Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1922-05-20
TO REORCANIzE
N. .POSTOFFICE
AFTER LOOTINC
Acting Postmaster General is
on Way to City Following
Revelations of Graft
(By The Associated Pressl

Acting Postmaster General Bartlett left
Washington today for New York with
fhc announced purpose of thoroughly
rcorganizing the New York City postof-
nee IN consequence II the arrest yes
terday of several postal employees said
~ have been involved in numerous schem-
cs looking to looting Of them ails.
Before his departure Bartlett said the
department had IN mind the entire eli
mination front he service of any en-
ploveS found To- be- connected i'm any way
with this band Of crooks and yeRgmen
who have been operating principally
through tho registry division Of the New
York postoffice."
NEW YORK. May 20-A postoffice
holdup, surprising in daring any ~ the
recent registered mail thpfts would have
been pcrprctatcd AZ the City Hall post
,ffice today hut for the work Of n post
office inspector who grew beard. con-
sorted with the plctters and uncovered
their scheme.
This was the statement Friday Of Post
office Inspector Doran i'm making public
the details Of the arrest Of seven men
six If them present or past postoffice
employees lie asserted that their capture
would clear up the registered mail theft
nf Iuly Il last. when $i.477. 100 in lihcr-
~ bonds were stolen from the nails
would aid in solving n heretofore undis
closed theft Of $4,000 in securities and
might ~ far toward clearing up the
50 900 W0 mail truck holdup in Lower
broadway last October.
I'ians had beer laid and were 20 have
been carried out in daylight for the hold
on and rohbiug If nm entire registered
mail section ~ the City Hall station.
through which millions in securities flow
daily from the Wall street financial zone.
Inspector Doran said.
The plotters had made careful sur
W, of the ''layout" and planned their
raid IN great detail. Inspector Doran laid.
The name ~ the inspector who I'M
covered the plot with his bad man"
beard and his plausible manner. was
withheld.
II was said he succeeded in getting
himself counted in" on the proposed
City Hall station holdup.
The seven captives taken last night
were confronted with transcripts of I
telephone record early Friday in the
presence Of the bearded inspector, ani
some of them alleged to have confess
~
/ - completely were the mail robbers
taken in by their new :ounl pal that
| Inspector Doran said today he could re-
count almost every step taken in the
| July IL liberty bond theft
The chief actor in this theft he said.
was Morris Stcruherg. l9-year old
clerk in the registry department. Stern
berg. according 20 the Inspector had
| some mcnnS-nS Vet undIscoyrr"d--of
asrcrtaininc when valuable packages
were to come To- the postoffice from the
FEDERAL reserve bank.
lie knew in advance Of the hig ship
mcnr Of liberty bonds which wns made
~ JULY - and laid the ponch aside
when II was delivered.
\ few minutes. il is alleged, he took
'ho pouch To n small closet on the third
floor whore Edward Fogrl. confeder-
ate. had been hiding for several hours.
II ssing the pouch into the closet, he
.trolIcd ronchnlantly back 10 his post
leaving Fagel to rip II open. extract the
rackages of bonds and slip quietly out
W The building.
Stcrnherg was suspected at the time
but care was taken 10 make him think
~ was not. and short time later oc-
casion was found ~ drop him from the
service for n minor infraction OF the
rules.
The inspectors continued ~ watch
him and four months ago the bearded
gent" managed to scrape an acqnaint-
nnca with the confectionery store he
and Fogel had opened.
Taking n room in the lower East
Side ~ his ''hangout" the Inspector IN
stalled n spccch-recording Instrument
and invited them to visit him. IL was
not long until he had met the other
five mon alleged "a bc members cf the
gang and was swapping stories with
them about their mail robbing exploits
while fellow inspectors recorded the
conversations in an adjoining room.
Finally the gangsters let .hs beard
cd gent IN on the City Hall station
ploi-and the swoop came.
Arraigned before United States Com
missioner Hitchcock Friday afternoon
the seven prisoners were held in bail
ranging from $4,000 to $4,000 each.
Stcrnberg. Fogel. Abraham Goldsmith
and Gustav Gales were held IN $4,000.
Irving Weinstein in $4,000 and Gustav
Fcldman and Harry Shapiro in $4,000