Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-01-13
ROBBERY VICTIM
SEEKS STOLEN
PROPERTY HERE

Inc second Dig QlSappOlnCmenC II
the Vinton, Texas, postoffice robbery
was dealt j. j. James, postmaster al
Vinton when he arrived in Dougla:
yesterday believing that the three
men arrested in Bisbee on Tuesday
night had been held Chief of Po-
lice Percy Bowden of this city broke
the news to him that the men hao
not been held as they had talked
themselves out of jail in BiSbee.
At the request of James, who is q
pioneer resident of the southwest
Chief Bowdei1, accompanied by dep
uty United States marshal made a
flying trip west to BiSbee and Nacc
in search of information. They found
the watch which had been taken from
the three fleeing men by the Bisbee
officers and brought it back for James
to inspect.
- the robbery of the Vinton post
office and general store the three
robbers had taken az quantity of dol
lar bills and a big silver Elgin watch
the property of James The watch
recovered was a gold watch while
the one James lost was a silver watch.
Otherwise they were the same.
Chief Bowden brought back more
about the mysterious matter of the
BiSbee officers releasing the three
men after they had been given an
almost unbreakable description of
them by the Douglas police. BoWden
said that the men were released in
Bisbee before all the information
about them had arrived from Texas
and that while the officers found
on the men large number of one
dollar bills such as were taken in
the Vinton robbery they had no in
formation at that time that one
dollar bills were part of the loot.
Tho Bisbee' officers had taken the
Watt~ from the three men while
questioning them on Tuesday night
after Douglas officers had tagged the
trio leaving this city and had warn
ed Bisbee to hold them According
to the story which the BiSbee police
told Chief Bowden they took the
watch for reference and told the men
that they could go to rooming
house for the night and report back
to the police Wednesday afternoon.
How the men explained their very
evident hurry to the BiSbee police is
not known. 1t is understood that
when the Bisbee officers took down
the motor number Of the car the
men were riding in, they departed at
once.
Following receipt from Texas of de-
tailed descriptions of the loot in the
Vinton postoffice robbery and of the
men who did the robbing the Bisbee
officers became alarmed and wired
for assistance to every available OF
ficer in the west to catch the men
who had left their gold watch with
the Bisbee police, beat their room
bill in Bisbee, and departed.
kilograms from Texas and New
Mexico yesterday brought out that
Bisbee officers were the second ones
to let the fugitives loose. The first
instance occurred at Mesilla park,
New Mexico, when an officer held, up
the car on a highway and had to
turn his attention to another car
for a moment where upon the fug1-
tives stepped on the gas and came
west.
While bulletins on the three men
have not yet been issued by the postal
service it is generally understood
among peace officers that the regu-
lar $1,000 reward offered for the ar
rest and conviction of postoffice rob-
bers pertains to these three men and
officers who visited Bisbee yester-
day reported that there was wailing
and gnashing of teeth among Off
GERS there.
Postmaster j. j. James of Vinton
said yesterday afternoon that he fer
vently wished that the Douglas Of
ficers had had an opportunity to ap-
prehend the men. He said that he
would go back to Vinton stopping
on the way in Lordsburg, N. M, to
interview Felix Jones, sheriff there,
whose telephone message to Douglas
officers led to the Bisbee fiasco.