, 1879-08-28
The Fate of a Letter.

"Im Just making my report to the
Department at Washington concerning
the fate of registered letter" remarked
Special Agent Barrett, of the Philadel-
phia post office yesterday, as he sat at
his desk buried in pile of official doc
uments. Sometimes parties who COM
plain of having a letter lost think there
is too much of that quantity known as
red tape to be disposed of in our endeav-
ors to find q missing letter, but we must
find all the information, although some
times we trace out our case on o very
meagre start.
"Here is a good illustration. In a
little town, about twelve miles out OF
the city-I will give you my reason for
not stating the names when am done
with the story-there lives an old gen
tleman who has two sons living In a
town out in Kansas. One of them has
recently purchased some property out
there in which the father is also inter
ested, intending soon to so out there
himself About two months ago the
father wanted to send fifty dollars to his
son to pay the interest coming due on G
mortgage, and so he went to the post
office, inclosed the sum in a registered
letter, took his receipt for it and went
home happy, thinking, I presume, that
that matter was attended to. The let
ter was in what we call "a jacket or an
extra envelope supplied by the govern
ment, was put into q pouch containing
nothing but registered letters, and hav-
ing q peculiar lock, indeed, SO. peculiar
that there are but six post offices in the
United States that have key that will
unlock it. One Of these Offices is at st.
Louis, to which place the letter was first
sent and from there forwarded to its
destination in Kansas. The arrival of
the mail in one Of those little Western
towns is an event with them, and when
it is about time for it to arrive the good
country people congregate in the post
Office to ascertain if anybody from the
East has remembered them. The son
was expecting this letter, and of course
was in the Office when the postmaster
opened his mall "Here's a letter for
you, Mr.. Smith, and here's one for you,
Mr.. Jones, and another for Mr.. Brown"
said the postmaster, and finally, coming
in contact with the registered letter, an
nounced the fact to the waiting son, con-
graduating him on its contents. The
son attempted to tear open the letter,
but could not, because the letter and en-
velope were stuck together. Guess the
old gentleman didn't mean the money
should jump out for the want Of mucil-
age, remarked the son, as he drew his
knife from his pocket and began to cut
off the covering. 1t was fearfully glued
together, but at last he got at enough of
it to read Enclosed please find $780, but
he failed to find cent. The letter had
been rihed. Who did it Certainly
not by the postmaster at that end Of the
line, for he took it from the pouch and
delivered it directly to the person to
whom it wasAddressed. An investiga-
ton showed that the letter had been i'm
mediately forwarded from st. Louis to
its destination and the proper receipts
given for it whenever it passed from the
hands of one agent to another. 1t could
not have been between this city and st.
Louis, for no one had a key to the pouch
and no one could have picked the lock.
So the matter was narrowed down to the
post office here and the one from which
it was mailed. The date Of its receipt
by the postal agent from the country
Office was on the envelope, and the time
of its starting for st. Louis"
Such was the condition of affairs wher
Special Agent Barrett received thr
papers from Washington and entered
upon his investigation of the case. No
desiring to be seen in the town wher,
the letter was mailed, fearing it woulC
arouse suspicion if the guilty party wa
located there, Mr.. Barrett addressed {
letter to the writer, requesting him t.
come to Philadelphia, and the write
came