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RAILWAY THEFTS.
MODERN KMTS OF TOE ROAD
- ' toernobs 'described; '
.. ANNUA!) LOSS, £2500. .
- Probably because of the many -op
portunities for theft which present
themselves at railway sheds - and
sidings lo the. accomplished thief, and
tho great , temptations which .thus be
sot normally honest but weak-minded
men, tho, railway, departments and
railway companies all the world over
havo over been the prey of the marau
der Tho . Victorian ' Railway Depart
ment" Is, no exception to the, rule.
. It, would be. difficult to say exactly
what tho i Railway Department . loses
every year by pillaging, for no sepa-
rato account is kept of the losses sus
tained in this manner, they being in
cluded under a general stntcment
which covers claims for goods de
stroyed or damaged In transit, or
which have been accidentally lost or
mislaid. Taking an averago of tho past
ten years, however. It would be safe
to say that the Railway Department
loses per annum £2000 to £2500
through pillaging.
A3 lifts been Indicated, there are
two classes of pillagers — the man who
yields to a sudden temptation, and
who, seeing a case of cigars Invitingly
open or a . crato of beer, secures a
box or a couple of bottles for him
self—and the professional thief and
"deadbeat," who finds in the Railway
Department a fairly constant — if Ille
gitimate— source of revenue. It Is with
the latter class more particularly that
the detectives are wnging constant
PROFICIENCY IN THE IT.
Like the heathen Chinee, "For ways
that are dark and tricks that are vain,"
the railway pillager Is peculiar— in fact,
It Is a. branch of the thieving profes
sion which has been brought to almost
as fine an art as that attained by the
confidence man or expert safe breaker.
The most popular method is for the in
tending thief lo pay a visit to tho rail
way yardffc during tho daytime on some
pretext or another, and, strolling casu
ally round, unnoticed by the busy-
workmen and ofiiciuls, make .a menial
note of the outgoing goods trains, lie
then selects a train which he knows
will depart some time during the night,
or early I be following morning, and
fixes on a truck which contains goods
easily removed and easily disposed of.
Undor cover of darkness ho waits his
opportunity 'to climb into the truck un
observed,. This done, tho most ticklish
part of the"buslncara is ever,-' for if he
is well supplied with provisions (as
ts usually the case), he can travel for
hours, or even days, given ordinary
luck, undotcctcd.
TIME AND CHANCE COMBINE.
All thfi.1 la necessary, then. Is to wait
until the. train 1b slowly pulling Its way
up' an Incline, throw out tlie; goods
which lie has made up his mind to se
cure, and then descend himself. Usu
ally there Is a confederate waiting at
somo given point along the line, who
secures tho booty and knows where to
secrete It until the "receiver" can bo
communicated with, or it is deemed ad
visable lo forward the articles (fresh
ly packed and rc-directed) back to Mel
bourne by means of the very railways
from which they wero filched. The ad
vantage of this method of procedure is.
of course, that a ."goods" very often
takes nearly a week to reach its ulti
mate destination, so that by ilie time
tho theft is discovered the pillagers
have had a long start, while thoso in
vestigating tho crime have still to dis
cover at which point, over perhaps r>00
miles of railway, tho goods were
thrown off.
FAVORITE nOOTY.
The articles which mostly attract the
uuwolccmo attentions of the marauders
arc tobacco, wines, spirits, skins, boots
and drapery, and of these tobacco
comes an easy first, because of the fact
that it Is such a valuable commodity
and is of such small hulk. A caddy of
tobacco containing 221b. is worth about
£9, and n mnn can carry off two of
these cuddles without a great deal of In-
convenience, " knowing .very well, too,
that once he has got the tobacco away
front the railway yards 'and' trucks. 'it
cannot very well be identified as that
which was stolen. The same thing ap
plies to spirits, and usa bottle can he
easily secreted about the/person, . they
also come In for a fair .share of atten
tion. Wliqn liquor is. stolen,' however, It
Jius been found .that the thieves con
sume the. bulk of it themselves andj do
not .endeavor to dispose -of it like the
other commodities,. " :
SPOILING THE VINES.
