New-York tribune., 1921-10-26
Mail Bandits
Cot$463,OOO
Bank s Bonds
These Packets Make Only
One Portion of Spoils of
Broadway Robbery; In.
spectors Seek ''Insider''

The United States government will
pay $4,000, alive or dead, for each of
the three highwaymen who held up a
mail truck in lower Broadway Mon
day night, escaping with four pouches
of registered mail containing cash,
jewelry and negotiable bonds.
The Chase National Bank alone had
ten packages Of bonds in the stolen
pouches, with a par value of $463, 900.
This represented only part of the
loot 1t will require two weeks, post
office inspectors said, before they can
estimate with any degree of accuracy
the full value Of the contents Of the
purloined sacks.
No arrest had been made at a late
hour last night, but throughout the
day City Hall postoffice swarmed with
inspectors seeking to uncover lead
that would help them identify the gov
they believe assisted the robbers.
''Insider" Sought
Inspectors base their belief that the
robbers had a conference upon the fact
that they selected with sure hands four
registered pouches from truck that
contained total of seventeen pouches
of ordinary mail and eleven of regis
tered mail. The investigators, strongly
believe that the stolen sacks were
marked or tagged within the postof-
E<~ L
bandits to identify them in the dark
ness Of narrow Leonard Street, just
off Broadway.
That was the scene of the robbery.
Frank Havranick, the driver of the
auto truck, left the old postoffice at
City Hall at 10 o'clock Monday night,
for the Pennsylvania Station to catch a
train leaving at 1O:40 p. m. He had
progressed only a few blocks up
broadway, as a rule practically deserted
at that hour, when a green touring car
drew abreast of his machine. Beside
the chauffeur at the wheel there were
two men in the rear seat.
Havranick, who was questioned again
yesterday, clung faithfully to every
minute detail of the story he had told
the night before. His record of three
years in the postal service is good and
inspectors said that absolutely no sus-
picion attaches to him.
The driver said the touring car
swerved in front of him. To avoid a
collision he also turned his car and
came to stop. Then one of the three
motorists leaped to the step of his
truck and with heavy revolver held
on a level with his stomach, ordered
him to turn into the side street, which
happened to be Leonard Street, of little
more than alley width.
Deliberate Work
Havranick obeyed, and the instant his
truck came to stop he was forced to
the sidewalk and searched for the key
to the paddock on the wire doors at
the rear of his machine. When this
was obtained one of the highwaymen
climbed inside among the pouches, an
other stood by to receive them, and the
third saw to it that Havranick did not
SO much as shuttle his feet.
1t was the speed with which the man
inside the truck made his selections
that proved of greatest interest to the
inspectors who questioned the driver.
of the contents of the sacks the logical
thing for them to have done, in the
opinion of the inspectors, would have
been to have taken all the pouches.
Havranick, an accomplished chauf-
feur, kept his eyes busy while the three
were at work He recognized the make
of the car, but was unable to distin
guish more than the first three num-
900. The robbers before departing
with the precious pouches called out to
Havranick:
Don't you follow us or you'll be
killed by our men at West Broadway"
That was the direction taken by the
green car, and Havranick obeyed their
Injunction not to follow. Instead he
hurried to Police Headquarters and
made report there.
Negligence Charged
At least one investigation of negli-
eence at the City Hall station of the
postoffice is expected to result from
the fact that there was no armed guard
on the seat of Havranick's truck.
Wagons carrying registered mail are
supposed never to move without such
guard
The governments liability does not
exceed $50 tor each package registered.
Shippers OF registered NAL, where the
value is large. habitually insure the
contents. This was done by the Chase
National Bank. it was said there yes
terday.
An official of the bank explained that
the institution was acting merely as
registrar in the matter and that the
owners of the bonds were fully pro-
tected by insurance. The Chase Ma
tional packages contained the fellow
ing:
Government Of the Argentine Nation
two-year per cent gold notes, dated
October L. 1919, and due October /,
1923, having face value OF s458.00o.
The numbers were 367S-o7, 4032-35,
40512, 40957, 4l01-21, 4124-36, 4253-60,
1881 1922, 4a4S-77, ASSIST, 72e5-730S
and 91-35990 The parcel also con-
tanned $4,000 worth of Canadian North
ern Railway Company 6l2 per cent
sinking fund gold debenture bonds, due
July !. 1916, the numbers of which were
293S42.
Seaplane and Grew Saved
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 25-Naval sea-