This Week in Canton History

Canton Herald, June 22, 1961:  Wills Point T&P Railway office was burglarized early last Friday morning and six first-class mail pouches were taken in the burglary, according to chief of police Grady Barnard who investigated the burglary.

Mail was taken off of an east bound train about 11 o’clock Thursday night and deposited at the T&P office. The crime was apparently committed between that and 5:30 a.m. Friday morning when Maurice McKnight, mail carrier arrived to pick up his mail pouches, Mr. Bernard said. Immediately Mr. Bernard, Deputy Sheriff Gerald Waters of Edgewood and Miss Rebecca Sewell, postmaster were notified in the investigated session began. Later that morning postal inspector W. F. Hansen of Tyler arrived on the scene.

The burglar or burglars gained entry through the front door which the hasp of the lock had been cut clear off and the lock left intact.

First-class mail pouches were located just inside the door in a cart with all the other mail sacks, stated a spokesman of the Post Office. Only the first-class mail pouches were taken, nothing else was touched.

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