he could identify the men, as their hats
| covered their hair and the upper part
of their features. He says they were
all huskies.
| The police are relying for identifica-
| ton of the men upon David L. Garb, a
| Boston attorney, who was a guest of
| the St Paul Hotel and a victim OF the
robbers as he sat in the lobby. Garb,
| according TO his own account, was per-
fectly cool throughout the transaction
and took good look at all three Of the
men who entered the lobby.
Miss a $1,000 Liberty bond.
| At the ST. Paul, Charles Best, the
night clerk. was chatting with Mr.. Garb
| when three bandits entered. They had
| waited until the elevator had gone up
J with a guest. One man covered the
clerk and another thrust a revolver into
| CARDS face as he sat in a lobby chair.
The clerk professed his inability to open
the safe, whereupon the man who was
| covering Garb and who was apparently
the leader of the gang ordered his con
federate to go through the cash drawer.
This he did, taking about 5000 In bills
but missing several hundred dullars
more in two envelopes which the clerk
| had thrust under a book. The elevator
meanwhile had started down and the
leader of the band detailed its third