-In this -connection a question -which;
for norno time, ' puzzled'' the. Depart
ment was the manner la wliicli con
signments of wine were depicted on the
way r down .from the- vineyards to the
city, it was a common thing . to find
.when a consignment of wine arrived
that several of -the casks, were half
empty, . ulthough they , wcro packed' in
sucli a" manner that II' would'sccm to bo
u matter or ImpossiblUtyto'secure'nny
of thu liquor without removing a cask
from .tho trut<k altogether;' Eventually
It was discovered that tho; method was
to bore a small holo in the top of -a
cask (if tho bung wtib out. of reach)
and then' insert a'rubbor tube by means
of which the thirsty soul at tho other
end could drink his till, -after which tho
tube acted as a syphon, and a billy, or,
for that matter, -a buvkot, could very
soon be filled. Measures were taken,
however, whiclt, to a great extent, put
down this free drink system.
PROFITABLE SUBSTITUTION.
Another mystery which took some
investigation was the way in which
largo cases of. valuable goods, which
could hardly -be removed unobserved,
used to disappear from the goods
sheds in Melbourne. Eventually a
most Ingenious system of 'robber/ was
discovered. A man with a vehicle
would call at; say, the Import shed,
and ask for a parcel addressed to him
or to some person for whom he had
authority ito. collect. ' This parcel
would probably consist of an empty
box, but whiio in tho shed tho man
would mark down ' a llkely-look-
Ing case, load It on his lorry, and drive
off quito openly, and nobody would be
likely to suspect him, for a pass would
have to bo produced for'everj- nrtlclo
at tho gate before ho could -leave the
.nun. ine man, nowever, would not
leave tho yards at all, but drive over
to another shed, re-address the case
to somo country station, and calmly
lenvc.it thcro for despatch. On'nrrl-
vnl nt the country address it would be
received by a' confederate, who would
destroy any identifying marks, n'nd,
afters a laps© of u.duy or two, send
It back to Melbourne to tho "receiver."
Tho appointment of extra gatcmen.
however, put an effectual stop to tills
practice.
OVER THE ODDS.
Recently 2> samples of- expensive
boots, whicli 'had been stolen from tho
railways, were found In a lano off. Lit
tle Collins street, where they had boon
thrown by the disgusted thief, when ho
found) that' they wero odd bobtsr'hnd,'
therefore, unsaleable. Occasionally, . of
course, goods which have been lost in
transit, or have miscarried, arc put
down as having been pillaged, and on
ono occasion some years ago it was
oven thought" that a- corpse had been
stolen. .Subsequently, It was found,
however, that the Chinese who hnd for
warded the bones of a deceased rela
tive to Melbourne had enclosed them in
a sack- instead of a coilln, and that the
sack had been lying unclaimed for
weeks at Melbourne,
INSPECTOR'S VIGILANCE. .
As an o!d hand would say, however,
"tho gamo is not what It used to be."
The vigilance of Innpcctor O. Dorsum
and bis colleagues lias resulted In tho
urrest and conviction of mimorous of
fenders during tho past few years, and
pillaging us a consequence Is on tho
decrease, Uie risk of detection being
now as groat or greater in this than
in other branches of crime. Judges and
Juries, loo, tiro not so sympathetic to
wards offenders ns formerly, and the
recent sharp sentences have hnd n
salutary effect. It Is. however, against
the receiver that the most strenuous ef
forts should be directed, and on whom
the severest sentences should bo intlic-
tho thieves.
A book for the homo or the office,
a guide to investors and homo buddor.t,
nn interesting record of realty trnns-
acilons all over the metropolis— "Tho
Real Property Annual," now available
at "The Herald" and "Weekly Times"
Office, or from any news agent.
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