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TRUCKS, TUBES, AND MAIL ROBBERS 295
A few months ago, mail robberies were the breakfast dish of the country. In five months, they have netted only $10,025. Last year they were getting away with millions. This is good work, work of the sort that the country appreciates in a Post Office Department and by a Postmaster General.
However, the illusion of peace was rudely dashed in October, when an estimated $1,454,128 was quietly lifted from a mail truck going down the Canal Street grade on the way from the New York City Hall station to the General Post Office. The driver was carrying $27,104.82 in cash and coin, $74,306.09 in negotiable bonds, $1,054,977.83 in nonnegotiable bonds, $223,545.89 in shares and stock, more than $11,000 worth of jewelry, coupons, notes and drafts, and letters. The driver, alone and unarmed, saw a green car pull up beside him. Two men leaped into the truck. Speeding off was impossible, because another car had simultaneously pulled across his path to prevent any escape. A laundry bag was pulled over his head and more than $1,000,000 changed hands.
The circumstances attending the robbery were full of ruthless irony. It was the third attempt: the first had been prevented by rain, the second by the chance appearance of a policeman, and the third, successful attempt was clearly witnessed by two men who thought that the truck had broken down and that the mail was being transferred. Another disconcerting thing was the fact that New York postal authorities had disregarded regulations which might have made the robbery impossible.
Chase National Bank had brought $453,000 worth of negotiable bonds to the City Hall Post Office that day under a seven-man guard, and yet a post office truck transferring more than $1,000,000 was being driven that night by one unarmed postal employee! Under postal regulations, any truck carrying more than $1,000,000 was to be accompanied by a motorcycle convoy and armed guards. These actual circumstances and the setup for the robbery were uncovered when we arrested a man in New York on entirely different charges. The post office delinquency came to light when I went to New York to conduct an investigation among metropolitan postal officials. Stricter regulations were put into effect immediately: all transfer trucks containing shipments of registered mail were to have motorcycle convoys; the driver was not to carry the key to the cage, which would be locked at the point of departure and remain locked until it reached its destination, where post office authorities would unload the shipment; and all trucks were to have guards who were to do nothing but keep their eyes open and their fingers on the trigger.
This robbery incident had another ironic twist when we re-enacted it late one night at Broadway and Leonard streets. A truck with a motorcycle guard passed by the scene, stopped the whole performance, thinking that it was another robbery, and refused to release us until we