N&W in 1911--Stolen

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
November 4, 1911

$20,000 OF LOCAL BANK'S MONEY STOLEN
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Package Taken From Registered Pouch Consigned to New York Correspondent

INSPECTORS MAKE EFFORT TO SUPPRESS THE NEWS
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Names of Shipper and Consignee Not Divulged, But Two Postal Clerks Are Known to be Under Suspicion
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NO OFFICIAL INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE ROBBERY
    Lynchburg, Va., Nov. 3. (Special)--While it is impossible to secure official information relative to the robbery, it was learned here today that a registered package disappeared from the United States mail here some time last Friday night and postal inspectors are now desperately hunting for the $20,000 contained in the package.
    It is understood the missing money was consigned by a Bluefield, W. Va., bank to a correspondent in New York city, though the names of the shipper or consignee are not yet divulged.  The inspectors were enabled to hush the matter up until this morning and when it became known a still further effort was made to suppress publication of the story.
    From unofficial sources it is said the package came to Lynchburg last Friday night on the Norfolk and Western and was delivered to the local transfer clerk, who in turn delivered it to a clerk on train No. 38, on the Southern, that night, bound to Washington.  Soon after the clerk left Lynchburg, it is understood, he reported by telegraph that the package had been tampered with and the pouch was short either one or two packages containing $20,000.  This clerk is said to have signed for the pouch on a way bill made up by the Norfolk and Western clerk, after which, it is claimed, he reported that the self-registering lock showed the pouch had been opened, for the lock showed, he claims, one number higher than on the receipt he signed before leaving Lynchburg.
    It is understood that the matter lies between the two postal clerks and the local transfer, though it is claimed here that the local transfer people are not under suspicion.
    The pouch did not pass through the Lynchburg postoffice.
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Gordon Hamilton
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