National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1877-05-05
SATAN RBPROVING SIN.
now THE VIEW roRK sUN WINKs At
SIN Nv IT'S OWN HoUsEHOLD.

. | which Is III EtEnt tOr tnc IuNekttNy OF TN
Post Once, But had for tho New York sun
tCorrcs ,ondcncc to the National Republican,
Nav YoRx, May 3, 1SIT
One Of the greatest faliacies in the world I
tho idea, so prevalent In CONNIE rcial circles, tina
the stealing Of valuable letters and package
that have passed through tho mails is confne,
to post ONCE employees. II is but natural tina
every flrm or person who Intrust their letters I,
messengers should have more confidence In their
employees than in those Government clerks
through whose hands mail matter must pass I,
reach Its destination. Notwithstanding the
large number Of employees In tho New Yorh
Office and Its branches, there have been compare
lively fow Of them detected In any depreciation,
on tho mails during tho administration of the
present postmaster. When an employee hal
been suspected he has been kept under constant
surveillance, and when found with the evidence
OF his guilt about him his punishment has beer
swift and sure. In every instance the press hal
not Jailed to publish the particulars Of every
mall robbery. The post office authorities have
never attempted to screen dishonest olicials from
disgrace, nosmattqr how influential may have
been their friends or respectable their connec
| lions, 1t would seem that the
RssroSsIBILtTY or Tnx GOVERN NENr
for the safe transmission of letters should cease
after suca letters had passed iato tho lock boxes
Nevertheless, Postmaster James during the
|
that the greatest obstacle to the safe transmits.
sion Of letters moro frequently existed outside
than inside Of the post Office. To detect the
malefactors was somewhat dfhcult from tho fact
the Police Commissioners would only permit the
assignment of one policeman for. duty in the post
Office lobby. Special Agent H. X. Sharratts,
with tho assistance OF Oficer Blackwood, sue.
cesded in detecting ffty or more offenders, who,
in nearly every instance, were caught 10 the act
| of rHinV thu lpttpra nj THAR IN
Der Of the leading publishers Of daily and weekly
newspapers bad been complaining that quito q
| number Of their letters never reached them.
Among those detected were the employees OF
| these same newspapers, but as II was In most
| every case requested that tho names OF the
thieves should not bo published, very little was
known about the robberies, particularly as tho
Government had no Jurisdiction In the matter.
Since the occupancy OF tho new post Office the
municipal authorities decided that even ono po.
lice officer could not be spared for duty In the
post ofiico lobby, and he ordered on duty else
where There is no locality In tho city who're 60
many people arc constantly passing; yet for
months not an officer was TO DO seen. Finally or
hccr Blackwood was again assigned for duty as
detective, and now hardly day passes that no
does not detect somo
iRREduLARiTr AMONG THE PERSONS VINO HAVE
ACCESS TO THE LooK.DoxEs.
The particulars ofthe biggest capture thst has
recently been made by OHicer Black wood has not
Jet been made public. 1t is but justice to the
thousand and more employees Of the New York
post offco that thoy should now be given. Til
fact that the affair came near terminating In q
tragedy should have made II sufficiently interest.
is but ono or two succeeded 10 obtslnisg the par
tieulnrs, and for reasons best known to
the facts were suppressed. Recently Special
that the letters for the Sun newspaper were being
constantly rihed and stolen. For several weeks
shsse 10 SS nS w Ss: p,s at not being
ted. Every expedicnt that the ingenuity OF Shsr.
rats could devise was tried, but without success
Tho fact that
THR ASSISTANT Publisher OF THE SUN,
an old employees one Of thosc immaculate beings
without any OF the weaknesses Of poor humanity;
regular In bis habits, who neither drank, smoked
ters from the box, prscludsd the p s Of
fec Sharrats passed slespiess nights, went back
moody. Finally the Investigation that had so
long been going on inside OF tho post ONCE was
ss sss o. oh
the Sun office. Here, on a Sunday morning,
Albert Tusch, who had been more than twenty
| and In receipt of n generous salary, was making
haste to get rich, while
THROWING SUSPICION on rooRLy.rAID Posr or.
FICE cLBRKs,
most OF whom were In receipt OF less than half
he R.d sy.eSntsaS S1Ssd nn with SiIP
ployer, and Sunday was his principal day for
operating. The detective was near enough TO
him to see every thing that was being done, but
when Tusoh was finally conf outed he had not
| yet began his manipulation Of the letters. How
eyer, be had lust commenced to salt down his
when no was ordered to disyorye what was on his
person. All that day he was In the custody OF
populations, and at nj ght he was locked up in the
| nearest police station. The noNt morning he had
private examination before q police justice at
me Tombs after poor "drunks and disorderllcs''
had been publicly disposed Of Then began the
pinching process, the nlodus operdndi for
coMroUSDINo FELONY.
HIS iil.gotten gains he had daily deposited,
and bank. boOks, In which were deposits for
that there was TO be no prosecution or exposure.
1t was on Monday evening, before tho settle.
ment had been effected, that Oncer BlacEwood
was In the Sun otnee with his prisoner, whom he
was about 10 lock up. Tusch desired to visit his
family before being again privately incarceratcd
that he had SICK child at SS@S and so soula
not 20 with him. Then the prisoner desired to 20
TO the totletroom In the rear OF the office. There
| the detective accompanied him, and afterwards
the prisoner went to tho elevator sbaft and do.
sired the detective TO look down into the press
room That he had determined on aisht sub.e-
qusnt events fully proved. Tho detective do
clined the invitation 10 Inspect the SHAFT at which
| the prisoner made sudden dart for q sde.door
Jong the Sun office. O6lccr Biackwood could
not copo with his prisoner who is much, or was
much bis superior In strength, and he quickly
covered him with his revolver. As tho detective
was the only witness against the prisoner had he
looked down the shaft 1t would undoubtedly
have cost him his life. Finally things were fixed
satisfactorily to the Sun people and the affair was
suddenly hushed up.
II TIN NEW YORK Sun HAS AMY SPECIAL MIS-.
| zion
In tho journalistic arena It is Its unceasInp war
on malefaetors ofeyery description. 1t announces
| itself thA IN in foao f .
| rupton Ia all places, and has always given par.
| tlcular attention to the Post Once Department
In general. In an article which recently appeared
IN It's editorial columns on civil service II charged
mat In every department OF the Government from
| the Cabinet down, there was the most glaring
corruption, and concluded by saying, .and 10
come down to our own New York post office, we
know OF our own knowledge Of q person holding a
position OF responsibility and trust who Is one OF
| the most wretched and degraded OF creatures. ~
Again, while complimentnK the postmaster II
did not neglect to call his attention to tho fact
| that he yet retained in ONCE one as unRodIy
wretch as ever polluted tho face OF the earth. ii
tions, hence the postmaster could not make any
| inquiry.
BUT HERE WAS THE MEAsEsr KIND or THEY
discovered by post Office officials right In the
| Sun ofhce, and there is every effort made to keep
the iacts from the public. Had similar case
| occurred 10 any Department Of the Government
and there had been any attempt TO screen the
guilty party, even though he disgorgsd, tho Sun
would have had n flaming article on corruption
| and fraud. II the Sun would be regarded as the
great moral reiormer Of the journalistic hrma.
ment II should not compound felony under its
own rooi, even to obtain the swag Of q thief.