Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-03

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| she has treated me like | was her real hus-
band. Boss, was never 50 happy i'll all
! my life, and my rheumatism is all gone.
How Thieving Postal Clerks are Caught.
Colonel Sharpe, lately the head of the
| detective service in the Postoffice Depart
ment, lately explained 10 reporter his
| method of detecting postal clerks who steal
| letters containing money
To catch these thieves" he said, | had
| constructed a large railroad map of the
/ United States, which hangs in my office.
! Now. suppOsing man mails letter in
| Boston for Kansas City containing $50-a
| very bad practice, but people will do it.
! The letter never reaches its destination, and
| pretty soon we get a complaining letter
stating the circumstances. Now, if the
| supposed case were an isolated one we
! probably could dc nothing. The letter in
| going from Boston to Kansas City would
| pass through thirty or forty hands, and il
would be useless to Try to fix the blame.
| But the Boston mans case is not isolated.
| Every day we get from one to fifty similar
| complaints from all over the country, and
! this fact, as you will see, enables US to To-
cate the mischief. First we ascertain
exactly when and where the missing letter
was mailed, and its address. Then we are
| iSHi1 iO4 LII map DOEG w. tdht the
Boston mans letter and a bunch
of similar complaints, and then I
begin to stick pins into my map.
know just the route which letter
| would take to go from Boston to Kansas
! City, and l stick pins along 10 sketch out
| this course. Then ! take the next COM
| plant. Perhaps this is from man who
lost money transmitting it from Mobile to
Chicago. Very well. trace out the line
such letter would take. A third, perhaps,
was sent from New York to San Francisco,
| the fourth from New Orleans to Buffalo,
| the fifth from Saginaw City 70 Philadelphia,
and 50 on. Now, before very long, the map
begins to look quite interesting. The pins
are strewn all over the country, but we no.
tice one track-say, for instance, between
| Chicago and Cleyeland-wherea all the lines
unite. That's where the thief is. Know
! ing now where the stealing is going on, we
! advise our most trusted man in that divis-
! ion-we have to trust somebody, You know
that there is trouble in his section, and
| tell him to keep q sharp lookout. We in
quire into the habits and associations of the
| clerks and we are, perhaps, able to spot
the man at once. At other times it is more
| difficult. But we always fetch him. De-
| lection is certain
But don't the clerks know of this sys-
! TEN ?"
Perfectly well, replied Colonel Sharpe.
Then why do they steal ?" was asked
All, there you ask me too hard ques-
ton, said the Inspector" I'm sure l can't
| tell. | only know they do, and the history
| of almost all cases is the same postal
| clerk will be tempted, and will steal letter
! that he feels has money in il. For the next
| few days he is scared to death. He thinks
everybody reads his guilt in his face, and
he is certain he will be caught and put in
! prison. He resolves never TO steal another
| letter, and possibly he does not. But gen
orally in about month or two his fear and
! remorse have worn off. Evidently he has
not been caught and is not suspected A
good chance comes, and he steals another
| letter. This time he does not wait month
| before he tries il again, and before long he
is stealing all the letters he gets hold of
which contain money. About this time
am sticking pins into my map. 1t is sure
death. Sometimes we get more than one,
I as fishers will now and then land two or
| three fish at once when the biting is very
| lively. We caught three in two weeks once
in different parts of the country, when we
| supposed we were after only one"
| . But why do men keep on stealing when
they see others caught, and understand that
the machinery of detection is so perfect ?''
again asked the reporter.
As said before" replied the Inspector,
that / can't answer, except in this way
| Every rogue thinks himself little smarter
| than anybody else. He sees that others
are caught, but he thinks that he is too
| cunning, and can cover his tracks