Show T I George S. S Dougherty former Deputy Police Commissioner New York City THE MYSTERY OF OF THE I STOLEN MAIL POUCHES Deputy Police Commissioner Commis Commis- Dougherty of NewYork NeWYork New NewYork York Says Two or Three Crooks Disguised as Mail a l Workers and Armed With Witha a Duplicate Key Could Very Loot a Mail Mai T Truck uck in a Few Seconds po UR registered United St States Stales tes mail pouches are are verified and counted Two L trustworthy men pu put them in a sled barred motor mail truck shut the heavy hemiy grilled door and secure it with wilh two separate locks When Wizen they open up after a trip across the ferry jerry and a drice dries uptown to the Post Office New York City the fo four r pouches Jouch containing something like to in negotiable securities checks and Jewelry Je have haDe How That is the mystery The men are ore above suspicion The truck is huilt built to 0 be thief The two locks are i intact Some one is supposedly watching it all the lime time And yet the trick is deverly turned clean as a whistle By whom Another mystery as mystery as yet yel So this Magazine has asked former Police Commissioner George S. S Dougherty of New York an on expert in crime detection to set sd down his solution of the problem how how the registered mail can be robbed roMed under the very eyes eyu of its guardians and and I from under double e lock and key as well By George S. S Dougherty Former Deputy Police Pollee Commissioner New NelO York City and late lale head lied of the Bureau STOLEN STOLEN- STOLEN STOLEN-on On n Saturday morning Feb 26 I SOMEWHERE ne near r or in New York City en I route to the General Post Office Thirty Thirty- J J second Street and Eighth Avenue four canvas canvas can can- can can- vas pouches filled with mail from r Washington and Baltimore imore A railway mail clerk checks up the pouches as they are put into the Post Office truck TH S is the problem I It makes a difficult cult study in crime det de de- de- de t Offhand I should say from my many years years' association with Post Office inspectors attached to the New NewYork York Division and elsewhere that it it willbe will be solved They will get the thief or thieves and probably recover recover much of the loot Why Follow me For deductive purposes purposes pur pur- poses let us study what occurred The four stolen po pou pouches hes and a number of others left Washington on mail car No 8 at 8 P. P M. M on Friday Feb 25 They were due at the Jersey Central terminal Communipaw at A. A M. M on Saturday The train was late and did not arrive until A. A M. M A railway mail clerk according to postal rule rode with the pouches from Wash Washington and he be states positively sacks were unloaded at Communipaw by three mail clerks into the motor truck in the mail room I sacks as they were put into the truck and they were all right Th Then n I l I 1 snapped the spring-locks spring on the back of the truck 1 I got on the seat eat with the driver r and we drove aboard the ferry ferryboat ferryboat boat f followed by another mail truck I 1 went into the ladies ladies' cabin on the boat and stayed there until we we reached Liberty Street t. t According to this statement statement the crime must have been committed AFTER the truck was locked at Communipaw and BEFORE it was unlocked at the uptown Post Office at 5 A. A M M. 1 Then it was discovered scover d the pouches were missing The robbery was promptly reported and in instantly investigated Now what wele were the conclusions pf pC the Investigators Investigators investigators gators They c coWd b be bt but four in number numbe 1 Short gone astray 2 Stolen at point of departure 3 Stolen in the theY depot at atthe the terminal i 4 Stolen on the boat or en route uptown by a good titter fitter or screw man with a duplicate key or by collusion Bui Bu the postal railway cl clerks clerk's statement lo locates ates the loss as occurring AFTER loading on the truck at atthe atthe atthe the New Jersey terminal So we must discard some sorn of these conclusions leaving only Nos 3 8 and 4 Now it itis is report reported d that there was a pouch among th the others that was filled w with th gr greenbacks on the way from Washington to New York banks the the same size and nd appearance as the missing pouches pouches and and this was overlooked by the thieves If forehanded crooks committed this crime and it has has all their earmarks then hen this is the b ha bag g they were after and missed in inin inin inn in n the sh shuffle me I TEALING S STEALING a registered pouch or pou pouches hes unless unless' the thief surely hits bit the right one is an unprofitable game The thief generally generally makes a haul laul of securities and papers hard to handle and nearly al always ways not negotiable and a little junk jewelry hardly jewelry hardly worth the he effort and he takes a wonderfully long chance to get it But if the thief or thieves in Four pouches containing containing contain contain- ing lag negotiable value of about have vanished How How- That Thatis is the mystery this case had a proper line on a pouch of real money it would be worth going after in in their way of thinking Such a money pouch was overlooked overlooked overlooked over over- looked that morning To Tomy Tomy Tomy my mind this fact clearly indicates that the crooks had little or no inside information that information that it was then on the face of it an outside job If they had any such information information inform tion it was incorrect in the main Now going a step farther To turn the Crossing from Jersey City at A. A M. M A railway mail clerk rode with the pouches from irom Washington 4 T 4 A Ap w LJ k r t errs 4 LOME SOME OF THE LOOT Braden Draden Copper Ss 1931 Noa Nos A to A inclusive Fifty imy shares II U. and O. O common certificate No A In the name o of or Gratz B. B Stickler One hundred bundred shares Norfolk and Western certificate No in the name of or Francis Franda E. E Leupp Five shares U. U