The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-04-14
Detective Ingenuity.

Inc old prOVer5, murder Will out, is
constantly justified, and it is curious and
interesting to see how, as the craft of
crime deepens with the progress of civ
ilIzation, the ingenuity of discovery
keeps equal pace with it.
Old-fashioned robbery, the foot-pad
and the highwayman riding up as in the
last century English novels, and pre-
senting blunderbuss at the coach win
dow while the company alight and are
relieved of their purses by the masked
Robin Hood, who leaps into the saddle,
and touching his hat, with a round COM
pliment to the ladies, gallops away-all
this has passed away with the bailitfs
and sponging houses, the Fleet and the
Marshalsea. The garroter and the
masked gang of burglars are the familiar
form of robbery in our day, while for
great and difficult crimes the wits of ras-
calls are matched with those of detectives,
and the rascals are very sure to 90 to the
wall.
A recent capture of mail robbers well
illustrates this, and is a signal of proof
of the skill that foils the most careful
crime. Merchants and others in Phila-
delphia who had dealings with Boston
found that the most valuable and i'm
portant letters constantly miscarried
They disappeared without a clew, and
the correspondents soon complained at the
Postotf1ce Department, which, upon fun
information, applied itself with It's most
skillful detective force to the discovery
of the thieves, but in vain. But similar
detective skill, differently employed,
struck the clew The detective agency
of an express company was busily en-
gagged in the search for valuable baggage
that had been stolen, and some OF the
agents, who had been " shadowing' two
suspicious persons, followed them from
a house in Prince street to the office of
the American Express Company, at the
corner of Broadway and Fourth street.
The suspicious persons here left two
packages addressed to Canada. When
| they had left, the detectives entered the
| office and told the agents of the COM
pany their suspicious that the packages
| contained stolen goods. The packages
were at once opened. One was found to
contain mailbag, and the other a
traveling-bag or sachel in which were
the stamps of mail route agents outfit.
This discovery was at once made known
at the Postotfice, and its agents carefully
examined the contents of the two bags.
The mailbag contained mutilated letters
which had been evidently mailed at York,
in Pennsylvania, and the sachel the
working tools of a route agent upon the
Pennsylvania Railroad Here was the
long-sought clew, and the postoffiCe and
the express detectives followed it close
ly to the end.
The sachel had been stolen from a
mail wagon while going from the New
York Postoffice to Jersey City One of
the drivers was arrested, and his capture
led to that of man named Kelly, the
apparent leader of the gang, and a
woman with whom him he had boarded
and other confederates. The woman's
house was searched, and in a trunk
claimed by her were found letters mailed
few days before in Philadelphia, con-
tanning checks payable in Boston. Other
letters were found from which the in
closure had been taken, aud it appeared
that money had been paid upon forged in
dorsements of signatures obtained in this
way. The last man who was arrested
was found to be an important confeder-
ate. He was a mail driver who allowed
the bags to be taken from the wagon.
When the bags had been thoroughly
ritied, they were carefully done up in pack
ages and sent by express to various dis
tant cities, addressed to fictitious names.
All traces of the bags thus disappeared.
1t was a clever scheme, but not clever
enough. Corruption wins not more than
honesty. AS Fielding is fond of saying,
cit hath been remarked by some wise
philosopher that the ingenuity which is
devoted to knavery, if turned to honest
industry, would not only suffice to carry
the world far forward toward virtue, but
would make the knaves prosperous and
respectable citizens" In the meanwhile,
it is comfortable to see the constant evil
dencc that, sharp as crime may be, JUS
tice is sharper Eaters Easy Char,
Harper'S Magazine.
The HOmely Sisters Strategy.