The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-04-07

ROBBERS At DEARBORN
STATION IN CHICAGO GET
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
Bold Daylight Holdup Of
Mail Truck Staged in
Minute and q Halt.

Chicago, April 7.-If evidence
obtained In . registered mall
pouch, ripped open. abandoned
and eventually found by tho
police, proves Of value, . Unit.
Cd States government mail
truck was robbed Of currency
and negotiable securities
amounting to between $5OOOOO
and S7sO,OOO here late yester.
day. The loss last night was
wrongly estimated ut only &c..
OOO.
The robbery took place ut
the Dearborn street station In
the very heart cf the business
district OF the city. Il took
place In broad daylight, and
owing to this fact the police arc
hopeful that some Of the de-
scripti0ns furnished Of some Of
the men may prove Of value.
The automobile used by tho
robbers Of the mail truck Was
found abandoned about two
miles away from the spot where
the pouches were located this
morning. Two bullet holes.
apparently made by the bullets
from the pollceman's gun, were
I'm the tonneau of the machine.
One minute and a half Is .
conservative estimate Of BY.
standers for the time that tho
robbers consumed In getting
away with the enormous amount
Of loot. Intact, 80 sudden was
the assault on the truck that
several conflicting stories Of
the hOldup are given In test-
mOny Of eye-wltnesses.
One story that was accepted
~ probably true was that the
robbers had nOnchalantly toss.
ed . baseball all afternoon in
. lot adjoining the station
where the robbery took place.
A later report, however. seem.
ed to bear out the statement
that the robbers rushed up to
the mail truck In an autpm0-
bile Just as it was preparing 10
unload.
Worked Fast.
At any rate, four men presentet
evolvers, points extended to abou
welve mail clerks and several by
tanders. One mail clerk. in de
cribing them, said that the rob
'ers demanded that the register o,
nail pouch be thrown out Of tn,
ruck. This was done. and mai
Who must have had tremendou
trength picked it up with one ham
nd tossed it into the waiting au
omobile. The robbers then gath
red up two other pouches, loade'
hem into the machine, and drOv
lastily away. The entire actiol
i'd not take longer than minut
nd a half, according to witnesses
Only one shot was fred durinl
he robbery, and Witnesses agre
hat this was fired by one Of tn
obbers at the big man who ha'
landled the registered mail pouch
The big man had darted around tn
ear of the machine, and it is be
ieved that ths robber fired at hin
'efore he recognized him as one o
lis own party. Whether the bulle
ook effect was not ascertained.
Fired Two Shots.
As the car dashed around tn
irst corner, policeman appeare
md fired two shots at the car. bu
any appreciable result.
The number OF the machine wa
'btained and showed the car t
ave been stolen on March 80.
Early this morning the polio
ound the three mail pouches rip
,ed open and their contents gont
n a vcacant lot. In the registere
nail pouch, however. they foun
that gave the first ind
:ation that a large amount ha
,een obtained. The wrappers IL
Heated that they had been aroun
! package Of 10000 one-dollar bill
! package holding $50,000 in cul
'ency, and a package OF 100 bill
zach OF $1,000 denomination.
Other wrappers indicated the
lad been around negotiable bono
Ind non-registered and registere
bonds.
Five large sacks consigned
Of the federal reser,
banks, each sack containing a,
smaller bags, which in turn he
OF large denomination
also were indicated to have been
the registered pouch. The pos
ONCE inspectors were busily el
gagged on the robbery early tod,
and could not be found to veri,
The belief Of the police as to Il
extent Of the money obtained
the robbsra.
The cash in the registered pouc
es for the most part was consig
ed to banks In Indianapolis. II
large mail pouch was handled
one Of the robbers with ease.
A search has been ordered 4
men who are known
hang around the garage from whi
the machine was stolen on Mar
80. This clue and whatever clu
might be contained In the abando
ed pouches were being run doy
by the police today.