Evening star., 1934-08-22

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They call attention to the fact that
not only were the two guards and the
truck driver men of vouched-for in
tegrity. but also that no advance in
formation as TO trucks route is ever
made known. The truck crews do not
know from one day to another what
stops they are to make or what route
they are to take. Sealed orders are
given into the hands of the truck Con
ductor' just before starting each day.
May Have U. S. Records.
A detective, returning early today to
headquarters after hours on the case,
said he was convinced that Cd the
robbers were former hijackers of the
dry era and that (2) they probably
are men without city or New York
State police records.
The robbers, this detective said, may
have Federal records, inaSmuch as the
Federal Government was active against
hijackers for several years.
The hijacker technique marked yes
terday's truck robbery, this officer
said. In prohibition days, he re-
called, gangs numbering a dozen or
more men would swarm over the side
of rum-running vessel, take over the
cargo at the point of pistols and ma
chine guns, and escape in speed boats
to prearranged destinations where fast
motor cars and trucks awaited.
Long Planned.
Fast cars and Speedboats we're es-
sentials Of yesterdays crime. The
thieves drove away in cars of such
power as to enable them to out-dis-
tance pursuit, and went directly to a
dock where speedboats waited to race
them out of the police circle that had
been quickly swung around downtown
Brooklyn.
This detective, who declined to be
quoted by name, said there is little
doubt but that the robbery had been
planned for more than two months.
Motor cars used in the crime, he
pointed out, were stolen early in June,
as were the license plates which were
used on them yesterday. The ma
chimes, he said, we're probably kept
hidden until the search for them had
blown over.
The employment of an ice cart as
q vehicle for conveying machine guns
to the scene of an intended robbery
was a touch strengthening belief that
a new crime strategist had leaped for
ward to snatch the mantle of master
rogue that fell when Federal guns
dropped John Dillinger in Chicago
When the moment for action came. a
burlap covering was yanked from the
cart, showing machine gun ready
for immediate action.
Recalls Chicago Robbery.
The distribution of gang members
about the vicinity Of the Rubel Ice
Corps plant at Bay Nineteenth
street and Cropsey avenue was fur
ther evidence of careful plotting.
Some of the gang lounged about ten
mis- courts across Bay Nineteenth
street, a touch recalling the ball game
that mobsmen played in Chicago as
they waited to execute the Dearborn
Street Station mail truck robbery in
which $5oo,0O0 in negotiable securi-
ties was stolen.
The precision of execution yester-
day has never been excelled in fact
and seldom even in fiction. The three
truck guards, each armed, were
covered by robber guns so quickly
that even the quickest movement for
tE<r weapons would have been sui
ci/. The truck driver, Joseph Allen,
had his hand resting on the butt of
his pistol, yet could not draw. A
sharp blow across his knuckles made
him powerless, even had he defied
the guns that were leveled at him
and at the guards, John Wilson and
William Lillienthal.
50 Within Sight.
More than so persons were in plain
view while the robbery was going on,
yet many of them were unaware of it.
AS quickly as they had covered the
truck guards, the robbers began to
transfer bag after bag of currency
and coin from the truck to their own
machines. Machine guns swung
menacingly at the group of men
gathered on the ice corporations
loading platform.
There were % sacks of money re-
manning in the truck when a sudden
command of "scram!" sounded from
the lips of the leader. The robbers
ran for their cars, leaving behind
$4,000 and dropping one of their
machine guns in the only false move
of an otherwise expertly done crime.
Snatching up this weapon, Lillien-
thai, the truck guard, jumped into
the "hold-up proof" truck, as did
Allen and Wilson. and opened fire as
they gave pursuit to the thieves. None
of the bullets took effect, and the
robbers soon disappeared.
Precisely Timed.
An evidence of the precision of the
criminals was noted in the manner
in which the hold-up was timed.
Lilhenthal had stepped from the
truck. Wilson followed. Allen, the
driver, was just on the point of
stepping down when the robbers guns
flashed. Had Allen stepped clear, the
automatic door of steel would have
snapped shut, locked. One of the
thieves pushed the ice cart forward
to hold the door open.
Some officers expressed the belief
today that yesterdays robbery was
planned and executed by the same
mind that conceived the Penns Grove,