King of Australia's Professional Letter Thieves

NZ Truth, Issue 1001, 31 January 1925, Page 1

King of Australia's Professional Letter Thieves

Sydney Cabman Who Became ,

! "Panama Jack" is well-known m Sydney. His wrinkled face and long straight hair made him a conspicuous figure m the days when he was earning a living as a cab-driver. . To-day (states "Truth's" Sydney rep.) he is serving a sentence m the Yatala Labor Prison m Adelaide. "Panama Jack" crossed to Adelaide on finishing a "two stretch" at Brisbane, but he quickly crashed, and m March of last year received his sentence for^ the robbery of a pillar box. He will be released m February next, and is at present wondering whether he will be hauled back to Sydney to answer charges of pillar-box robbery, but that eventuality is unlikely. If, the C.1.8. decides to pull him back, however* the plans of this clever but mean and despicable thief will be considerably upset. He has boasted to his fellow-pri-soners at Yatala that on his release he intends making Western Australia his happy hunting-ground and that once over there he will resume his letter - thieving habits. So W.A. "demons" will be on the look-out for "Panama Jack" during the next few months. Burwood Birds. "Panama Jack" has not a particularly lengthy record, but nevertheless he has successfully worked many jobs; though none of them has been big, and the majority have been connected with his theft of letters. • , Once he tried' plain, straightout thieving, and, of course, he came a cropper. This was at Burwood, Sydney, m August of 1919. He turned his atten-

THE. modern crook is nothing if not a specialist.. He selects that line of crime for' which he considers his abilities and temperament fit him, and he sticks to it throughout life. So it is that you never find the con. man turning safe-breaker or a man who dabbles m "tanks" becoming a "dip artist," while the petty thief will remain a petty thief until the end of his life/ Such a specialist (writes* "Truth's" Sydney rep.) is Mick Mcllveen, alias John Rudd, but better known m Sydney and Brisbane by his monicker of "Panama Jack." ( _ He is the champion letter thief of Australia, a man who has .specialised throughout his criminal career m the robbery of street pillar boxes. '

tlon from letter thieving to poultry pinching, was landed m the dock, and m due course received one month's hard labor for stealing fowls. . From that time On until January, 1921, he enjoyed an open slather and an uninterrupted run. Then he fell m Brisbane, and the Queensland C.1.8. gathered him to their bosom. * He was charged with uttering a crossed cheque, on which the "Not Negotiable" had been erased by means of acids. This, cheque, of course, he had first of all stolen from a pillarbox. Found guilty, he was handed two years' hard labor, and it was' from serving this sentence that he went to Adelaide. ' * Working Ways. "Panama Jack" has brought the thieving of letters from pillar-boxes up to a science, and it has to be admitted that m this branch of thieving he stands alone. There is no other crook m Australia quite so- clever — or perhaps quite so mean — to take on this class of crime. Here is the way "Panama flack" works: • Having saturated a handkerchief with birdlime, he ties a length of string to it and weights it with a piece of lead. The handkerchief is dropped into the J letter-box, and ■ drawn up again by means of the string, with a letter or two held fast by the birdlime on .the hand- < kerchief. In this manner "Panama Jack" empties the letter-box of its contents. Working at might, this .letter thief will visit as many, of the pillar-boxes |

as time will allow, and not infrequently his midnight marauding expedition sees him carrying home a big swag of booty. j Once secure m his den, "Panama Jack" commences to open and search the letters. What a miscellaneous assortment they are! Business letters, love letters, , dunning letters — every kind of letter that can be written comes at some time or another into the hands of "Panama Jack." The envelopes are all put carefully on one side, but the useless letters are promptly ''destroyed for fear. they should provide tell-tale proof of the night's activities. . Postal notes, cheques, silver and bank notes constitute the haul, and the sum total of these is added to by steaming or sweating off the stamps from the envelopes. The bulk of the haul* however, is still ' useless. Cheques branded "Not Negotiable" cannot be passed until "treated." Puts Acid on Cheques. So "Panama Jack" hauls out a diluted form of chloride of lime, and by means of this acid — which is diluted with rain water— he erases the ink, and leaves no trace of the "Not Negotiable." '",.-" As a rule "Panama Jack" refuses to cash the cheques himself — that is too dangerous. So he employs a woman ; and when arrested m Adelaide last year it was through women he sent to do his dirty work that he was captured. ' , i

Expert In Robbing Pillar Boxes

And if Western- Australia doesn't look out the .king- of Australia's professional letter thieves will shortly.be troubling the postal authorities and C.1.8. of that State. .'-... "Panama Jack" has another side to his character. He is a noted "shelf," and thinks nothing of sending innocent men "up" m his attempt to get on the sunny side of prison authorities. A week or so back he tried his dodges on m Yatala, but came a bad crash. He tackled a prisoner, but got badly punched, and then slipped into the kitchen m order to obtain a knife. This, however, was .taken from him after he had slung it at one prisoner, while another promptly used a cricket bat as though "Panama c Jack" was a ball that had been bowled by English wicket-keeper Strudwick; Next day "Panama,; Jack" and the other two prisoners came before Mr. [Pert Edwards, M.P. ' There were two witnesses, one for the plaintiff, who was "PanamaV Jack," and the other for the defence. One of these gave a straightforward and truthful account of the whole affair, but the other gave a version that was full of perjury. . He, however, got one little .circumstance, ' and on this was bowled out. "Bab yf ace," as he was called, declared that he witnessed everything from the back gate, but he quite forgot that there was a -prison wall between him and the scene of the trouble! »The result was that the two prisoners were discharged, while "Panama Jack" was handed twenty-four hours' solitary confinement. •■■'..■■