Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-11-10


, "Well, sir! l suppose you are salts
: fedr'
''Yesr' said 1, Il am satisfied-tha
your son is thief
Father" said the boy, "he's right,
{ am guiltyp'
f The old man burst into tears.
II leave your boy with yOu," / con
) cluded, 'there is no charge against hin
, unless You make it.
The son was soon after sent to visitth
West.
LETTER CARRIER GETTING THE NAIL
Another case that 1 figured in, contin-
ued DeprO, after had questioned him
some time, was that of a great quantity
of rified letters and envelopes which had
been found in the harbOr of Baltimore
FLOATING against the base of Federal Hill
There were several hundred of them
coming from all parts of the world, and
though no complaint had been made, il
was probable that there had been an ex-
tensIve robbery of the mail. 1 took all
the envelopes and patched them tOgeth-
err. and found that they were directed
TO certain quarters of Baltimore eXclu-
sively. Some parts of the town were not
represented at all amongst those address,
eS, and observing this, 1 inquired Of the
/ Postmaster how the carriers received
their mail. He told me that they sorted
it over upon a great table separately.
! Number One, who served Number One
route, selecting his letters; then Num-
I Der Two picking out his, and so FORTH
l BY consulting nv envelopes, l found
! that Number One, Two, Three, and -Four
must have received their mail before the
rObber-carrier came to his turn, because
! OtOne ofthe rifled letters were directed to
/ their districts. My espionage was there
and i pitched upon one as the culprit be-
cause he had lately been buying some
/ property. So l went to his snug little
home while he was off on his route, and
l his wife confirmed my notion that he
was making investments beyond his
/ honest means. While / waited, he came
I in, and told him that was detective
agent, and wished to satisfy myself of
his honesty by going through the house,
TO which proposition he readily assented,
alleging that everybody in the Post Office
was anxious to see the depredatOr Sc
cured, and he concluded by saving that
as 1 should sfDssibly want to search up
stairs, he would go up and unlock the
trunks, closets, etc.
As he went up stairs, l slipped after
him, in minute or two, and peeping
through the crack of his bedroom door,
l saw hand glide from underneath the
bed, and it was as quickly withdrawn.
''AIr. Adams" said /, ''what are YOU
doing by that bed? Come out this
way"
"Why, was unlocking the secretary
here, to give you a chance"
L felt under the bed-bottom, and
brought out large bag of gold.
adams, this is good deal of gold for
a poor letter carrier to have on hand.
What were you doing with your arm un-
der that bed?"
Il surrender" he said; ''its no use. 1
robbed the mails for good while, and
threw the envelopes into the PatapscO.
suppOsing the tide would take them out,
but it carried them only as FAR as the Op-
pOsite side of the harbOr."
He plead guilty to rObbing one letter,
and by the aid of a smart lawyer, got
only two years in prison, was pardOned
out, and actually recovered at law the
gold he had stolen!
ONLY ONCE THIEF, But FOR $4,000.
You would be surprised to see, some
times, continued DeprO, how people be-
come thieves by the mere habit of hand
ling valuableS, which are exposed by
somebody's carelessness. \ short time
ago package of bonds to the amount of
$40, 900 was stolen in the New York CITY
Post Office. They had been sent from
Newport, Rhode Island, and were for
soldiers widows warrants, ETC., so that
the Outcry was natural, and it came from
all sides. The bonds were too bulky to
go inside an envelope, so they were tied
to the envelope, but this fact we did not
ascertain till we found the thief. The
package was put in a red-backed enyel-
Ope, signifying Registered" letter.
Now at the Post Office, 2 mail is tumbled
upon large table, and consecutive clerks
go through it energetically, each picking
out his portion. First of all comes the
clerk of registered letters,-which are
always important letters,-and him we
surrounded with spies for two years, in
vain; for nothing was seen in any place
or at any time to give us a wink of
evidence that he was the culprit.
The real thief-let me anticipate-was
the newspaper clerk, who handled that
mail some time afterward. The red
backed envelope turned undermOst in
the ransacking, and left the wrapper on
top, so that the registry clerk mistOOk it
for covered newspaper. He therefore
left it, and so did successive clerks, till
the newspaper SOrter came along. Dis
covering this prize among his books and
newspapers, the latter was seized with a
sudden impulse to steal it, and it was at
once transferred to the pocket of his
The thiefs name we may call Tippy
Ramsdell, and, when he got home and
opened it, the poor pauper was so over
come to find himself possessed of 200 !
instead of a ten dollar bill, that he was
frightened out of his little wits. He hid I
the bonds for nearly two years, and we, /
meantime, having exhausted all means /
of detection, had given up the task.
Suddenly we received a despatch: Z
Bond number 1864 turned up We /
traced it TO the New York house of jay I
Cooke K Co. 1t was a small bond for I
Sl0Q and the clerk at Cookies remember
ed well that it had been presented by a
boy named Ramsdell, clerk for a bounty /
agent In Park Row. who said that he had /
found it in the park
NV mind went back at wink TO the .
hitherto unsupported name of Tip Rams
dell, the boOrish newspaper clerk. L !
knew that he had brother at Elizabeth,
and that his brother had a spry son. So
l arrested the boy, and myself and an
other special agent went separately to
work with him. The boy had been well /
drilled. and nothing could shake his .
story that he had found the bond in the .
Park, while my colleague tried every
means to bring out the truth. Then l
went into him.
boy, where did you get that bOnd?'
Il found it, sir, in the Park =
You lie, you rascal! Tell me who
gave it TO You, and if the rest are given
up nobody shall go 10 jail
He still protested that he had found it
I'm the Park. L talked to him a while
and found that he was not a bad boy;
that he had been to Sunday School, and
had some moral ideas, and L pictured to
him hell in all its material horrors Of sui
phur, and thirst and fire.
Now" said /, Il mean 10 make You
take az oath that viii send you there if
you swear false
The boys lips turned white. Il can't
take that oath, y he said; 81 can't go there.
My father gave me that bond and told
me to sell it,
We took the boys affidavit and ar
rested his father, who had become the
custodian of Tip Ramsdel's secret, for
Tip being poor shyster, without mind,
had nearly died of this awful RESPONSE
biIity of wealth. The brother, Crosby,
being little sharper, but not more hon
est. had bought some ink to cancel the
name on the bonds, and then had made
a venture with No. 1854. We found
and as we had promised the boy, we let
the poor pair Of thieves up as unworthy
Of further notice.
FINS.
BY these, and similar recitalS of many
sorts, Mr.. DeprO enIivened the night.
IL occurred to me when he had done that
offences against the delicacy of females
and the peace of families, perpetrated
under the benifcent visitation of the
mail, was even a viler crime than to be-
III 4 i