Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-20
sWINDLING THE GOVERNMENT.
How Cancelled Stamps are Cleaned and Used a
Second Time.
New York Star.

New York Star.
"The most troublesome offenders against
government laws are the experts who use
Cancelled postage-stamps," said postof-
fee official the other day. "Ehey have
system of washing out the cancellation
marks that is so successful as to make de-
lection almost impossible. In the Offices
of large cities like New York and Chicago,
where so many letters are handled daily,
and where rapidity is the most desirable
feature, it is impossible for the men who
cancel stamps to examine each one care
fully. Then, too, a great deal of work is
done by gas-light, and this is a point
which tends to aid the conspirator against
the governments income.
ANYONE who has seen pOstOffice en-
ploye in the New York Office grab bundle
of letters and cancel the stamps with
lightning like rapidity can easily See how
impossible it is for him to detect bad
stamps unless they are particularly 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 cancella-
ton marks, and not upon the colors of
the stamp. In this way a stamp that has
IOnce been used is relieved almost entirely
of its black marks. If any black remains
after the washing process the operator
takes a sharp knife, which he has made
for the purpose, and deftly 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 his
i tOric parsonage whose yignette adOrns the
stamp, as this portion is white; and upon
white space the stamp can be scratched
until it is nearly through without detec-
ton.
'AnOther clever trick that is employed
Is the cutting of stamps. Often in the
hurry of postoffice work the cancellation
mark does not cover the stamp, but falls
only on one corner, the rest going upon
the envelope. The operator takes a stamp
that has a black mark, say upon the lower
left hand corner. He carefully cuts
square piece out of that corner, making
it large enough to cut away all the cancel
ed portion. He then secures stamp upon
which the cancellatiOn-mark las 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 whole stamp
upon which there are no cancellation
marks. These stamps are used upon pack
ages that are tied with a string, and the
string is ingeniOusly placed over the cut
stamps.
Take a package of a dozen letters and
you will see how easy it is to find stamps
for the business" AS he spoke the official
drew from his pocket a bundle of half a
dozen letters. Upon the first envelope the
Embellishments was on the lower right
corner of the stamp. The second was
cancelled Ompletely, and the third was
marked only on the upper left-hand cor
ner. So 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 a Garfield black eye or Washington
sOiled cheek. What do they do with the
worked over stamps? They do not sell
them, as many suppose, and that fact rem
ders detection more difficult. When a
man becomes successful in working over
Cancelled stamps he endeavors to get in
to some business which will require the
sending and receipt of many registered
letters and packages. The most popular
scheme is to go into the cheap jewelry
and fancy trick business. The operator
lays in a stock of the cheapest kind of
jewelry and advertises thoroughly through
the country, especially in rural districts
A gold watchs with chain and charm for
81 So is a bait that catches great many
green spectators. and as they are in
structed to send remittances by register
ed letter, the operator sends a number of
and 10 cent stamps. These stamps he
operates on, and when he returns the Jew
elry he pays the postage in whole or in
part with Cancelled stamps. He makes
100 or 200 per cent on the ieweIry, and
does thriving business in illegal stamps
at the same time.
"Ah, yes, there are a great many in the
business, and their success is wonderful.
All that we can do is to keep on the look
out and catch one of them when we cam
We get an idea that man is doing crook
edwork and then watch him. When we
once get an idea it does not take us long
to ascertain the truth. Whenever the
person presents a package for registra-
ton we have it held for inspection, and
If there are Cancelled stamps upon it we
are sure to find them. Often the bad
stamps are detected before they reach the
cancellation clerks. When they are be-
ing taken from the receiving baskets
they are sometimes detected. There is
now man held who is awaiting the
action of the grand ?ury.