Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-05-19
SWINDLlNG UNCLE SAM"
Cancelled Stamps Cleaned and Used in
Large Quantities.

Large Quantities.
1.-The most troublesome offenders against
Government laws are the experts who use
Cancelled postage stamps, said a postofice
official the other day. They nave a
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 desira BILE
feature, it is impossible for the men who
cancel stamps to examine each one care
fully. Then, too, a great deal OF the work
is lone by gas light. and this is a point
which tends TO aid the conspirator against
the Government income.
anyone who has seen a postofice en-
plOye in the New York Office grab a bundle
OF letters and cancel the stamps with
Ii %shtning-like rapidity can readily 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 ar acid in which they wash the
stamps. The acid acts upon the cancel
lation marks, and not npon the colors OF
the stamp. In this way a stamp that has
once been used is relieved almost entirely
of it's bad marks. Ii any black remains
after the washing process the operator
takes a sharp knife, which be has made for
the purpose, and deity scratches the stamp
until the remaining black marks are almost,
if notentirely, 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 ~isnearly
through without detection.
Another clever trick that is employed is
the cutting OF stamps. Often il the hurry
OF postoffice work the cancellation mark
upon one corner, the rest going upon the
en- velope. The operator takes a stamp
that has a black mark, say upon the left
hand lower corner. He carefully cuts a
! square piece out of that corner, making it
large enough to cut away all OF the Cancelled
I portion. He then secures a stamp on which
the cancellation mark has fallen in some
other corner. He carefully cuts out the
same sized square from the lower left hand
eorner OF this stamp, and joining it with
the first stamp he has a whole stamp upon
which there are no cancellation marks.
These stamps are used upon packages which
are tied with q string, and the string is in
g%eniously placed over the cut stamps.
Take any package OF a dozen letters and
you will see how easy it is to. find stamps
for this business" AS he spoke the official
drew fr3m his pocket a bundle of half a
dozen letters. Upon the first letter the cam
collation. mark was only upon the lower
right corner of the stamp. The second vas
Cancelled completely, and the third was
marked only upon the upper left hand cor
ner. So a combination could have been
easily made with the stamps upon the first
and third letters"
MANY ofthese operators" continued the
official, grow expert in the work. They
have clever tools and the right kind OF mu-
cilage, and some go even SO far as to have
c~oloring processes for touching up a Gar
cheek. What do they do with the worked
over stamps' They do not sell them, as
many suppose. and that fact renders detec-
ton more difficult. When a man becomes
successful in working over Cancelled
stamps he %endeavors to get into some bust
ness 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 ana advertises thoroughly through
the country, especially in rural districts.
"A SOlu WAUGH WIFI CHILL anu CndTIu lOT
$3.50 is a bait that catches a great many
green spectators, and as they are in
structed to send remittances by registered
letter, the operator receives a plumber OF
five and ten cent stamps. These stamps
he operates on, and when he receives the
jewelry he pays the postage in whole or in
part in Cancelled stamps. He makes LOO
to 200 per cent. on the jewelry and does a
thriving business in illegal stamps at the
same time.
"Ah, yes, there are a great man. in the
business, and their success is wonderful.
All that we can do is to keep on the look
out M catch one OF them when We can.
We get an idea that a man is doing crooked
work. and then watch him. When we once
get an idea it does not take lis long to
ascertain the truth. Whenever the person
presents a package for registration we
have it held for inspection, and if there are
cancc'ed stamps upon it we are pretty sure
to find them. Often the bad stamps arr
detected before they reach the cancella.
ton clerks. When they are being taken
from the receiving baskets they are some
times detected. There is now awaiting the
action Of the Grand Jury a man who is
held for doing a rushing business in can
reled stamps from his store n Broadway.
He followed the usual plan.'