# Mail robbery

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{{Short description|Theft of mail during delivery}}
[[File:Doom of the Outlaws of Pegleg Station, Kimble County, Texas Historical Marker (7975201660).jpg|thumb|Doom of the<br />OUTLAWS OF PEGLEG STATION,<br /> [Kimble County](/source/Kimble_County%2C_Texas), Texas Historical Marker]]

'''Mail robbery''' is the [robbery](/source/robbery) of [mail](/source/mail) usually when it is in the possession, custody, or control, of the delivering authority, which in most countries is the [postal operator](/source/postal_operator) and can involve the theft of money or luxury goods.

==History==
[[File:PO Notice 1794 Mail Robbery (improved).png|thumb|1794 post office notice of reward concerning the robbery of the mail between [Chester](/source/Chester) and [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool)]]
In the UK [stage coach](/source/Stagecoach) (from 1784 [Mail coach](/source/Mail_coach)) robberies by [highwaymen](/source/highwaymen) were common, despite the death penalty. For example, in 1722 two were executed for robbing the Bristol mail.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Geri Walton  |title=18th and 19th Century: Mail Coach Robberies |url=http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/mail-coach-robberies.html |publisher=Geri Walton |date=2014-04-18 |accessdate=2015-11-13}}</ref>

[Robberies from trains](/source/Train_robbery) also began early. An early example was on the [Bristol and Exeter Railway](/source/Bristol_and_Exeter_Railway) in 1849.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vtbt Vreb hues. |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/6th-january-1849/7/vtbt-vreb-hues |publisher=[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator) |page=6 |date=1849-01-06 |accessdate=2015-11-13 }}</ref>

In the USA, the period immediately following the [First World War](/source/First_World_War) witnessed a large number of mail robberies. Eventually, the frequency of these thefts caused the [Department of the Navy](/source/United_States_Department_of_the_Navy) to place armed [Marines](/source/United_States_Marine_Corps) on all mail trains.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Rail Detectives Victors in War on Crime|journal=[Popular Mechanics](/source/Popular_Mechanics)|date=March 1924|volume=41|issue=3|pages=336–339 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA336 }}</ref>

A number of high-value mail robberies occurred in the UK after the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War), as a result of a lack of improvements in security in the transport of money.<ref name=Thomas>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Donald |title=Villains' Paradise: A History of Britain's Underworld |year=2006 |publisher=Pegasus Books |pages=312–313 |isbn=9781933648170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znofMQAACAAJ }}</ref> One major example was the [Eastcastle Street robbery](/source/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.<ref name=Thomas/>

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](/source/Great_Train_Robbery_(1963))' of 1963. A year earlier, $1.5 million was stolen from the hold-up of a U.S. Mail truck in [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts). By the end of the 1960s, however, mail robbery had become less common.<ref name=Thomas/>

==See also==
*[Package pilferage](/source/Package_pilferage)
*[Alvin Karpis](/source/Alvin_Karpis)
*[Charles Bolles](/source/Charles_Bolles) alias Black Bart
*[Dave Rudabaugh](/source/Dave_Rudabaugh)
*[Mail fraud](/source/Mail_fraud)
*[Postal robbery in the Subach](/source/Gladenbach)
* [Plymouth Mail robbery](/source/Plymouth_Mail_robbery)
*[Roadblock (1951 film)](/source/Roadblock_(1951_film))
*[Ronnie Biggs](/source/Ronnie_Biggs)
*[Roy Gardner (bank robber)](/source/Roy_Gardner_(bank_robber))
*[Sallins Train Robbery](/source/Sallins_Train_Robbery)
*[Stagecoach](/source/Stagecoach)
*[Thomas James Holden](/source/FBI_Ten_Most_Wanted_Fugitives_by_year%2C_1950)
*[United States Postal Inspection Service](/source/United_States_Postal_Inspection_Service)
*[William Quantrill](/source/William_Quantrill)
*[Wyatt Earp](/source/Wyatt_Earp)

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Robbery
Category:Crimes involving the post or mail
Category:Organized crime activity

{{crime-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mail robbery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_robbery) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_robbery?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.