S. S Steel common common cornmon com com- mon certificate ate No In Inthe the name of or Rebecca Stoneward Two shares Steel common certificate No T in the name of or John Fifty shares of Baltimore Tube Company preferred certificate ate No In the same name of or Archer Harve Harvey and Company Delaware and Hudson subscription receipts for 5 per percent cent convertible bonds numbered V V-US for M 1 for 1000 M 1 and M for 1000 each Tl Thirty six lx 1000 bond bonds of or the City of or New York mat maturIng urine In 1957 Nos VS VS and VS to VS The above lost by one firm are valued at Equitable Trust Co of or Baltimore Baltimore Balti DaltI more in railway bonds Samuel Kirk and Sons Baltimore Baltimore Balti Balti- more packet pa ket of jewelry OO Hennegen Bates Bate Company Baltimore Jewelry James R. R Armiger Company Baltimore Jewelry trick on the ferryboat without assistance from the inside seems impracticable and improbable because th the getaway is bad unless the theft is made at exactly the moment before the boat enters the slip at the New York end It becomes highly dangerous then of course because the clerks and arid drivers are now coming out of the cabins where they have gone to be comfortable if they have dared take tak a chance and leave their trucks Inthe in inthe inthe the runway on the boat There is left the hypothesis of their turning the trick by means of a duplicate ate k key keyon yon on th the st street et with the driver r and the The screw men may have used a duplicate key wh while e the truck waited f for r the boat clerk on the seat in front But this is almost Impossible Im Im- Im- Im possible there possible there isn't time m enough Sp So the investigation takes us back to o the Jersey terminal Here Her Heris is where the professional sneak would have bave made his bis touch Such men favor the point of departure or a stop en route In our problem this could not have been for the clerk says he counted the bags as they went into the wagon So we have that brief interval of time it took as the motor mail truck waited for the boat perhaps none of its g guardians were looking or maybe they left it alone who alone who can tell It only requires a few seconds sec see for the fastest of screw men to pull of off their trick Here is where the duplicate k key ky y worked like lightning There were vere probably two of them maybe three and they wore railway employees' employees clothes They had the yard look about them In the guise of freight handlers the crooks may h have ve wheeled the pouches out to an ex express express ex- ex press wagon n nobody b dy paid any attention to them least of all the mail truck driver or the mail clerk cleric Here was the best opportunity for the actual job and the best chance bance for a getaway if there was a rumble Crumble K s This is my solution D DIFFICULT as th the theft of registered mail mall must appear to the uninitiated it is not so unusual W We have had some perfect corkers in this line of endeavor in th tho last fifteen years v 1 3 any lock made after getting a gooi gool look at it and used to nip a mal mai pouch occasionally I could a dozen more who might turn sue suc suea suca a trick But the most daring and by fa fathe fathe a athe the cleverest mail pouch thief of ou day was F. F H. H Crosby alias A. A E EBell EBell EBell Bell a J. J New Yorker Assisted by Bl BlEd Bif Bis Ed Rice a bank sneak of notoriety he lifted a mail pouch which contained in money orders checks drafts and currency at Germantown Junction Pa on Sept 8 1903 Many a time has has' he duplicated this feat eat too I recall two other similar thefts by him one him one at the New York Central Station Station Station Sta Sta- tion in hA Buffalo and another at Springfield Ill His method was unique It was Bell who originated originated mated the idea dea of outfitting outfitting outfitting out out- fitting himself in rail railway way uniform and he always looked the part part medium medium sized industrious appearIng appearing appearing appear appear- ing well-faced well and al always always always al- al ways with the railway NOTE the two locks lockson on the rear of the mail truck where registered mail is being transported the registered ma snail mail clerk snaps on his lock in addition addition addition ad ad- to the regula regulation t on lock a product o ol I Prentice tice Tiller for lor example Missouri could get away with wi a pouch at a terminal point like a squirrel picking up crum crumin crumbs in Central Park He had handy aids too who knew the game almost as well as' as ashe he v I. I Charlie Fisher king of makers key-makers and E r rate first-rate penman into the bargain turned out all the keys for Prentice Old Hawkshaw Lawrence a nifty hotel thief could master abou 11 The thieves may have been disguised in railway railway rail raU- way employees employees' clothes y yard rd look He made it an invariable rule to study every angle of the job before he undertook it H He practiced his getaway over and over again just a athe athe as the Germans drill for an attack on the French trenches Ably ass assisted sted by half dozen slick ones Tie lie knew he never had bad any trouble in getting away wITh a few registered pouches when he be needed them He made the Germantown Junction touch Knowing that all registered mail would be watched by a thousand nd eyes after his clever coup they alwa always 3 lock the door when the horse is stolen he merely turned to another form of endeavor With a dashing female companion he took a little trip to Atlantic C Coast ast resorts posing as a well-to-do well Englishman There he sought and procured introductions to tho the unsuspicious banks and with forged endorsements to the stolen checks drafts and money orders which b ht be deposited he drew against them in bi hiS bis v various rious accounts and skipped out before any anyone one was wise As even the best of the crooks go Bell w was s a wise wille un But he waa arrested later in ih Denver |