The Great 1904 Kingstree Post Office Heist

Thursday, September, 22, 1904, 3 a.m.: BOOM! BOOM! A few Kingstree residents are awakened by two loud blasts, but in that place and in that time, it is not unusual to hear gunshots at all hours of the day or night. And, so they all turned over and went back to sleep, little dreaming what was transpiring a few blocks away in the Kingstree Post Office on Academy Street.

 The west side of Academy Street around the time of the Post Office burglary.

Source: Williamsburgh Historical Museum

At 7 o'clock that morning, Postmaster Louis Jacobs discovered that during the night someone had broken down the rear door to the post office and then proceeded to use explosives to breach the safe in which valuables were left overnight. The burglars got away with approximately $5,000 in property, including $4,000 which had been shipped to the Bank of Kingstree from Carolina Savings Bank in Charleston, and which had arrived on the train after the bank closed and had been put in the post office safe overnight. Also missing were post office funds, amounting to $260 in cash, $150 in stamps, and $500 worth of jewelry belonging to the Jacobs family. 

Everyone believed that the heist had been accomplished by professional safecrackers as little was disturbed, other than the broken-down back door and the blown safe. Lying in the rubble beside the safe were a cold-chisel, a sledge hammer, a monkey wrench, and a brace and drill–all items that were soon reported stolen by James T. Sullivan from his blacksmith shop.

Kingstree's police department at that time consisted of a Town Marshal who patrolled each day until midnight. He told investigators that he had seen nothing to indicate that something might be afoot. Town citizens immediately after the burglary also said they had seen nothing out of the ordinary, but at least three of them would later remember that just maybe they had seen something.

A number of post offices across the South had experienced similar fates in the months leading up to the Kingstree heist, and still more would find themselves victims in the months and years to follow. Postal authorities believed that a gang, operating from Charleston, was responsible for all these burglaries, which almost always included the use of explosives to gain access to the safes. 

They also believed that at least two, perhaps three suspicious men, had left Charleston on the 5:30 p.m. train that Wednesday–the same train that was carrying the $4,000 addressed to the Bank of Kingstree. Their investigation led them to several individuals in or near Charleston who said they had seen three persons, who had already drawn the attention of law enforcement, in a buggy headed toward the railroad station that day.

The rear of the building on the spot where the post office was located no doubt

looks very different today than it did in September 1904.

After several months of investigation, in mid-December 1904, H. Rudolph Rabens, 25, and his brother, Christopher, were arrested and charged with conspiracy, breaking into a post office and larceny of government funds. The Rabens brothers, originally from Walhalla, owned grocery stores in Charleston, and Rudy Rabens' store on King Street was known to law enforcement as a place where a number of suspected yeggmen (persons who are expert safecrackers) visited regularly. 

Also charged with the Rabens brothers were James Johnson, a notorious yeggman who used numerous aliases up and down the Eastern seaboard; Robert L. Stainback, and Frank Williams. Charleston police had arrested Williams two days before the Kingstree post office burglary shortly after he left Rudy Rabens' Charleston grocery store. Several of these men were also charged in the burglary of the post office in Latta, which had occurred in February, 1904. 

The April 1905, trial was held in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of South Carolina, with Judge William Brawley presiding. The prosecution offered evidence that Rabens and James Johnson had conspired by placing in evidence a letter from Johnson, using the name, George Smith, one of his many aliases, to Rudolph Rabens. The letter urged Rabens to destroy the address previously given to him as things were getting "warm." It also inquired about Frank Williams' bond, promised to send Rabens money (which he did), and suggested using the mail car for letters in an attempt to avoid them being opened by the post office. I.A. Keels and A.D. Hutson, both of Kingstree, testified that they had seen two of the defendants in Kingstree on the day of the robbery. Olive Flowers who operated the Atlantic Coast Line pumping station in Kingstree, swore that she had seen the accused men near the railroad water tank also on the day in question. Postmaster Jacobs testified to what was in the safe at the time of the burglary, and J.T. Sullivan affirmed that the tools stolen from his shop were found at the scene of the burglary. 

After the prosecution rested its case, the Rabens' attorney declined to offer any evidence on behalf of his clients, but he did object to some of the government's evidence. Judge Brawley interrupted him to announce that as far as he was concerned, the prosecution had not presented enough compelling evidence to make its case, and he then directed the jury to return a "not guilty" verdict, which it did. As soon as the jury rendered the verdict, law enforcement officers re-arrested Frank Williams on charges of breaking into the post office in Yadkinville, NC, also in September 1904.

No one else was ever arrested in the Kingstree Post Office burglary, and while residents continued for some time to speculate about it, eventually it simply became an unsolved mystery in the town's history. The Bank of Kingstree had insisted on insuring the $4,000 so it was covered, and neither bank lost any money. There were tales that a man was selling stamps at Ashley Junction the morning after the burglary before he boarded a train for Savannah, and there were also rumors that jewelry fitting the description of the Jacobs' pieces was later found in a store in Charleston.

Rudolph Rabens and other defendants in the Latta Post Office robbery were found guilty later in that term of court. Chris Rabens, however, was acquitted. Rudy Rabens was again arrested in 1907 for receiving stolen goods. He served all but 28 days of his three-year sentence before the governor pardoned him. He died in 1921 at age 43.

Mugshot of James Johnson, who used many aliases in his over 20-years as a

safecracker, but became best-known for the heists he pulled as "Portland Ned."

Source: Post Office Department Photographs,

Descriptions and Records of Persons Charged

with Violations of Postal Law

James Johnson, however, went on to become even more notorious for robbing banks, post offices and other institutions. He continued to use aliases, although the one that became the most well-known was "Portland Ned." Johnson was also a mastermind at escaping from jail. In 1913, SC Governor Coleman L. Blease paroled Johnson. To receive the parole, Johnson went to the State House, and knowing that he would be arrested on other charges as soon as the parole was issued, managed to escape from the State House undetected by law enforcement. His crime spree stretched over a period of at least 20 years.