The Washington times., 1929-02-08
) HUN 7 Ed IN
RIGGS BANK
ROBBERY
Continued from Page 15.)

declared that it was well planned.
The robbery, they declared, was per.
petrated so easily because II the sim.
plicity of the scheme.
An accurate description Of the two
men and the woman was given the
detectives by some of the employees
VINO had noticed them enter. The
police have begun a search that In
cludes all of Washington and have
enlisted tn aid &c nearby cities in
the search for the operatives.
Headquarters detectives. long ex-
perienced in fighting crime, today de-
ciared that they had never seen a
Job that had been perpetrated in
such manLer. According to the re-
tectives, t'e dips" had not created
suspicion of their actions until after
the robber'' had been discovered.
They declared that the work had beer
done by professionals.
The missing securities, all coupon
bonds, it was said. consisted Of
Fourth Liberty Loan Bonds, of which
so were in denominations of $50. md
seven 0 81 900. Bank authorities de-
clared that the coupons would make
the difference They were protected
against loss. it was said.
Two Phone Calls
Police, in piecing together the
stories of several of the bank EN-
pioyes, discovered that the two
men had entered the bank about
Is minutes before it's close The
woman had rushed up to the door
n IyN1tN II AAII
doorman that she wished to make
a savings deposit.
Several minutes after that the
telephone on the desk of Miss
Viola NJ Allendorfer. located In the
office of Robert V. Fleming, presi.
dent of the institution rang When
she answered she was asked by
mans voice to look for a small
purse left in the washroom by his
wife" She complied with his re.
quest and upon returning dis.
covered that the phone was dead"
About the same time the phone
rang on the desk of Miss Boalo.
When she answered 1t she was asked
to see IL the fictitious MIR. Johnson"
was at his desk. Upon her return
she found that the pile of bonds left
on the desk within arm reach of the
partition had disappeared. A hasty
search was made for the missing pa.
pers, but it was discovered that both
they and the suspects had flew the
coop"
Police believe that the men had
made previous visits 10 the institu-
tion and had carefully plotted its
perpetration. Officials at the bank
declared they did not believe the rob
bers would have tried to pass a
worthless check at that time and
believe that they had plotted the
bond robbery exclusively. II they
wished to pass a rubber check, q"
one of the employees reasoned. they
would have come into the bank at
the rush hour.
Hard To Believe
George o. Vass. cashier at the
victimized bank, declared 1t was
''inconceivable that such a thing
should happen right under our very
noses"
1T was the one opportunity
thieves ever have had to make a
getaway, because our securities are
kept in a vault in the rear of the
bank" he declared. 1T just hap
pened that in doing business for
another bank the securities stolen
should have chanced to be in an
unguarded spot for a few minutes. :"
He said that in another minute
Miss Boalo would have finished list
ing the bonds and would have sent
them to the other bank.
1t is thought by police that the
dips" are from out of town for
the one that made the cali to Miss
Allendorfer had asked the operator
if he were connected to the only
Riggs bank in town" The opera.
tor thought following the robbery
that the man might have been in
doubt, but others believe he was
playing for time in the event that
the first . ttannt was mnsnccessfml