Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-14
Filling Station Agent Robbed
and Escape Made in
Stolen Taxicab.
DRIVER TIED TO TREE
IN WOODS IN SOUTHEAST
Overlook Several Thousand Dollars
in Hold-up-Money Was Week
End Receipts

Police today were attempting to get
on the trail of two bandits who held
up collector for the Lord Baltimore
Gasoline Filling Stations, Inc, in a
daring daylight robbery yesterday
afternoon, and made their getaway in a
stolen taxicab with a satchel containing
$2,216.4O.
Benjamin F. Burch, collector for the
IS Lord Baltimore stations in this area,
had completed his rounds to obtain the
receipts taken by the stations since
Saturday night when he arrived at the
station at l31 Pennsylvania avenue,
where the hold-up occurred.
Another package, containing several
thousand dollars, was lying on the seat
of Burch's machine and was overlooked
by the hold-up men.
Two men were arrested shortly after
the hold-up, but police say their de-
scriptionS do not tally with that given
them by Burch They are still being
held for investigation.
Taxicab Is Seized.
The robbers hailed the cab of Fred
Hopkins, colored, of 816 Rhode Island
avenue, about 2 o'clock yesterday after
noon, and commanded him to drive,
according to statement made to police,
to the Pennsylvania avenue bridge in
the southeast section of the city.
Reaching there, Hopkins said the men,
armed with pistols, ordered him out
OF the cab and into the woods, where
they tied him to tree, gagged him
with adhesive tape and drove away.
The men are believed to have gone
direct to the Pennsylvania avenue filling
station. Walter N. Tapscott, 80 years
old, OF $50 A street southeast, an at
tendant, said he was serving a customer
when the taxicab stopped and the two
men made a pretext of putting air in
the tires. He said that after he fin
1shed with the customer he walked in
the of1ce and prepared to turn over his
receipts to Burch, who arrived a short
time before. The robbers followed.
Burch and Tapscott said the robbers
ordered them to reach for the moon"
They complied. One of the bandits
grabbed Burch's satchel, while his COM
panion wrenched the telephone from
the wall. Both withdrew from the Of
! nee, jumped into the cab and fed.
Shouted for Help.
Burch shouted for help and several
men from the headquarters of the
| Washington Guides Association next
door pursued the bandits cab but lost
son Hall alley. with the motor still run
ming.
Tapscott was arrested by Lieut.. Oscar
j. Letterman of No. 6 station, when he
Is said to have attempted to conceal his
identity and to have asserted that he
| only recently came to this city. Lieut.
Letterman said he recognized Tapscott
as q man he had arrested several times
while commanding the police vice squad.
The other suspect, Victor Cercio, 81
years. ITO z street, was arrested by a
patrolman who said he found the man
running at Second and G streets. Police
say the man told them he had lost his
money in crap game and was fleeing
from temptation"
Hopkins, the cab owner, succeeded in
| freeing himself from the tree and was
returned to the city by passing motor
| ist. He is said to have identified Cercio
| as one of the men who stole the cab
but police said today that Cercio has
! virtually established an alright alibi.
The telephone, torn from the wall by
one of the hold-up men, was brought
to police headquarters and photographed
| by a fingerprint expert along with sew
eral other articles touched by the rob-
bers during the theft.