The New York herald. [volume], March 13, 1921, SECTION SEVEN, Page 2, Image 82

About The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924

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NO ART EXEMPT IN MORAL LAW, SAYS DR. VAN DYKE
Ridicule Will Kill Immodest Dress and In
decent Dances, Asserts Princeton Professor,
Unstirred by Alarmist Reports on
Present Day Standards
N unusual and most interesting point of view in the current com
ment on present day morals is afforded by the accompanying in
terview with Dr. Henry Van Dyke. Readers of the Magazine
Section of THE NEW YORK HERALD have been treated recently to
the trenchant utterances of Bishop Gailor of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, Bishop Burgess of Long Island and many other noted members
of the clergy. Last Sunday was presented an outline of the campaign
begun by Episcopal church women to better conditions. Dr. Van Dyke's
long pastorate of the Brick Presbyterian Church in this city, his service
as Minister to the Netherlands and his connection with Princeton Uni
versity give him the widest possible viewpoint, and his words are espe
cially impressive on that account.
IN a preface to the definitive edition of
his works now issuing from the press
Dr. Henry Van Dyko refers to himself
as an "adventurous conservative." words
that fairly represent his attitude toward tho
present moral condition of society, which Is
?being generally and severely criticised. Con
servative, because he desires to remind peo
ple of the great principles at the roots of
art and morals that preserve the life of our
best traditions, he yet adventures in quest
of new things that may make life fuller,
cleaner and better worth living:.
"Whatever I have done, in whatever lit
erary form I have done it, has been under
taken in the hope that I might in some way
help the 'other fellow.' The society in which
we live affords but an approximation of Jus
tice, and its gifts are unevenly distributed.
Some men get more than they deserve and
some less than they deserve. I must place
myself in the former class; but if justifica
tion is needed perhaps it may be found in
the feeling always present in my mind that
causes me to constantly seek, to 'adven
ture.' for a better ordering of things.
"I don't mean by this that I am a Com
munist." continued Dr. Van Dyke, "for trials
of communism in Rome, in France and in
Russia have proved dismal failures, entail
ing unnecessary misery, but there is a
change coming, and we do not yet perceive
In what form it will come, that will make
the world a happier place. I had hoped,
and still hope, that the first dawn of this
change would lighten the world by a con
cert of nations. The rays we think we see
have not yet proved to be a false flawn. T
welcome the change of administration at
Washington, while holding to the belief that
Woodrow Wilson will in time come to be
considered as one of our greatest men. tie
cause by this change, this new 'adventure.'
it Is possible our hopes for a true dawn wilt
focus.
Alarmist Reports on Morals
Fail to Stir Him Deeply
"But when you ask me to give an opinion
about the morals and manners of tho young
genetjptlon I can't do it. Reports of how
these manifest themselves irf our great
cities do reach us here In Trlnceton. but
deadened almost by distance. Surely the
conditions which give rise to these reports
are eccentricities common to every genera
tion. I do not think they go very deep.
Anyway, they sre but rumors here."
In this delightful workshop a study fat
enough removed from the main part of a
solid, fine old Revolutionary house, it should
be difficult to lend one's mind to the silly
things that are going on In noisier places;
and. provided one Is able to accept the com
forting thought that silly errors of dreras
and deportment do not seriously affect the
moral fibre of a people, they may be
brushed aside as Dr. Van Dyke did.
Avalon, the estate he bought in 1900. was
in Revolutionary times the property of the
Kitz-Randolph family and later owned by
Commodore Balnbridge; It was the home of
Judge Bayard, first American Commissioner
of Claims in Great Britain after the Revo
lution. Besides the interest attached t*> Its
first residents there is another Incident that
gives the place historic piquancy, for from
a corner abutting on the road the last shot
was fired In the Battle of Princeton. An
'embattled' farmer, whose name hag been
lost, dragged a cannon there and fired a
parting shot, as the last of the British host
was disappearing In the retreat.
