Iron County register., 1886-06-10
PETTY SWlNDLERS.
How Cancelled Stamps Are Cleaned \,
Used q Second Time.

FELL SWtNOLERS,
How Cancelled Stamps Are Cleaned ,nd
Used a Second Time.
s'The most troublesome Offenders
against Government laws are the ex-
perts who use cancelled postage-stamps.n
said post-office official the other dav.
''They have system of washing out the
cancellation marks that is so successful
as to make detection almost impossible.
In the offices of large cities like New
York and Chicago, where so many let
tiers are handled daily, and where
rapidity is the most desirable feature. if
is impossible for the men who cancel
stamps to examine each one carefully.
Then, too, great deal of the work is
done by gas-light, and this is point
which tends to aid the conspirator
against the Governments income.
ANY one who has seen a posa-offfce
'employe m the New York office crab a
bundle of letters and cancel the stamps
with lightning-like rapidity can readily
see how impossible it is for him to de-
tect bad stamps unless they are uarticu
larly bad. The men engaged in the
business of using Cancelled stamps are
extremely clever. They have an acid
In which they wash the stamps. The
acid acts upon the cancellation marks,
and not upon the colors of the stamp.
In this way stamp that has once been
used is relieved almost entirely of its
black marks. If any black re-
mains after the washing pro-
cess the operator takes a sharp
knife, which he has made for the pur-
pose, and deity scratches the stamp
until the remaining black marks are
almost, if not entirely removed. This
can be done readily when the marks are
upon the bald head or the face of the
historic parsonage whose vignette
adorns the stamp, as this portion is
white; and upon a white space the
stamp can be scratched until it is nearly
through without detection
Another clever trick that is en-
ployed is the cutting of stamps. Often
in the hurry of post-office work the can
collation. mark does not cover the stamp,
but falls upon one corner, the rest going
upon the envelope. The operator takes
stamp that has "a black mark. saw
upon the left-hand lower corner. He
carefully cuts a square out of that cor
ner, making it large enough to cut
then secures q stamp on which the can
collation. mark has fallen in some other
corner. He carefully cuts out the same
sized square from the lower left-hand
corner of this stamp, and joining it
with the first stamp, he has got whole
stamp upon which there are no can
collation. marks. These stamps are
used upon packages which are tied with
string, and the string is ingeniously
placed over the cut stamps.
Take any package of dozen letters
and you will see how easy it is to find
stamps for this business AS he spoke
the official drew from his pocket a
bundle of half a dozen letters. Upon
the first letter the cancellation mark
was only upon the lower right corner
of the stamp. The second was Cancelled
completely, and the third was marked
only upon the upper left-hand corner.
So a combination could have been easily
made with the stamps upon the first and
third letters.
'.Many of these operators" continued
the official, ''grow expert in the work.
They have clever tools and the right
kind of mucilage, and some 60 even SO
far as to have coloring processes for
touching up Garfield black eye or a
Washington soiled cheek. What do
they do with the worked-over stamps?
They do not sell them, as many sup
pose, and that fact renders detection
more difficult. When a man becomes
successful in working over cancelled
stamps he endeavors to get into some
business which will require the sending
and receipt of many registered letters
and packages. The most popular
scheme is to 60 into the cheap jewelry
and fancy-trick business. The operator
lays in a stock of the cheapest kind OF
jewelry and advertises thoroughly
districts A gold watch with chain and
charm for four dollars and half is bait
that catches great many green specu-
lators. and as they are instructed to send
remittances by registered letter, the
operator receives a number of five and
ten-cent stamps. These stamps he oper-
ates ON, and when he returns the jew
elry he pays the postage in whole or in
part with Cancelled stamps. He makes
one or two hundred per cent. on the
iewelry, and does a thriving business in
illegal stamps at the same time.
''Ah, yes, there are a great many in
the business, and their success is WON
derful All that we can do is to keep on
the lockout and catch one of them when
we can. We get an idea that a man is
doing crooked work, and then watch
him. When,ve once get an idea it does
not take us long to ascertain the truth
Whenever the person presents pack
age for registration we have it held for
inspection, and if there are Cancelled
stamps upon it we are pretty sure to
find them. Often the bad stamps are
detected before they reach the cancella-
ton clerks. When they are being taken
from the lreceiving-baskets they are
sometimes detected. There is now
awaiting the action of the grand jury a
man who iis held for doing a rushing
business fn cancelled stamps from his
store on Broadway. He followed the
usual plan -",--M. Y. Star.