Evening star., 1923-02-12
GOTHAM BAND|TRy
BREEDS NEW TRADE
Transporting Pay Rolls in
Armored Cars New Pro-
fession in New York.
"OLD WEST" WAS TAME
High Wages and War Blamed for
Wave of Robberies Now
Prevalent.
"OLD WEST" WAS TAME
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK, February 12-"Busi-
ness services-Pay rolls and bank de-
posits transported in armored cars;
safe delivery guaranteed by one OF
the largest surety companies In the
world-Mayhew Dispatch Company
Rector street, New York city"
This advertisement in the daily pa
pers indicates what civilization
means today, as we'll as life in a
great city.
Among the extra hazardous occu-
pations, count that of carrying the
weekly pay roll from the bank to the
Office or factory. 1t is a dull day
when there are not front-page stories
of stick ups, invariably successful,
Dy pay roll bandits
Police on Every Corner.
This. too. in the biggest, ultra mod
ern of cities, on streets jammed with
people ard with policemen at near
ly 1Sery corner. Some corners have
SIX su uuty.
or course there is no crime wave.
No orime wave, just business. A
wav. devastating as may be Its ef-
feet is only a transitory matter
Crime in New York seems to be as
solid as the Atlantic ocean; banditry
is So common and so well organized
1t has taken it's place as profession.
Hence the new vocation-safe-
gaurding the pay roll on which the
honest people depend for their week
~ wage.
During the past month there have
been a score of pay roll robberies,
half dozen of which were real big
ones. The bandits seem to be deter
mined to make a big haul at least
once week.
"Old West. Was Tame.
Compared with this city at the pres
ent moment, the days of the old
west were as a prayer meeting to a
prize fight. 1t is getting so that men
are not anxious for the job of carry
ing the pay roll, even though they go
armed themselves and have guard
detailed who is supposed to be good
man with gun.
The result is this new profession of
transporting the pay roll and getting
il safety TO It's destination has turned
UP. 1t requires ingenuity, bravery
and the use OF ultra modern methods
of protection.
The old wild wast?" repeated Jo-
seph Mayhew, head of the company
which does nothing else but transport
pay rolls and bank deposits and is
kept busy doing so. why. the old
wild west never knew what the word
bandit meant. 1t would be like TAX
one of the old swashbuckling robbers
up against one of these slick, smooth
desperadoes of the east"
For twenty five years Joseph May
Detective Long Time.
hew was chief of detectives for the
United States Express Company. which
transported millions for the govern
ment and allied banks. When IL
comes to holdup men, he knows
whereof he speaks.
THE ancient western bandit was a
professional. The modern robber OF
New York is an amateur" he said. 81
mean just exactly that and this Is
why the New York crook is 100 per
cent more dangerous. The old-timer
but he gave you the choice. The New
York bandit believes in shooting first.
His mode is that of an amateur and
while he goes from one hold-up TO
another his methods never change.
unless equipped with a high-pow-
cred car, and armed guards who know
how to shoot straight and fast, the
pay roll man today hasn't chance.
They are not dope eaters. either. these
New York killer, as many would like
to have you believe. Less than per
cent Of them are snow birds.
"A number of causes contribute TO
making them reckless of their own
and other peoples lives. Many OF
them were in the war, where they
learned to hold human life cheap.
Those who stayed on this side were
under even worse influences, so far as
their ability to settle down after the
war was over is concerned
Got High War Wages.
Men and boys who never had seen
q hammer were getting $12 day as
carpenters while the war was on.
Meanwhile the cost of living went
up, the war stopped. high wages
slumped and the fellows who had
been receiving them did not want to
go back to normal wages or normal
economic living. A lot of them be-
came bandits"
These, in brief. are the reasons for
such profession as Joseph May
hew's. His company carries pay rolls
in a car which is a sort Of fortress
itself. Specially constructed of bat
tleship steel, which no bullet can
pierce, it has bulIet-proof glass which
few missiles will shatter. There Is
a crew Of four trained men to each
car. each armed with an automatic
and a sawed-off shotgun. The boxes
iu which the money is carried are OF
steel and are chained fast to the
messenger. To get away with the
money the messenger must be slain
and the chain sawn through.