Tn this peaceful home, ideal for literary
labors. Dr. Van Dyke readily may be ex
cused If he Interests himself rather more In
the major aspects *of human progress than
1n their minor difficulties. Moreover, it Is
his view that the right way to Improve the
world Is by going back to the deep, first
principles of human nature by bringing out
the innate respect for what Is true and
beautiful and good anjJ, reflecting this re
spect in book, song, music and sculpture.
Trying to Claim Rightful Place
For Art and the Joy of Art
hat he said before the Teachers' Con
ference In Atlantic City on Sunday morn
ing February 27 on the subject of art and
morals had a sufficient Immediate message
to be seir.ed upon by the dally press and In
some instances meaning was attach*! to
some of his remarks which they were not
intended to carry. But said Dr. Van Dyke:
.Newspaper reports were on the whole
i >'ty fair, although, of course, they dwelt
chiefly upon the negative points of attack
and consequently Inst sight of the main ob
ject of the address, which was positive and
constructive. I was trying to claim a right
ful place for art and the Joy of art and
the pleasure that It gives In Ihe normal
life of man."
Dr. Van Dyke seemed to be surprised
that his discourse on a subject so purely
Intellectual should have been linked up in
the public mind with a discussion of exist,
ing moral conditions. He bad received, h"
said, many requests from editors to write
nut for publication what he had said. but.
he declined them all. Now to Tut? New
York Ifhaui.n ho was willing to repeat In
exN nso what he had said.
"Art. has It own laws and rules and prin
ciples of beauty of which commerce, agri
culture, politics and the other distinct de
partments of man's life know nothing. In
this sense It may be said that art is for
art's sake, hut It cannot fulfil Its mission
unless It Is also for 'man's sake,' and this
necessarily brings it within the great circle
of morals, which embraces all of the human
life nnd every one of those distinct
spheres of which I hsve Just spoken.
"To claim that art Is exempt from moral
law Is to degrade It below the level of
humanity.
"No#one could think ? m iking uch a
claim for commerce, agriculture or politics.
although the latter [here Dr. Van Dyke
smiled whimsically] is someumos treated a.s
if the moral law did not apply to it.
"Fine art or poor art is to be judged by
artistic laws. 'How Doth the Little Busy
I to' and 'Let Dogs Delight to Bark and
Bite' are not poetry, nor are Rogers's clay
statuettes sculpture, although nobody can
find any fault with them from the moral
point of view.
"On the other hand, by the judgment of
mankind Dante's Divine Comedy, and the
pictures of Rembrandt and Raphael, the
sculptures of Michael Angelo are great art
because they fulfil the laws which govern
artistic production.
"But when you have estimated a work of
art according to that standard there still
remains another question to art: What is
its moral quality? It may have very little,
practically, you may say, hardly any at all.
like a picture of 'still life': flowers, fruit,
furniture, but the moment it begins to touch
human life and its problems then it almost
invariably begins to have a distinct moral
quality, good or evil. Jt has a relation t<
virtue or to vice; it purifies or it stains tin
imagination.
"It uplifts or debases the mind: it can
lend a new charm to what is pure and noble
and it can expose, especially in the drama
and in fiction it can expose to scorn what
is mean and base and vile.
"Thus the evils of immodest dress and
indecent dancing may be left to ridicule, the
higher kind, which is satire, and the lower
sort, which is caricature. These will kill, If
they seek to do it, the eccentricities so miK i;
in criticism. I understand that Miss Rachel
Crothers's new play, 'Nice People,' has this
for a theme; she is a sound writer for th*
theatre and her new piece will help.
"Art, on the other hand, in any of its
manifestations, may he perverted by a false
intention, or by an unconscious yielding to
ihe lower impulses, so that it actually makes
goodness appear hateful or ridiculous and
badness appear heroic and attractive.
"It may play upon the strings of sensual
passions and tickle the nerves of prurient
curiosity and sexual hysteria, weakening
the fibre of diameter and confusing those
Dr. Henry Van Dyke describes himself as an adventurous con
servative. He is optimistic on the world's moral status, despite silly
errors of the young generation and alarmist reports.
: ?. ? ... "V
DR. HENRY VAN DYKE.
