The "VASCO"

Sun Jun 26 21:31:16 EDT 2016

Thanks Bruce,
Those Sanborn maps are really helpful, and interesting.
Jeff Sanders

      From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
 To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
 Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2016 5:05 PM
 Subject: Re: The "VASCO"

3.) The acronyn "VASCO" stood for "Virginia Supply Company," and if memory serves me correctly, there were several others on the N&W system. Was not the Virginia Supply Company owned by several N&W officials?

A search of the on-line newspaper archives at the Library of Virginia turned up some references to "Virginia Supply Company" that give some details about where it was located not quite 100 years ago. The 1919 Sanborn map of Roanoke shows a "Virginia Supply Co." storehouse on Shenandoah Ave. between 6th and 7th Streets (between the Lemon-Kola bottling works and the Kessler Coal Co.). On another sheet is shown the "Railroad Y.M.C.A." on the corner of 12th and Shenandoah. The article about the suicide is sad but interesting in the amount of detail that is included about the event.
Bruce in Blacksburg

Moderator:
 http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160626.Roanoke+1919,+Sheet+39.pdf http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160626.Roanoke+1919,+Sheet+77.pdf-----------
The World News, Volume 32, Number 4, Friday, 5 July 1918, pg.
Contractor M. J. Howell will begin to erect at once a large warehouse for the Virginia Supply Company, on Sixth Street. N. W., in Roanoke.

---------The World News, Volume 33, Number 54, 4 March 1919, pg. 1
BIG HAULS MADE IN TWO ROBBERIESVirginia Supply Company and Overall Factory Are Looted By Thieves.
Two notable burglaries have been reported to the police as having occurred in the city since Saturday night, these being the storehouse of the Virginia Supply Company and the Blue Ridge Overalls Company. The latter occurred some time last night, but the company has as yet been unable to determlne exactly what was taken. The loss, however, is thought to have been rather small, perhaps not more than a few suits.
The Virginia Supply Company had checked up this morning and have given the police an exact list of their losses, which sounds like an inventory statement for a smaller firm than this.
Following is a list of the stolen articles: Four dozen razors, two safety razors, seven dozen pairs of hose, three pairs of shoes, 200 coupon books of the Virginia Supply Company with numbers running from 22,801 to 24,800A, fifteen dozen red lead pencils of Express No. 2 make, one dozen black gauntlet leather gloves, seventy-one Ingersoll watches of values ranging from $1.50 to $7.50, a half dozen summer union suits, 100 Sabarosa cigars, 250 "7-11" cigars, two dozen blue work shirts [uninteligible, crease in paper]
This company had just finished an inventory Saturday so were able to check up the stolen property exactly. Just when the robbery occurred is not known, but it was sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning. Entrance was gained by prising up a back window and breaking window bars. The rear of the storehouse abuts on the Norfolk & Western Railroad on First Avenue, S. W. and four or five empty cars served as a screen for the robbers.
Up to noon today no arrest had been made, but the police believe they will be able to land the guilty parties. They do not believe such a wholesale robbery was the work of one man.

