The New York herald., 1921-03-13
Chief Inspectors Records Show Nearly Half Million Cases 92O With
Promise of New High Mark This Year

OF course, were trivial, but the net result
was that BIAS men and women were arrested
for such robberies-535 Of them for robberies
of post offices, mail trains and post office
wagons.
Aside from the spectacular cases, such as
post Office and train robberies" Sutton ex-
planned, "a large loss to the mails has oc-
Cured at docks, wharves, large terminals
transfer points, loading platforms, &c
These are due in the majority Of instances
to individuals not in any way connected with
the postal service.
"These matters are receiving persistent
attention by expert inspectors whose spe-
cialty, developed through years of expert
ence, is exclusively that of investigating
offences against the postal establishment
and to the thoroughness of whose work
the number Of arrests effected monthly Of
persons charged with stealing mail matter
will abundanty testify.
1T Is true, of course. that the losses
suffered by the postal service have been con-
siderable, yet viewing the matter In more
or less comparative sense. ii is believed to be
a reasonable assumption that the postal SER
vice has Jared no worse, and probably better,
than other lines.
1T is difficult to explain the reason for
this crime wave but it is well to consider
several new elements in our national stua-
ton which may at least be contributory.
For instance. there is at present vast
amount of Unemployment, with prices high
and many men out of work. The fact that
the price OF whiskey, from bootleggers. is
high, may have contributed TO the condition.
on top OF that the country Is just coming
out Of a war, when men have been moro or
less hardened and experienced in the use Of
firearms"
The records OF the Post Office Inspection
Service are as thrilling as ever the cent
paper back novels of the Jesse James class
ever dared to be- They are the reports OF
the post office inspectors who take their lives
in their hands when they go after post Office
and train robbers. One OF the most thrilling
OF the comparatively recent cases is that Of
the holdup or the Missouri. Kansas and
Texas Railroad train No 27. on July 10, 1918.
at Koch siding, near Paola, Kan.
This robbery OF a Katy" train recalled In
many ways the days when the old-time ban
dts held up the trains OF the very same line.
with handkerchiefs over the lower part OF
their faces and with a revolver in each hand.
RI was late at night when the train stopped
at the siding to let another train pass. The
bandits, FIVE Of them. boarded the mail car
and demanded that the postal clerks throw
up their hands. Quickly the lights Of the
car were extinguished and the shooting be-
gan. II continued for fifteen minutes, and
four persons were wounded.
The gang consisted Of Dale Jones, Frank
Lewis. Roscoe Lancaster, Thomas knight
and Roy d. Sheriff. Lewis was wounded
in tho fighting and died in jail.
Lancaster was trailed for two months by
the postal inspectors and an effort was made
TO arrest him on September 13 at Colorado
Springs, Col He resisted and one Of the
officers shot him. He died within a few
hours but he lived long enough TO admit