The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
October 31, 1935
Amenia Post Office Robbed, Safe Blasted
Loot Valued At Hundreds Of Dollars Taken Sunday Night
AMENIA - Burglars entered the post office on Main Street here at about midnight Sunday and blasted open the safe, making their get-away with loot valued at several hundred dollars. Taken from the safe were about $350 worth of stamps. $150 in cash, a $25 savings bond, blank U.S. Treasury checks and U. S. postal money order blanks, a number of domestic orders and many official government documents and papers. The checks can be cashed after the amounts are filled in.
Some of the post office supplies and receipts are kept in the Amenia bank, it was disclosed by Mrs. Clayton M. Card, wife of the postmaster, and only funds and supplies needed for the day’s business were kept in the post office.
Fingerprints taken from the safe and from a rear window, through which the thugs made their entrance and exit, have been studied by postal inspectors who are being assisted in their investigation of the theft by Corporal Edwin Draisey of the Amenia Station, State Police, and fingerprint experts. Believing the robbery to be the work of professional safe crackers, the investigators have examined photographs on file in the rogues’ gallery, in New York.
The post office is situated in the Masonic building, four doors east of the state highway intersection. Half of the lower floor of the three-story structure is occupied by the post office and the other half by Arthur Newman’s sporting goods store. The second and third floors are utilized by the Masonic Lodge.
Forcing the rear window and a door to get into the post office, the thieves drilled a hole in the door of the safe which they filled with an explosive believed to have been nitro-glycerine. A fuse was inserted and a length of copper wire connected this with a battery behind the door. The first charge apparently blew off the door. The authorities believe at least two men participated in the job, one acting as look-out man while the other opened the safe.
Expect Action Of Railroad To Hit Dutchess
Anticipate Financial Consequences In New Haven’s Move
Reorganization sought by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad under Section 77 of the federal bankruptcy act is expected to have far reaching financial consequences in Dutchess County. In similar cases, other railroads have tried to abandon unprofitable lines, and if this is attempted by the New York, New Haven and Hartford, service may be discontinued on three branch roads in the county.
The valuation of the railroad’s special franchise and real property in the county is $3,236,236.
On this assessment it paid a total of $106,174.49 to the cities, townships and county in 1934. The railroad’s total tax bill in the county for a single year is estimated at $150,000 since it also pays school taxes to union free schools and common school districts in those districts where it owns property. The railroad paid almost $45,000 in school taxes in Dutchess County in 1934, it is estimated.
An unsuccessful attempt was made by the New Haven just before it went into bankruptcy to borrow $5,000,000 from the RFC. A large portion of this money was sought for the payment of taxes.
The railroad has outstanding in bonds,[sic] which are prior liens, against its property in Dutchess County, $12,513,000. These bonds are not in default.
Because of bus and automobile competition, passenger service has been abandoned on the various New Haven lines in the county as unprofitable. The transportation of bituminous and anthracite coal has been the biggest item of business, this comprising about thirty percent of the entire freight traffic. Most of this tonnage is hauled over the former C. N. E. lines by way of the Poughkeepsie Bridge. The C. N. E. was merged with the New Haven system in 1927. A controlling interest in the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad is also owned by the New Haven.
