The Washington times., 1921-07-30
CLERK
TRAIN
LOOTED FOR
SECURITIES
Masked Men Force Engineer to
Halt Express Near Altoona.
Mt. Fastnesses Combed.


ALTOONA, Pa, July 30.-The
Manhattan Limited, fastest train on
the Pennsylvania Railroad between
New York and Chicago, was held up
and robbed by masked bandits early
today at an isolated spot in the fast
nesses of the Allegheny mountains,
about thirty miles west of this city.
Letters were rifled of an unknown
sum in the mail car, and one mail
clerk was shot and slightly wounded
during an argument with ons of the
robbers. s--s'tA' F''y
T.. Seven Face Revolvers.
Tho robbers. who had been riding
the rods Of the mail car. emerged
from their concealment after the
train had got in motion again after
II had cut off helper engine at
Gallftiztn. While passing through a
long tunnel clerks In the mail car
had left door open and II had not
been closed when the bandits swung
up ont othe platform and stealthily
stalked into the mail car and cover
ed the seven men who were sorting
mail.
Every robber carried gun.
Threats where made to kill all the
mail clerks II they attempted any
resistance. While the seven men
were backed up against a wall with
their hands above their heads and
guns pointed at their hearts. other
robbers hastily went through all the
mail that was suspected of contain
ing anything of value. One sack of
registered mail was thrown from the
train and a confederate rtfled IL be-
fore State troopers and railroad de-
tectives found 1t.
Loot VIII Run High.
There is reason to believe that
the sum obtained was q large ono,
as the train carries only high class
mail. said to frequently contain
bonds, cash and other securities
shipped by New York and Eastern
banks to Chicago and Western
clients.
Government officials declare there
Is no way to ascertain how much ,
the loot viii be at present and it
VIII take weeks to determine just
what letters were stolen and what
they contained.
The Manhattan limited IL the crack
train on the Pennsylvania railroad
between New York and Chicago. The
train left New York at COS o'clock
last night and was due here at 4:30
u
coaches and makes few stops.
After passing through the Gallit-
zin tunnel. west Of Altoona, the train
was stopped and the helper engine
cut off. The bandits had been rid
ing the rods, and after the flyer
had got under way again the ban
dts. risking their lives. crawled
from under the mall car and crept
through an open door of the mail
In hA off
ton of the seven mail clerks who
were sorting the mail
Every clerk was quickly covered.
Shoot Clerk Who Argued.
Taken unawares, the clerks COM
piled and one of the bandits demanded
the registered mall. An argument
followed with one of the clerks. who
had declared that there was no reg
istered mail. One of the bandits then
fired five times and A. J. Lantz, thir-
ty-eight, of Thompsontown, Pa, was
wounded. The other clerks were told
they would also be shot IL they Of
fered further resistance.
The clerks, with their hands above
their heads. were backed against the
wall of the car while other bandits
went through the mails.
A minute later, gun in hand, one OF
the bandits crept over the tender Of
the engine and forced the engineer to
apply the emergency brakes. When
the train came to a stop near Cas-
sandra, east OF Johnstown. the bandits
jumped off and fled. Thel train then
started for Johnstown and'Mnil Clerk
Lantz was taken to a hospital.
Before the train left the sc~ne OF the
hold.up the conductor ran to nearby
railroad telephone and notified the
ratIroad officea nt Altoona and pverv
bit OF Pennsylvania railroad and Blair
county police machinery was set In
motion to trail the bandits.
None Of the passengers was mo.
Tested and they did not know that a
hold-up had taken praco until after
the engineer had applied the omer-
gency brakes.
The scene of the robbery is Isolated