Business & Finance: Train Robbers

Raids by swooping bandits on U. S. passenger trains did not long survive their most eminent practitioner, Jesse James. Much different in technique are the raids still made on freight trains. Freight car robbers work often on moving trains, choose sparsely settled country where a highway runs beside the tracks. Swinging off from box car roofs on rope ladders, they break the seals on the doors, climb in and toss out everything they can lay their hands on. Confederates in trucks pick up the loot.

Last week the Association of American Railroads reported that claims resulting from freight car thefts in the U. S. and Canada totaled $688,792 in 1936, lowest for any year on record. Biggest losses were in coal and coke, stolen not only by organized gangs but by individuals who needed fuel. Professional train robbers concentrated on tobacco products, jettisoned $125,000 worth during the year. Railroad police kept their record clear on liquor shipments, in which no highjacking cases have been reported since Repeal.