Evening star., 1925-08-16
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Half a century ago Washington was
greatly stirred by the arrest of a
Treasury clerk and two citizens of the
Capital for the
Treasury Crime. cash room OF the
Treasury on the
Cd of June, 1875, more than two
months earlier, of a package of money
of the value of $47,os7s5. mostly in
$500 bills The Secret Service OF the
Treasury had net been able to solve
the mystery of the disappearance of
this money. but members of the
Washington detective force traced the
thieves and arrested them. Most of
the money was recovered. The case
naturally aroused keen interest, es-
pecialIy in view OF the fact that 1t
was the Districts police force that
solved the crime. The Star of August
10, 1874, says:
THE statement put forth by the
Secret Service force of the Treasury
relative to the late arrests OF parties
charged with the robbery of SAT 900
from the Treasury comes rather late.
The statement intimates that the ar
embraces almost daily reports TO Chief
Washburn" (of the secret service)
from members of his force, who had
HalIeck" Ghe Treasu clerk under
suryeilia nee from the 7th of June
until the time of his apprehension in
New York by Messrs. McDevitt and
McElfresh OF this city. The reason
given by Mr.. Washburn's men for the
non-arrest OF Iialleck was their failure
TO obtain anything like satisfactory
legal evidence of his implication in
the robbery. In this very importa mt
particular. however, 1t must be ad-
mitted that the local detectives got
considera bly, the start of the Treasury
people, since IL is quite unlikely that
the arrests would have been made at
the time they were made without con-
elusive evidence, to them, of the guilt
of the parties apprehended. The Off
GERS making the arrests had had al
together too much experience in their
peculiar line of business to act dect-
siyely in similar cases without evi-
dence which would. in their opinion,
stand any legal test to which II might
be subjected. At any rate, subsequent
events proved the wisdom OF the ar.
rests at the time they were made, as
there Is scarce room to doubt that the
guilty parties are in custody. We are
inclined to believe that Mr.. Washburn
made a mistake when he declined to
invoke the aid of our local detectives
in unmasking the robbers"
Washington's street railway system
has been developed largely in imita
ton Of those Of other cities. Horse
cars were not established
Open Cars here until after they had
Iroad been operated elsewhere
The open car. so com
Portable for car riders in this climate
in Summer. came from an out-oftown
example In The Star of August IL,
1875. is the following:
Why do not some of our enter
prising street railway directors put
open cars on their lines during the
Summer as Is done in Brooklyn and
other cities? The expense Of such
cars ought to be considerably less than
that Of the sweatboxes in ordinary
use, and once purchased they could
run for years. They are certainly
far preferable to the inclosed cars In
warm weather, and, as usually con
structed, will carry. twice as many
passengers. Besides this, everybody
49,
standing room in the car. Where
they have been tried they have always
run crowded, while the closed cars
on the same lines have been compare
lively empty. Almost any one would
be willing to wait 10 or Is minutes
or walk a couple of squares for the
satisfaction of securing comfortable
ride. Which of our street railway
companies will move first In this mat
ter? BY common consent, with its
wide and well paved streets and ave.
nues. it's numerous parks, its abun
dance : of shade trees and its
magnificent public buildings, Wash
inSton is conceded to be the
finest city in the Union. 1t ought
not to be behind. hand in any of the
modern conveniences possessed by
many other cities, and open cars
which would enable strangers and citi.
Zens to get fair view of the land
scape about them would be well
lpatronized."