Little Falls transcript., 1885-11-06
Catching Postal Thieves.

.ly to engage in private business. His
resignation was accepted, to take ef-
feet on September /. His record is
that Of q capable officer. He is an
east Tennessee man, tall and spare in
stature, and in appearance and man
ner the typical detective. During the
war he was a Union man and did
good service. AS department officer
he has been terror to rascals, and
has hunted many of them out Of the
service, even when they were shell
tered by strong political influence.
Some years ago, for instance, Yer.
mont inspector was discovered to be
conniving at postoffice rascality in
that state and was discharged. The
man had been henchman of Senator
Edmunds, and the senator called at
the post Office department to see what
could be done. The postmaster gen.
eral asked the senator and the inspect
or into a private Office and told Col.
Sharpe to explain, which the Inspector
did very fully.
"And you recommended the mans
discharged" asked Mr.. Edmunds,
harshly.
Eyes, did," replied Col. Sharpe;
ssand had known the mans charac-
ter sooner would have bounced him
months ago"
"Well, YOU did just right" said Ed
munds, and left.
One OF the most important duties
OF the chief inspector is to detect rail-
way postal clerks who steal letters
containing money. To accomplish
this Col. Sharpe follows g. simple but
ingenious system, which he explained
the other day to the writer.
s"To catch these thieves" he said,
II had constructed a. large railroad
map ofthe United States, which hangs
in my Office. Now, supposing aman
mails g. letter in Boston for Kansas
City containing $5o-a very bad prac-
tice, but people will do it. The letter
never reaches it's destination, and
pretty soon We get d complaining let
ter stating the circumstances.
|.Now, if the supposed case were an
isolated one, we probably could do
nothing. The letter, in going from
Boston to Kansas City, would pass
through 80 or 40 hands, andit would
be useless to try to fix the blame.
But the Boston mans case is not
isolated. Every day we get from one
to SO similar complaints from all
over the country, and this fact, as
you will see, enables us to locate this
mischief.
First, we ascertain exactly where
the missing letter was mailed and it's
address. Then we are ready for the
map / spoke of. I take the Boston
mans letter and a bunch of similar
complaints, and then begin to stick
pins into my map. I know just the
route which letter would take to 20
from Boston to Kansas City, and I
stick pins along to sketch out this
course. Then I take the next COM
plant. Perhaps this is from q man
who lost money transmitting it from
Mobile to Chicago. Very we'll. I
trace out the line such letter would
take. The third, perhaps, was sent
from New York to San Francisco, tho
fourth from New Orleans to Buffalo,
and fifth from Saginaw City to Phila-
delphia, and so on. Now before very
long the map begins to look quite in
tereeting The pins arestrewn all over
the country, and we notice one track
say, for instance, between Chicago
and Cleveland-where all the lines
unite. That's where the thief is. 4
: knowing now where the stealing is
going on, we advise our most trusted
man in that division--we have to trust
somebody, you know-that there is
trouble in his section, and tell him to
keep sharp look out. We inquirein-
to the habits and association of the
clerks, and we are, perhaps, able to
spot the man at tonce. At other times
it is more difficult. But we always
fetch him. Detection is certain"
V "But don't the clerks know Of this
system?' 49, ~ NJ. E55 ~
Perfectly we'll, !" replied Col. Sharpe.
Then, why do they: steal?" was
"Ah, there you ask me too hard q
question:" said the inspector. ''I'm
sure can't tell. / only know they do,
and the history ofalmost all cases is
the same. A postal clerk will be
tempted, and will steal q letter that
he feels has money in it. For thenext
few days he is scared to death. He
thinks everybody reads his guht in his
face, and he is certainhe will be caught
and put in prison. Heresolyes never to
steal another letter, and possibly he
does not. But generally, in about a
month or two months, his fear and