?serious judgments o? life which every human
being is bound, at !east sometimes, to make.
"Please do not misunderstand mf. f tnink
that taken as a whol<> the service of art to
mankind has been high and nobte. The
masterpieces, almost without exception,
have in them an inspiration which is essen
tially moral; that is to say, it springs from
a recognition, a consciousness of an innate
and everlasting' difference between that
which is fine and fair and that which is foul
and lewd.
"I believe there are more good booki than
evil books, more good plays than evil plays,
more good statues and pictures than evil
ones, more fine music than evil music. But
it still remains true that in each year in
our great cities you may see, as 1 said to
the teachers in their convention, 'some plays
from which you might infer that the Sev
enth Commandment is the only command
ment. and the chief pleasure of life consists
in breaking it.'
"John Keats, whose centenary has just
Calls Jazz an Invention of Imps for the Torment
of Imbeciles, but Believes Good Music,
Like Good Books, Will Always
Exert Dominating Influence
been celebrated throughout . the English
speaking world, has a very fine remark on
the moral side of poetry. You will find it
in his ode entitled 'Bards of Passion and of
Mirth':
Here your earth born souls still speak
To mortals of their little week.
Of their sorrows and delights,
(if their passions and their spites,
Of their glory and th*ir shame ;
What doth strengthen and what maim.
"Now, Keats is distinctly a poet's poet;
he represents the a?sthetic spirit in all its
beauty. Here is a line in which he reveals
the application of the moral law to art:
'What doth strengthen and what maim.'
That's the question to ask about a work
of art?does it make your spirit stronger or
weaker, does it build you up and inspire you
and move you with sane and healthy feel
ings or does it cripple you and lower your
moral tone and fill you with morbid
thoughts and hysterical impulses?
"Take the art of music. Great music,
even merely good music which .has melody
and harmony in it, flows around us like a
stream of pure, clear water or, like the bil
lows of the great sea, it refreshes and it
strengthens, but sensual music, lascivious
music, mean music?if it can be called music
at all?irritates, demoralizes and vulgarizes
those who listen to it.
Jazz Invented by Imps for
The Torment of Imbeciles
"Jazz, for example, I think, was invented
by imps for the torment of imbeciles. True,
it does not contain any distinct immoral
teaching, because music is not a didactic
art, but jazz does contain a real immoral
influence, because it confuses, bewilders, be
numbs and befuddles the mind through the
ears. It Is, in effect, the dope or knockout
drop In the art of sound,
"Laws against immoral art? Yes. I sup
pose every civilized community has found
It necessary to have something of that kind,
otherwise we should have cartloads of filth
dumped at our back doors every morning;
but these laws, it should be remembered, are
very imperfect in their scope and uncertain
in their application. They can do a little
to help I's, but not very much. To rely
upon legislation as a safeguard against
immorality in art?that is, as a real safe
guard?Is a great mistake. The true de
fence must be found in the discrimination,
the taste, the conscience of the individual
and the public.
"We must learn to ask ourselves and we
must teach our children to ask in art as well
as in commerce and other human activities
what is good tn Its effect and what is evil.
"It is not healthy to drink poison, even
from a jewelled cup. The shirt of Xessus
may have been beautifully woven, but it was
not a good garment to wear. After all, in
thinking about art, that is to say, art of the
higher kind, I como back to tho words of an
okl book:
" 'Whatsoever things are pure and lovely
and of prood report, if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on these
things.'
' "A man is made by his thoughts. What
he loves he is apt to look at, what he looks
at long he grows to be like. These are my
views on art. and morals. They are what so
many persons havPUfecn asking for since the
address, really a sermon, delivered on a Sun
day morning at Atlantic City, that now I
am glad to have had tho opportunity to give
tliem out in full."
Belongs to No Reform Society but
The Church and the United States
"Are you a member of a reform society.
Dr. Van Dyke?"
"No," was his answer, "I do not belong to
any reform society, except the church and
the United States of America."
Ten volumes of the sixteen promised by
his publishers as the definitive edition of
Dr. Van Dyke's writings have already ap
peared in a beautiful dress of blue and gold.
