Pond Grass
Fifty years after the Plymouth Mail Robbery
"Historians don’t have all the answers about the Plymouth Mail Robbery that took place Tuesday, Aug. 14, 1962, a robbery that permanently relieved several Cape Cod banks of $1.5 million in cash. Fifty years ago, it made the news as the biggest cash heist ever – even more than the infamous Brinks Robbery of 1950."
"Six men are believed to have been involved in the Plymouth Mail Robbery, as well as several cars and machine guns. Masquerading as highway workers, the criminals waited near Exit 3, Clark Road, on Route 3 to see the mail truck appear on the horizon, bound for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. They waited for a signal from two other thieves, scoping out the highway from the Clark Road overpass. When signaled, the bogus highway workers let the truck pass, then flew into action, erecting a barricade of pilfered sawhorses across Route 3, forcing traffic off the highway at Exit 3 onto Clark Road. Meanwhile, up ahead, on a stretch of roadway completely obscured from south-bound traffic by a screen of trees, two cars blocked the highway and a cohort dressed as a police officer waved the mail truck over. When the truck came to a halt, the “officer” and other accomplices raced to the vehicle, machine guns in hand, disarmed the postal workers and forced them to open the truck."
August 14, 2017 9 AM Update
Sixty five degrees this morning with some high haze that is expected to burn off and the mercury is expected to climb to 81 degrees by mid afternoon with relatively low humidity. The era of pre-eight o’clock sunsets is back, three weeks out from Labor Day Weekend. The Altamont fair starts tomorrow.
The sun will set at 7:57 pm with dusk around 8:28 pm, which is one minute and 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 74 degrees. The dew point will be 60 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 54 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 7pm. South wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It was humid. It got down to 66 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1964.
Back in 1962, two gunmen hijacked a mail truck in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and made off with $1.5 million in small denomination bills that were never recovered. The highly organized hijacking involved a fake road crew, a heavy truck to block traffic, and six theives armed with machine guns. That was a lot of money back in the day, now a days it would be hard to retire on.
I am going to check the weather one more time for the Finger Lakes and will decide if I extend my weekend a few more days, so I can enjoy the eclipse down there. I would leave before dawn on Saturday and return late Wednesday. But my plans are still subject to change.
As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Labor Day when the sun will be setting at 7:23 pm with dusk at 7:52 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 80 and 54 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1929.
Looking out my window
August 14, 2017 Morning
Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Three weeks to Labor Day. Partly sunny and 57 degrees in Westerlo. Calm wind. The dew point is 54 degrees. It looks like it’s a pretty nice morning, that will be followed by a pretty nice day.
Today will be mostly sunny, with a high of 79 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 11am. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. It was very sticky. The high last year was 90 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1988.