----------The World News, Volume 33, Number 56, 6 March 1919 , pg. 3
ROBBERY CLEARED UP BY THE POLICEMore Than Six Hundred Dollars Worth of Stolen Goods Recovered--Youths Arrested-----The robbery of the storehouse of the Virginia Supply Company at , n. w, from which over $600 worth of merchandise was stolen last Sunday, has been cleared up, and all of the stolen articles recovered with the exception of three pairs of shoes, which the two youths, Raymond Myers and Howard Lucas, who, according to the police, confessed to the robbery, deny getting.
Detectives Manning and Trout, of the Police Department, have been working on the case since Monday. On Tuesday evening Raymond Myers was arrested, and yesterday Howard Lucas was taken into custody. A large quantity of the stolen articles are said to have been found in the home of Lucas at 117 Church Avenue, s. w. When confronted with these facts, Myers is reported to have broken down and confessed to having hidden his share of the loot in the basement of 431 Shenandoah Avenue, n. w.
The storehouse, according to the reported confessions of the two boys, was entered about 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon, and the stolen articles were carried away in suit cases. The Lucas boy had his share of the stolen goods in two of the cases which were found in his room at his home, said the police. Detectives Manning and Trout went to the residence on Shenandoah Avenue where Myer's share of the goods was reported concealed, but there was nothing to indicate that the occupants of the house knew anything about the treasure having been hidden in the unused basement.
An inventory of the goods stolen footed up $619.90, the largest item being 83 Ingersoll watches valued at $223.25. Of other goods stolen there were: razors, hosiery, pencils, chewing gum, gloves, cigars, shifts, pocket knives, caps, cigarettes, handkerchiefs, toilet soap, chewing tobacco and four suit cases, the last named articles being used in carrying the goods away from the storehouse.
Myers is scheduled for trial on other charges of robbery on March 11. He is 16 years old, and Lucas gives his age as 17.--------The World News, Volume 33, Number 57, 7 March 1919, pg. 2
Police Court News
Howard Lucas and Raymond Myers, white youths, entered pleas of guilty to robbing the Virginia Supply Company on First Avenue Sunday night, when arraigned in Police Court this morning. Myers also admitted he had sold one of the watches stolen, but declared he had disposed of nothing more. Lucas claimed that he had not disposed of a single article. Myers was sentenced to the Reform School. He already had two suspended sentences hanging over htm. This was Lucas' first conviction, and it was testified that he worked regular and was a good hand, so Judge Berkeley said he would give him this chance to make good, and released him on probation.
Representatives of the Virginia Supply Company were present and identified the property and recovered it. They stated that about half of the goods gone from the storehouse are still missing, including one suit case and forty-three Ingersoll watches, among other articles. The recovered goods were packed in four suit cases, also stolen from the company. The entire amount of goods checked up as missing from the store was valued at $619.90.
---------The World News, Volume 33, Number 59, 10 March 1919, pg.
Police Court News
George Gillespie, a young white man, has been arrested in connection with the Virginia Supply Company robbery, but his case was continued. Some knives said to have been stolen from that place are alleged to have been in his possession.
---------The World News, Volume 34, Number 120, 17 November 1919, pg. 5
Elliston NewsWillie Hundley has accepted a position with the Virginia Supply Company, at Eckman, W. Va.
------The World News, Volume 44, Number 64, Friday, 12 September 1919, pg. 1
ROBERT GLENN FOUND DEAD AT WAREHOUSE
Manager of Virginia Supply Company Believed to Have Taken His Own Life--Bullet Hole in Right Temple, Pistol By His Side.
Robert Glenn, manager of the Virginia Supply Company, was found dead at 10:45 today at the warehouse of the company at the corner of Sixth Street and First Avenue, N. W., with a bullet hole in his right temple and a pistol with one empty chamber lying by his side. All indications were that Glenn bad taken his own life. The pistol, a 32-calibre Smith and Wesson, had a little blood on it when found. Mrs. Glenn is said to have partially identified it as one owned by the dead man.
Ill health is the reason assigned by friends of the dead man for taking his own life. It is said that for some time Glenn had been in rather poor health and had lost heavily in weight. This morning he left the boarding house of Mrs. Kate Moore, 315 Church Avenue, S. W., where he lived with his wife, and one child, about 8:30 o'clock. He ate no breakfast, it is said, on account of a lack of appetite. He is supposed to have gone straight to the warehouse, where he acted as manager, and it was there his body was found two hours later.
C. F. Carson and H. M. Carver found the dead body lying across several bags of sugar. The pistol was lying near the body where It had apparently slipped down between two sugar bags. Glenn's hat was lying on the floor a few feet away as was a box of cigars, which it appeared Glenn probably had in one hand when the shot was fired that ended his life. An investigation was conducted by the police authorities and all evidence turned over to Coroner R. Gordon Simmons, but it was not thought at noon that it would be necessary to conduct a coroner's inquest. The body was turned over to Oakey's to be prepared for burial.
Glenn was about thirty years old, married and had one child. He is a native of North Carolina and is said to have come to Roanoke from Stoneville. He was reputed to be a business man of fine ability and integrity and stood high In the estimation of his employers and associates.
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