Evening star., 1934-08-04
FREIGHT
LOOTED BY GANG
Cigarettes Thrown From
Train Near Lanham.
Detective Fires.

Using rope ladder to lower them
selves from the top of fast freight
train on which they are believed to
have Secreted themselves at the Ben
ming yards, a gang of robbers early
today broke into a sealed box car and
tossed off more than Is cases of
cigarettes before being discovered and
fired upon by railroad detective.
Baked in their attempt to load the
cigarettes into two automobiles which
were waiting for them on dirt road
that crosses the Pennsylvania Railroad
tracks about a mile south of Lanham
Md, the thieves fed after leaping
from the train. The cigarettes were
recovered and turned over to railroad
officials.
The attempted robbery occurred
about 5.45 am, as the train sped
toward Baltimore. The gang, police
believe, Is the same one that has been
robbing freight trains in the vicinity
Of the Benning yards for the last sew
eral weeks.
License Tags Checked.
The license numbers of the cars in
which the robbers made their get
away were obtained by the railroad
detective, who turned them over to
police of both the District and Mary
land. Two men are said to have been
riding in one of the machines and an
undetermined number in the other
one.
A quick check-up Of the license
numbers disclosed, police said, that
one of the automobiles was listed to
resident of Darlington, Md. and the
other one to Baltimorean.
Prince Georges County police, after
a conference with the railroad de-
tective, whose identity was not re-
vealed, reconstructed the robbery at
tempt as follows:
The robbers, after parking their
c.-rs near the Lanham crossing, where
they had planned to throw off their
loot and flee, boarded the train as it
pulled out Of the Benning yards.
They rode on top of one of the
cars, or between two of them, until
the train had left the yards. Then
they lowered themselves down the side
of the car containing the cigarettes,
using a rope ladder brought along for
that purpose, broke the seal on the
door and went to work.
While they we're at work, however,
they were discovered by the railroad
detective, who fired three shots at
them as they leaped from the train.
The detective also jumped from the
train, but the thieves scrambled into
their cars and sped away. The de-
tective tagged another freight and
rode to Lanham, where he instructed
Mrs. Hilda Wiser. crossing watch
woman, to notify police.
Woods Are Searched.
Officers, arriving a few minutes
later, made a thorough search of the
woods in the vicinity, but failed to
find any trace of the fugitives. A
hunt along highways and side roads
also was fruitless.
The cigarettes were found at the
foot of an embankment beside the
tracks. A number of empty cases
also we're found, but police said they
appeared to have been there for sew
eral days.
The time Of the attempted robbery
was established by police and resi-
dents of the section after Pennsyl-
vania officials denied it had occurred
today.
Cigarette robberies we're one of the
specialties of the notorious "Tri-
State" gang, recently rounded up by
police Of Washington, Baltimore,
Richmond, New York, San Francisco
and Johnson City, Tenn.
The "Tri-Staters, in a truck hold
up near st. Petersburg, Va, obtained
cigarettes and cash with a total value
of approximately 100000, according
TO police. They also made a large
haul in similar robbery in North
Carolina.