Of the stories "The Other Wise Man'' and
"Fisherman's Luck" hold the apple of popu
larity. These continue to sell like new books.
A new book, a collection of essays, is to
appear this spring, with the title "Camp
Fires and Guide Posts." Certain of the
author's war writings are included in tho
volume. He does not intend to write specif
ically about war experiences, but, said he:
"Any real writing done now will have to
bo tinctured by the war, that is inevitable.
Mine cannot be an exception. But in justi
fication of my continuing to write, if there
needs one, I want to say that I nover put
out a book or a smaller piece of work un
less I feel a real impulse and also feel that
my purpose is good. Whenever I am lit
doubt on these points I try to recall the
bock. I have a vision of something better
coming to the world and wish to do what
I can to make its coming sure and early,
and whether my effort is in the shape of n
poem, an essay or a story, the purpose
nover changes.
"My creed is simple: Keep what is good,
discard what is bad and look confidently
for a change to tho better. I love the life
here at Princeton and am happy in it, but
as soon as I feel I'm getting stale in my
university work I want to be off. Just now
it begins to look that this coming summer
or next fall I shall get away on a lonn
journey to the Far East, but nothing is
settled yet.
"And now we will write 'finis' to my views
on all the subjects you have asked me about.
If they turn out to be too long or too dull
use the blue pencil, cut 'cm remorselessly.
You have my full permission."
Millions in Loot Put Mail Robbers in Van of Crime Wave
By DONALD MacGREGOR.
New York Herald Bureau. (
Waohinntou. I). C., March 12. f
WHEN the United States Postal Ser
vice chirked up its losses for the
last fiscal year the total amounted
to almost $2,000.000?through the robbery of
post offices, the holding- up of mail trains,
the theft of registered packages, Are and
accidents. At the present rate the losses
for the current fiscal year will be far in ex
cess of this great sum. for the crime wave
is showing up In the mail service, and
America is reexpcrioncing, in a sense, the
days of Jesse James and the Younger broth
ers.
Never In recent years has the post office
inspection service, made tip of 435 special
agents in the field and a large staff of highly
trained sleuths in Washington, been so busy.
George M. Sutton, the chief, scarcely gets
the details of one robbery tha.n a telegraphic
flash arrives about another. Mail trains,
post-offices, post office wagons and post office
messengers at the present time are the par
ticular targets for what appears to be a
systematized plot to rob the mails.
The two most notable robberies of recent
weeks were those at Toledo, Ohio, when a
post ottce wagon \va.- raided and securities
and money totalling not less than $1,GOO,000
taken, and at Minneapolis, when a lone
bandit, boarding a mail car on the pretext
that he was a postal clerk got away with
valuables estimated at J20n.00rt. A third rob
bery scarcely less sensational took place n
few days later when four bandits armed with
rifles held up the "Hummer," a fa?t express
on the Chicago and Alton Kali way, near
Qulncy, III., compelled the engineer to un
couple the baggage and mail cars and run
them up the track for a couple of miles and
got away with registered letters and pack
ages valued at tlJfi.OOO. In a single
month, between January is, 1921. and
February 17, 1921. the post office Depart
ment docketed 1,0.">4 cases of robbery. While
this Includes, of course, numerous cases of
minor importance, it reflects in a general
way the tremendous rlrlve which bandits
and thieves of all des< ription* are making
on the mails.
Mail Robberies for 1930
Total Nearly Halt Million
Miiet Inspector Sutton sits at a large
Muare desk on the second floor of the Poet
Of^jce Department building in Washington
trying to put a check-on the crime wave as
it. is affecting the mall service. He realises
Hie magnitude of the Job cut out for him.
With years of experience In the Secret Ser
vice and later at the head of the Post Office
Inspection Service, he works systematical
ly?directing the activities of the agents In
the field, suggesting new lines of investiga
te, piecing together the fragmentary In
formation that sifts In through a hundred
channels and then taking the utmost satis
faction in the arrest of the criminals. The
rceord for arrests In this servb-e i<* remark
able.
