Mail robbery
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OUTLAWS OF PEGLEG STATION,
Kimble County, Texas Historical Marker
Mail robbery is the
postal operator
and can involve the theft of money or luxury goods.
History
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In the UK
highwaymen were common, despite the death penalty. For example, in 1722 two were executed for robbing the Bristol mail.[1]
Robberies from trains also began early. An early example was on the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1849.[2]
In the USA, the period immediately following the
First World War witnessed a large number of mail robberies. Eventually, the frequency of these thefts caused the Department of the Navy to place armed Marines on all mail trains.[3]
A number of high-value mail robberies occurred in the UK after the
Second World War, as a result of a lack of improvements in security in the transport of money.[4] One major example was the Eastcastle Street robbery in 1952, involving the theft of £287,000 from a post office van in London. Overall that year, 629 mailbags went missing, and in the following year the figure was 738.[4]
The two most significant mail robberies both occurred in the early 1960s. In the UK, £2.6 million was taken in the 'Great Train Robbery' of 1963. A year earlier, $1.5 million was stolen from the hold-up of a U.S. Mail truck in Massachusetts. By the end of the 1960s, however, mail robbery had become less common.[4]
See also
- Package pilferage
- Alvin Karpis
- Charles Bollesalias Black Bart
- Dave Rudabaugh
- Mail fraud
- Postal robbery in the Subach
- Plymouth Mail robbery
- Roadblock (1951 film)
- Ronnie Biggs
- Roy Gardner (bank robber)
- Sallins Train Robbery
- Stagecoach
- Thomas James Holden
- United States Postal Inspection Service
- William Quantrill
- Wyatt Earp
References
- ^ Geri Walton (2014-04-18). "18th and 19th Century: Mail Coach Robberies". Geri Walton. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
- ^ "Vtbt Vreb hues". The Spectator. 1849-01-06. p. 6. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
- ^ "Rail Detectives Victors in War on Crime". Popular Mechanics. 41 (3): 336–339. March 1924.
- ^ ISBN 9781933648170.
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