Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-10
HASKIN'S
LETTER
SLUMP IN MAIL ROBBERIES
BY F'redric j. HaslSin

the government mails. A little over
$2,500,O00 has been stolen from the
government mail sacks and post of
flee safes, and of this sum practical
ly all has been recovered.
The idea that Uncle Sam conducts
post offices and runs mail trucks
and trains for the benefit of needy
yeggmen Is always popular with the
element of our population that car
ries two guns and shoots to kill. Mail
robbers have in the past provided
much inspiration for the headline
writers of our leading dailies. Huge
sums of money have been boldly
filched from mail il-carrying vehicles,
while masked bandits with threaten
ing "gats" reduced the guardians of
the mails to wrathful impotence. The
banner year for the brigands was
1921. No less than $6,19S,132 of the
public's money was collected by the
stand and deliver artists during the
crime wave of that year.
But, gradually, the success of gov
ernment sleuths in tracking down
these misguided citizens and recover
ing stolen booty is becoming pro-
verbal. Mail robbing is now in the
class of extra hazardous occupations,
and the number of specialists in this
field Is consequently on the decline.
There are not many Jimmy VAL
entines in the safe-opening business
at the present time. The sensitive
fingers of that famous character en-
abled him to burglarize alleged safe
deposit receptacles merely by feel
ing the disks drop in the locking de-
vice. over a thousand post office
safes are opened annually by gent
lemen in Jimmys line of business.
They do not, however, use the VAL
entine technique. They employ the
far cruder but effective method of
blowing the safe doors open with
dynamite or nitroglycerine. Never
theless, surprisingly neat work can
be done with explosives. Over $780,
900 is the annual loss to the Post
Office Department through the
burglarizing of safes and vaults in
post offices.
The officials of the postal service
make strenuous efforts to ldy by
the heels these plundcrers of the
pubic Golfers. In thl;; work secret
service agents are employed and
with the cooperation of State and
municipal police departments they
capture the men they are trailing.
The Post Office Department does
not rely entirely upon the regular
sleuths, but also appeals to and EN-
ploys the general public to pursue
the crooks. The assistance of the
public is secured by offering rewards
ranging from $50 to $4,000, a total
of over $4,000 being available for
this purpose in a year.
1t Is noteworthy that the post
master general does not fix the sum
to be paid for the apprehension and
conviction of the criminal in any
particular case by the size of the
sum lost to the government, but by
the nature of the crime committed.
More precious than the mail are the
lives of those who handle it, though
many q railway postal clerk has
sacrificed his life in an effort TO
protect the letters and packets in
his care. The notice of reward pub
lished by the postmaster general,
however, shows plainly the purpose
of the government to protect its SER
wants by offering $4,000 for the ar
rest and conviction of any offender
who, in an attempt to rob the mail,
Injuries any person having custody of
it. Smaller sums are offered to
those who secure the arrest and con-
viction of criminals guilty of lesser
offenses against the integrity of
Uncle Sans postal business, not in
volving physical injury to the per-
sonnel.
While these rewards are usually
claimed by city and state police Of
ficers who assist the federal agents
in rounding up mail bandits and post
office burglars, the general public
not infrequently joins in the man
hunt and eagerly asserts its right to
enjoy the reward.
The purely formal reports sub
mitted to the Chief Inspector by his
assistants engaged in pursuing mail
| bandits, often read like the widest
| fiction that was ever printed In the
paper bound Wild West books so
dear to boyhood. Recently in q
southwestern state the postmaster
and his wife and two children We're
| killed in a particularly cold-blooded
manner by bandits some of whom
escaped with the proceeds of their
| crime to Mexico. At once the Post
sistance of the public and armed
posses started in search of the Grim
| inals, only to be halted by the Rio
Grande. One enterprising posse
! leader, desperately anxious to cash
! in on the reward, evolved a scheme
whereby the Mexican authorities
agreed to deliver to him the desired
| bandit in exchange for an insurrec-
tionary Mexican general living in the
| United States Without further ado,
our hero and his sturdy henchmen
set out on a long and dusty journey
! to the home of the former military
| leader in another state. Arriving
| there, they coolly abducted their
prey and taking him to the Mexican
| border, received in exchange the
postal offender who was duly tried,
| convicted and hanged.
|
Some few years ago, a well or
| ganized and desperate band of sew
eral men and one woman, the wife
! of the leader, robbed a western mail
| train. In a running fight in auto
! mobiles, federal agents and state Of
! ficers killed several of the gang.
| Later two of the survivors were dis
| covered in a house in a nearby tow
! Immediately the forces of the law
laid siege to the house. where til
robbers, we'll armed, put up fight
that lasted several hours. Both rob-
bers fell, but only after thousands
of bullets had been poured into the
structure where they lay. Not only
did the state and federal agents keep
up a continuous fire on the en-
battled desperadoes, but all of the