"We usually get our man," said Sutton,
with an air of self-confldence backed up by
experience.
During the lwt fiscal ? year between
400.000 and 500,000 eases of all d< scrlptlons
came to the attention of the post Office In
spection Service. Thev were of all classes,
from the loss of an ordinary letter to the
robbery of a mall train. Most of the eases,
Chief Inspector's Records Show Nearly Half Million Cases in 1920 With
Promise of New Hiirh Mark This Year
of course, wre trivial, but"the net result
was that 3,145 men and women were arrested
for such robberies?535 of them for robberies
of post offices, mail trains and post office
wagons.
"Aside from the spectacular cases, such as
post office and train robberies," Sutton ex
plained, "a largo loss to the malls has oc
curred at docks, wharves, large terminals,
transfer points, loading platforms, &c.
These are due in the majority of instances
to Individuals not in any way connected with
the posta! service.
"These matters are receiving persistent
attention by expert inspectors whose spe
cialty, developed through years of experi
ence, is exclusively that of investigating
offences against the postal establishment,
and to the thoroughness of whose work
the number of arrests effected monthly of
persons charged with stealing mall matter
will abundantly testify.
"It Is troe, of course, that the losses
suffered by the postal service have been con
siderable, yet. viewing the matter in a more
or less comparative sense, it Is believed to be
a reasonable assumption that the postal ser
vice has fared no worse, and probably better,
than other lines.
"It is difficult to explain the reason for
this crime wave, hut it is well to consider
several new elements in our national situa
tion which may at least be contributory.
For Instance, there is at present a vast
amount of unemployment, with prices high
and many men out of work. The fact that
the price of whiskey, from bootlegfrer*. i?
high, may have contributed to the condition.
On top of that the country in Just coming
out of a war, when men have been more or
less hardened and experienced In the use of
firearms."
The records of the Post Office Inspection
Service are as thrilling as ever the 5 cent
paper back novels of Hie Jesse James class
ever dared to be. They are the reports of
the post office Inspectors who take their lives
In their hands when they go af^fr P"st office
and train robbers. One of the most thrilling
of the comparatively recent cases is that of
the holdup of the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas Railroad train No. 27, on July 1Q. 191*.
at Koch siding, near Panln, Kan.
This robbery of a "Katj" train recalled In
many ways the days wh"n the old-time ban
dits held up the trains of (he very same line,
with handkerchiefs over the lower part of
their faces and with a revolver In each hand.
Tt was late at night when the train stopped
at the siding to let another train pass. The
bandits, five of them, boarded the mall car
and demanded that the postal clerks throw
up their hands. Quickly the lights of the
far were extinguished and the shooting be
pan. It continue^ for fifteen minutes, and
four persons were wounded.
The gfiner consisted of Dale Jones. Frank
l.ewls, Hftscoe I/nncastcr, Thomas Knight
and Hoy D. Hhorrill. I<ewls was wounded
in the fighting and died in Jail.
Lancaster was trailed for two months by
the po*tni Inspectors and an effort was made
to arrest him on September 13 at Colorado
Springs. Col. He resisted, and of the
officers shot him. He died within a few
hours, but lw lived long enough to admit
^hat he had participated in the robbery as
well as having killed an officer who tried
to arrest him on a previous occasion.
Meantime other officers were on the trail
of Dale Jones, and they found him at Ar
cadia, CM., where an effort was made to ar
rest him on the night of November 19. A
battle followed with Deputy Sheriffs Ander
son and Van Vliet of Los Angeles on the
one side and Dale and his wife on the other.
The result was that Deputy Sheriff Van
Vliet and Mr. and Mrs. Jones were killed.
Knight and Sherrlll afterward were cap
tured in California and were tried at Fort
Scott. Kan., where they were convicted and
sent to prison at Leavenworth, Kan., for
twenty-five years. There they are now.
Another instance of where a bandit fled
to California after a robbery wan when a
screen waw>n was robbed In Denver, Col., on
December 2, 1918, of two pouches of valuable
registered mall. The wagon was on its way
from th<? Denver post office to the Denver
terminal.
