New-York tribune., 1921-11-20
ANDS UP! TELL THAT TO THE MARINES
r~nG marine-soldier and sailor, too, as
Kipling called hin.--has new job.
He is to be guardian of the United


He is to be guardian of the United
States mails. In fact, he has been
-.srted on that task with the brief injunction
:. d;srecard. under any and all circumstances,
:. srrrsoryped call of the mail bandit: "Stick
~ rour hands." In fact, from now on, mail
ss,dts may as well eliminate those words
frnm their limited professional vocabulary.
Tho marines have instructions to shoot to kill,
:, matter what may be the odds against them.
II isn't new job, guarding treasure in
.-,cess Of transportation. A whole gallery
:, Remington pictures could be made of treas
nre guards in history from King Solomons
s;r,s down to the present. On this continent
rsrds have been necessary from the first NOV
mo of treasure of any kind. In this country
the treasure guard most firmly impressed in
+be pubc imagination is the Wells-Fargo mes
senger of the old-time West, whose task it was
"a euard the treasure chests on the old stage
coaches and who found their jobs gone when
wealth was shipped by rail-
Then came the era of the train robbers, be-
ginning with the James brothers and continu-
mo through the operations of the Daltons and
other gangs. With the passing of each gang it
was confidently announced by the authorities
that train robbing as an institution had ceased
10 be- Yet the institution has managed to sur
yiye, and of late it has assumed such proper
hons that the government has become alarmed
As never before and has been compelled to call
uuon the always-handy marine to hold the
bandits in check.
The operations of these modern robbers
have been on scale that has fairly dwarfed
all that has gone before. For the twelve
months ended April 9, 1921, according to of
fetal report, cash and securities amounting to
900 were stolen from the mails. From
April to October 9 the total was $31S,000-a
great increase in percentage. Then came the
s2O0OOOO robbery from mail truck IN New
York City, followed by the hold-up of an llll-
nos Central train at Paxton, ILL.,, the robbers
getting 100000 which by some freak of for
tune they dropped while escaping Almost at
the same time train was held up near Kansas
CITY. and seven mail clerks were popped into
sacks and rendered helpless, while the bandits
looted the mails at their leisure.
All these achievements in treasure hlching
have been ACCOMPLISHED in the face of the mod
ern inventions, which are said to make the
agetaway'' of criminals much more difficult
than before-the telephone and the automobile.
II has proved easy enough to cut telephone
wires that may threaten and as Tor the auto
mobile. it has been made means OF escape
rather than an effective instrument in the
hands Of the pursuers
Such a combination--the greatest rewards
that ever dazzled criminals, with poor sys-
tenn of guarding and an excellent chance OF
getting away by means Of the automobile
has brought about deluge of mail robbery
that has fairly astounded postal officials. In
the face of the declaration that train robbing
asan institution has seen its last days, trains
have been stopped, crews have been NAL
treated and some of their members killed,
mail clerks have been terrori7ed, and the gov
ernment has footed up losses into the millions.
Comparison of the methods of these modern
hold-up men with the methods of bandits of an
earlier era are not without analogies as we'll
as marked differences. Nowadays the lone
robber is seldom heard of. Bill Carlisle,
who held up several trains in Wyoming about
two years ago and was finally run to earth
by deputies in that state, is the last one of
any consequence to figure. And Carlisle's
"pickings' we're small, as he was content to
take the personal effects of passengers
something that the modern gangsters do not
bother with Carlisle's performances were
based on those of Black Bart, which worked
very we'll in day when a man on saddle
pony or even a man on foot had a pretty good
chance of getting beyond the reach of pur-
suers-something not to be thought of to-
day.
Black Bart, a gentlemanly highwayman
whose ideals concerning his profession seem
to have fallen into decay, used to seek out
the loneliest spots in the Yosemite and stage
an annual hold-up.
Every year Black Bart held up stage and
lived twelvemonth on the proceeds. Then
he would repeat the process when his funds
ran low. He was successful for many years,
and his success was due, so he made clear, to
ms ability in the matter OF picking OUT lonely
places where his trade was not apt to be sub
lected to interference.
Black Barts ideas seem archaic to-day. His
notion of annually holding up stage full OF
National Park tourists and making them dis
gorge the remnants Of their vacation savings
smacks of a conservatism which modern
schools of crime never would tolerate. In the
matter of picking lonely places also he seems
to have had the wrong idea. Stage roads in
the Yosemite may seem lonely enough, OF
course, but it is sort of loneliness that 'be-
longs" What the modern highwayman revels
IN is the loneliness of the city street that has