Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-08
$4,000 Loot Seized Under
Eyes of Employees lust
After Closing Time. .
WOMAN IS BELIEVED
TO HAVE AIDED TWO MEN
Stenographer Listing Securitie:
Called Away by Ruse-Bandits
Take Them and Flee.

uulS IN local police hIlIldlS, SScIHS QcS-
tined today to be written down along
side the perfect crimes" of fiction
writers-one of those things that just
couldn't happen, but did.
The thief. or thieves, who helped
themselves to $4,000 in negotiable Lib
erty bonds under the eyes of score of
bank employees after closing time yes
terday, and then made an unostenta-
Eous getaway through the main doors,
which we're opened for them by two
unsuspecting guards, had vanished as
though into thin air today. leaving police
without the semblance of clue.
Yesterdays theft marks the first time
n its 90 years OF existence that the
Riggs Bank has been victimized through
robbery.
The bank, with its large personnel.
its three guards and its numerous au-
tomato signal and locking devices, has
long been considered, along with the
Treasury Department, as practically
tmpregnable.
That any one would attempt to rob
It seemed improbable. and the circum-
stances Of yesterdays successful at
tempt are such as to make 1t seem al.
most impossible. The manner in which
the intruders took advantage of unusual
circumstances, and the precision and
daring with which they executed their
coup. ranks the bandits alongside the
mythical master minds" of the under
world.
Shortly after 8 o'clock, $4,000 in
Liberty bonds was delivered to the bank
from the Treasury Department. This
was an unusual procedure.
Miss Ange Boalo, a stenographer, was
charged with the duty of listing the
bonds. Ordinarily she would have done
this in the rear of the building, but
yesterday she was doing the work of
another employee, who was i'll, and she
carried the bonds to the latter's desk,
about IL feet from the main door, and
separated from the public lobby only
by q 3-foot railing.
The desk on which she planned to
do the counting is in an Office adjoin-
ing that of Robert v. Fleming, the
banks president .
Lured Away by Call.
No sooner were the bonds in the
bank than Miss Viola Allendorfer, the
presidents secretary, received tele-
phone cali from a man, who asked her
to 60 to the ladies' department to see If
she could find bag left there by his
wife.
The caller had asked merely to speak
to the presidents secretary" Police
believe he was under the impression
that this would be Miss Boalo, and
that when she left her desk their way
to the bonds would be clear.
Undisnayed by the failure of their
first ruse. however, the man quickly
put through q second call, and this
time he reached Miss Boalo. She was
asked to 60 to the teller;s window and
inquire II Mr.. johnson" had been
there. We
The route to the teller.s cage lay in
the bank, but Miss Boalo happened to
meet the teller before she had taken
more than 20 steps, and together they
returned to the desk. She was gone
only a fraction of minute, but that
had been long enough. The bonds were
gone when she got back.
During the brief interval while she
walked to the point where she met the
teller, one of the bandits had stepped
up to the railing. scooped up the bonds
and made his escape.
Bonds Missed at Once.
She missed the bonds immediately on
returning to her desk, and sounded an
alarm. The doors were locked and the
bank searched. 1t was too late. Two
men who been seen lettering in the
bank were gone. A guard recalled open
ing the doors to let them out.
Police are certain at least two men
participated in the robbery-one to
make the phone calls and the other to
snatch the bonds when opportunity Of
fered 1t is believed that on pre-
arranged signal the man who made the
calls left the booth, located on the
far side of the bank, and joined his
accomplice thereby enabling both to
leave together.
The appearance of woman at the
bank just after closing time, who in
sisted on being admitted in order to
see the paying teller, gave rise to an
unsubstantiated theory that she also
figured in the robbery, A check-up
disclosed that she did not go to the en-
ploye she said she wanted to see. If she
did play part in the robbery police
believe her role was merely that Of a
watcher. - t'-
Believe Bank Phone Used.
An attempt to trace the phone calls
was unsuccessful, but police believe the
phone in the bank was used, pointing
out that otherwise the robbers, when
the first ruse fell through would hardly
have had time to communicate with a
man on the outside and put through
the second call so quickly. :.
When Headquarters Detectives OAR
nall. Brodie and Varney reached the
bank few minutes after the robbery
they were not able to secure a coherent
story of what had happened, or any
complete description of the men.
Detective Brodie took several EN-
ployes of the bank, who had seen the
men lettering in the lobby, on a tour
of the city in police car, visiting Union
Station and other points where the men
might have gone but no trace OF them
was found.
Descriptions of the men and the seria
numbers on the bonds were broadcast to
other cities but bank officials hope fol
little from this source. They admit the
bonds were readily negotiable and IA
good as cash."
Cashier Is Amazed.
George o. Vass, cashier, expressed hi
amazement that such a thing coult
happen.
He believes the bandits just happened
to be in the bank, possibly looking !
over to get the clay of the land" for Z
future attempt, and that when they saw
the bonds placed on the desk, they re
allied their value and executed thet
plans on a moments notice.
Other employees advanced the theor.
that the men came to the bank, in
tending to stage ilold-up, and took tn
bonds instead as much easier oppor
tunity.