[Train Robbery] Two Wanted Posters Advertising $1,000 Reward for Arrest of H. Grady Webb - 1916

Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief Inspector, 1916. Very Good. [Train Robbery] Two Wanted Posters Advertising $1,000 Reward for Arrest of H. Grady Webb, Acting Chief Inspector J. W. Johnson, Office of the Chief Inspector, 1916, Washington, D.C., 8 x 10.5 and 8 x 12.25 inches, 2 pp. Two wanted posters, one measuring 8 x 12.25 inches and the other measuring 8 x 10.5 inches; both have been previously folded, and show light wear along creases; smaller poster lightly toned; else clean. Very good condition. Each poster contains black and white photographs of the suspect, H. Grady Webb, along with a reproduction of his signature and a description of his crime, appearance, habits, and possible whereabouts. The larger poster is dated October 11, 1916, and contains three photos of Webb; the smaller poster, dated November 16, 1916, has two photos, both of which differ from the ones printed on the October poster; they may have been more recent photos, as they are of higher resolution and Webb looks older. Each offers a $1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of Webb for "the hold up and robbery of Grafton & Cincinnati... train No. 1, at Central Station, West Virginia, October 8, 1915, when ninety packages containing a number of unsigned national-bank bills were taken." According to the January 20, 1917 issue of the Parkersburg Sentinel, a West Virginia newspaper, Webb was apprehended in Kansas City; he was apparently enrolled as a student at a medical college there, and a fellow student of his saw one of the wanted posters, recognized his peer, and turned him in for the $1,000 reward. Webb was arrested and transported by train to the Wood County jail, WV, where he was to await trial till April 1918. The article describes him as "of fine appearance... is a good conversationalist, is intelligent, and, the officers state, is well educated. He is... said to be as agile as a cat, a trained athlete, daring and nervy". Webb apparently told some of the inspectors about times when he had, in the past year, narrowly escaped capture by them in other cities - even, in one instance, supposedly carrying on a conversation with an inspector for twenty minutes at a hotel table, with the inspector none the wiser! It seems Webb was a wily and interesting fellow.