The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-05-25
Wholesale Arming of Postal Employees Puts Them on Even Basis for First Time With New and Most Desperate Types of Criminals Whose Ranks Include
 Surprising Number of Women---
 Ex-Soldiers Assistin Training

ing interview with William H. Moran chief of the United States Secret Service in which he said that the year 1920 had been the greatest crime year in our his tory-from the Federal point of view BuIkfng large in the offences against the Government were post office robberfes
 To-day there is presented an interest ing story of what Will 1T. Hays, the Postmaster General, IS doing to stop the wholesale riAing of the mails. Shoot to kill" his order to the armed postal en1- ployees, promises to make invioIate once more anything bearing the label "U. s. Mail"
 Copyright. 1921.
 wASHINGTOS. ID. C.. Saturday.
 THOUsANDS of repeating shotguns and
 nearly 10000 automatic pistols are
 now in the hands of postal employees throughout the United States. Porto Rico and Hawaii. and the men under instruc- tions from Postmaster-Cenera Will H. Hays to shoot to kill if necessary to protect the mails.
 we simply have to go back to the old Wells Fargo days and shoot to kill, and we are going to do it." said Mir. Hays, in com menting upon his order to arm all essential employees of the department. T have been asteunded at the facts which I have dis covered relative to mail robberies. In the last year there have been thirty-three maj robbertes, with a known loss of $6,2O4, 900. with q known recovery of $3,O3O, ,OOO."
 An interesting criminal phenomenon which is being more frequently noticed by post office inspectors in the present crime wave is the large number of women involved, either as accessories before or after the fact Within the past three months a score of women have been involved in mail robberfes in one way another, and considerable number have been apprehended and con victed.
 The Postmaster-GeneraI has the utmost confidence in the departments regular or ganzation for the apprehension of those guilty of crimes against the United States mails. but he is convinced that the present situation is unusual one, which must be met with unusual methods. Accordingly, on April ga few weeks after he assumed of- fice--he decided upon the policy of armfn.s post office employees, and Chief Inspector Wesley Simmons lost no time in putting the order into effect.
 Ex-Arniy Men in Mail Service
 Training Others in Use of Weapons Every weak spot in the handIine. of mail Is being protected. To this end the War Department is cooperating with the Post Office Department, and a large shipment of .45 calibre pistols, with holsters and belts and repeating shotguns of the riot type together with 100000 rounds of am munition, have been sent to all the post offices handling valuable mail and to en- ployees throughout the railway mail service
 Many of the employees are eX-service men who have tested their skill in the use of firearms the battlefelds of France and they are only too eager to be enabled to meet the robbers half way. A number of these experienced men are instructins other employees of less experience in the handling of weapons, and it is expected that a regular course of training will be worked out such is provided by many cities for it's police men.
 =. For nearly eighteen months it has been apparent that a great crime is sweep ing over the whole world, and that the United States has been particularly subject to the epidemic. Experts appearing before Con- gressional committees have testified that the year just past was the greatest crime year since -1S97 A variety of causes have been assigned for this outburst of Iawlessness. ranging from prohibition to the unsettled conditions following the war.
 This crime wave, hitting banks. transpor- tation companies and business establishments of all kinds has been particularly strong in the West and middle West. The attacks have been made by armed criminals upon both mail trains and post offices. often by young and inexperienced men. who were all the more dangerous because of their reckless ness.
 These criminals held up trains entered post offices in broad daylight, held up pIoIees and robbed them of valuable mail, and even held up messengers between post offices and railway stations. In some in stances they carried their depredations landing platforms at railway stations post offices, compelling messengers and chauffeurs al the point of revolvers to sur render valuable mail bags.
 Tkree Mail Employees Killed
 By Bandits Tn Last Few Months The lives of many post office employees have been put in jeopardy by bandits. and in the last four months three postal en- ployees have been killed while in the per fornance of their duties In two of these cases the perpetrators of the crimes have been brought to justice and in the third case the untiring efforts of the post office inspectors are expected soon to be crowned with success. In this as in practically all the other cases the post office inspectors have the cooperation of the local police officials
 The first of these murders occurred in the Jackson street branch of the post office at Dallas, Texas. Five heavily armed bandits entered the building late in the afternoon and forced their way into the registry room, shooting promiscuously at the male and fe- u,ale employees One old and faithful clerk