The post office inspectors working on the
ease hit pn the trail of Alfred Young, with
several aliases, and he was arretted eleven
days later at Oakland, Cal. Hi- was taken
back to Denver for trial, and on March
27, 1910, was convicted and sentenced to
serve five years at I^eavenworth. lie was
fined. In Addition. $2,000. Young at one
time had been employed as the driver of
screen wagons in Denver.
A n gistered mall pouch containing a large
amount of valuable mail was stolen from
the station at Whiting, Ind? on September
IV 191!'. The post office insi>eetors went to
work <>ri the case at once, with the result
that thov recovered more than $165,000 of
the loot, and made three arrests?I.eo I'hillp
kowskl, Walter Phllipkowski nnd John
Welda. who were convicted and sent to
serve sentence* of from one to four years
at the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga.
Former Mail Clerk Alone
Worked on Santa Fe Train
One cold rainy night. April 8, 1920, a ban
dit held up a train on the Santa Fe Rail
road?known ns Train No. 9?running he
tween Fort Madison and Kansas City. The
robbery occurred shortly after the train left
Henrietta, Mo.
Tho bandit boarded the train, ilouri^'i
ing an automatic revolver. He forced nil
the rlork"? except one to get down on the
floor The single remaining clerk was com
manded to tie the hands of the others snd,
when he had flnishi d this job, he too. was
told to i on the floor with the rest. The
bandit bound him hand and foot, proceed
ing then to rob the mail.
Tho robber took a knife from Ills pocket
and started opening the registered mail
sacks, removing what he wanted. TTe left
the train as it was pulling Into Kanss?
City. Mo. It developed afterward that this
bandit was Horace T. Walton, a "ne-timc
mail clerk, who was Kill* 1 !>y h polkeman
n Chicago the following month, after the
robbery of an Illinois Central train, on May
18, between Knnk'ikee and Chicago.
Tn I hie rohberv about $7fi,000 was taken,
but the amount was recovered almost Im
mediately. Walton allot, but n?"t before
be had mortally wounded a policeman. One
of his accomplices, Richard P. Smythe. was
arrested, convicted and is in prison.
The mail messenger operating between the
post office and the I'nlon Station at Han
Diego, Cal.. was held up at 2:15 in the
morning of April 27. 1920. and registered
mall valued at $t?0,000 was stolen. The post
office inspectors went to work on the case
and within forty-eight, hours had arrested
Itoy O. Gardner, alias E. C. Stlllwell and
Samuel Cox. He was placed on trial soon
afterward and, on May 24, less than a month
later, was sentenced to serve for twenty-five
years in the Federal Penitentiary at Mc
Neils Island, Washington. The $60,000 had
been buried in a canyon in the vicinity of
Del Mar, near San Diego, where it was re
covered by the authorities.
A spectacular robbery occurred at Atlanta
on the night of June IS, 1920. A mall truck,
loaded heavily with ordinary mail and with
registered mail of considerable value, left
the city post office at 9:10 o'clock, bound for
the terminal station. When the truck
slowed down lo round a corner a short dis
tance from the post office it was boarded by a
man who said he was a police officer. The
truck was in charge of a driver and a trans
fer clerk.
After the truck had gone for a distance the
supposed officer drew two pistols and, cover
ing both the driver and the transfer clerk,
commanded the driver to proceed as he
directed. The truck went on to the out
skirts of the city, a mile across the line, and
then turned up a side road.
The robber tied and gagged the driver anJ
transfer clerk and slipped a mall pouch over
l.LlU head of each of them. He then, with
the aid of a lantern, proceeded to rifle the
mall.
When the truck failed to arrive at the
station the authorities began an investiga
tion and at 10:30 o'clock, tin hour and
twenty minutes after the roblier appeared,
the post office Inspectors took li|> the case.
They followed the truck several miles and
finally located If. Releasing the driver and
fhe transfer clerk they heard their stories
and put bloodhounds, which they obtained
from a nearby convict farm, on the trail
In nn effort to locate the man responsible
for the holdup,
'trowing out of evidence obtained in the
Investigation, a man was arrested In New
York city on October 23, 1920, who pave his
name as Thomas Donahue, alias Charles E.
Howe, alias Thomas Dugan. fle was chanted
with the robbery of .the mail truck In At
lanta.
The driver of the mall truck was taken to
Xew Tfork from Atlanta and made a positive
identification of Donahue as the man who
had held him up. Donahue was indicted It
Atlanta on November 13 nnd 29, and was
returned to the city on December B, now be
ing confined In the Fulton county jail there
awaiting trial.
Four masked men climbed aboard the first
car of a Missouri Pacific train. No. 4, as
It was leaving St. Louis on the night of
Aueust 1S, 1920. They boarded the train at
Tower Orove station, in the outskirts of
the city.
When the train kui wall undci w*> two
of the bandits, with pistols drawn and hand
kerchiefs concealing their features, entered
the mail car. While one of the bandits cov
ered the clerks with a pistol in each hand,
the other took five registered pouches to
the door. He then pulled the bell cord
and throw tho pouchos from the car. Tho
signal to proceed then was Riven, tho bell
cord cut and tho bandits loft the train.
As a result of the Investigation that fol
lowed a man giving the name of Alfred A
Oliver was arrested and required to furnish
bond of $10,000. Tho inquiry as yet Is in
complete. but one of tho pouchcs was re
covered.
Darings Robbery of Currency
in Mails Near Council Bluffs
One of tli<> most daring of the train rob
bertea of recent months was that of a Chi
cago. Burlington and Qulncy Railroad train.
No. 8. at 8:SO P. M.. as it was moving
between Union Pacific Transfer and the sta
tion nt Council Muffs. Town. One of tho
mail cars was broken Into by two robbers
and ton pouchos of registered mail wore
thrown off at a crossing where the train
was obliged ordinarily to stop.
It developed that a confederate of the two
1 obbers hail boon stationed nt the crossing
with an automobile. This man seized five
of the pouchos and drove away. The two
robbers fled with four of the pouches, while
the tenth, overlooked in the anxiety of the
two men to leave that place, later was re
covered by the authorities.
The post office inspectors took up the case
at once, with the result that within the fif
teen days that followed nine arrests were
made. One man, Keith U Collins, was taken
into cuatody at Westvillo, Okla., where he
had fled after attempting to conceal a large
portion of the currency that, had been in the
ponchos. The evidence was that Collins had
been the confed' rate nf the two masked rob
l>ers and had taken the flve pouches with
him In the automobile. Collins was sen
teneoil t'> serve fifteen years at Leavenworth,
while Fred E. Poffohbarger and Orvillo Phil
lips, convicted as the robliers, were sent
there for eighteen years and thirteen years
respectively. A largo portion of the stolen
mill was recovered and the disposition of
the remainder, or at least much of it. was
definitely'ascertained.
At Mount Vernon. 111., at fi:4" A. M. on
.Tanuar.v 14, 1921. a mail messenger was
roblied of two registered pouches containine
$1*9,900. Within two weeks the post office
Inspectors had arretted Ouy Kyle and
Lauren Williamson, both residents of Mount
Vernon, ami the amount of stolen mail, with
in a few dollars, was recovered*
On the name day, January 11 last, masked
bandits held up and robbed tho Jackson
street post <>f'ii I "fatlon at Dallas, Texa>
The robbers k<>< away with two registered
pouches, lint not before seriously wounding:
two registry clerks and seriously woundlns
another postal employee. One of th<' clerk"
died of wounds on January 36. Three ar
rests followed, with the result that one of
the principals, Albert L. Rowan, already ha?
been sentenced to serve twenty-flve years in
the Federal Penitentiary at. Leavenworth,
with a trial for murder Awaiting him In the
State court.
A registered pouch was stolen from a mail
truck between Orand Central Terminal and
West Shore ferry, in New York city, on
May B. 1920, with ths loss of flve package?
from tin- federal Reserve Rank, at New
York. These packages contained much of
\al ua.