The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-05-12
UNCLE SAM
CANCELLED STAMPS CLEANED AND
USED IN LARGE QUANTITIES.
Washing with Acids--Patching Together
Uncanceled Parts of Several stamps
How They Are Used.

"The most troublc.omo offenders
against government laws arc the OK
perts who use Cancelled postage stamps
said a postofice official the other day.
'They have a system of washing out
the cancellation marks that is so sue
~cessful as TO make detection almost
impossible. In the Offices Of large cities
like New York and Chicago, where so
many letters arc handled daily, and
where rapiditv is the most desirable
feature, it is impossible for the men
who cancel stamps TO examine each
one carefully. Then, too, Il great deal
of the work is done by gaSlight, and
this is IL point which tends to aid the
couspirator against the governments
income.
"Anv one who has seen Il postonicc
emplove in the New York Office grab Il
bunnlc of letters and cancel the stamps
with lightning-likc rapidity can read
lily see how impossible it is for him to
detect bad stamps unless they are par
ticularly 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 II stamp that has
once been used is relieved almost en-
tirely OF its black marks. II amy
black remains aiGcr the washing pro-
cess the operator takes Il sharp knife,
which he has mauc for the purpose,
and dettlv scratches The stamp until
thn y,,,.ini,,r ,l,nl- ,,.,,I.G 49,, uln,.Lt
it not entirely removed. This can be
done readily when the marks are upon
the bald heaC or the face Of the his
toric parsonage whose vi@ucttc adorns
the stamp, as this portion is white;
and upon Il white space the stamp can
be scratched until it is nearly through
without detection.
"AnOthcr clever trick that is en-
ployed is the cutting Of stamps. Often
in The hurry of poStotlicc work the
cancellation mark does not V the
stamp, but falls only upon ono corner,
the rest going upon the envelope. The
operator takes Il stamp that has Il black
mark, say upon the left hand lower
corner. lie carefully cuts Il square
piece out of that corner, making it
large enough to cut away all Of the
Cancelled portion. lie then secures n
stamp on which the cancellation mark
has fallen in some other corner. lie
carefully cuts out the same sized square
from the lower left hand corner ofthc
stamp, and joining it with the first
stamp he has u whole stamp upon
which there arc no cancellation marks.
These stamps are used upon packages
which arc tied with a string, and the
string is ingcniously placed over the
cut stamps.
"Takc any package Of u dozen let
tiers and you will see now 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 can
celcd completely, and the third was
marked only upon the upper left hand
corner. So combination could have
been easily made with the stamps upon
the first and third letters.
"Many of these OPERATORS" con
tinucd the official, "grow expert III the
work. They have clever tools and
the right KIND OF mucilagc, and some
go even so far as to have Coloring pro-
cesscs for touching up Il Garfield black
CNC Vi a. ''A''Nh NAl'NN'
What do they do With The w~orkcd-oycr
stamps? They do not sell them, as
many suppose, and that fact renders
detection more difficult. When a man
become successful in working over
Cancelled stamps he e~ndcavors TO get
into some business which VIII require
the sending and receipt Of manysrcgia-
tered letters and packages. The most
popular scheme IS to 90 into the cheap
ieWelrv or fancy trick business. Tho
operator LAYS in Il stock of the cheapest
kind of jcwclry and advcrtisCs thor
oughly through the country, especially
in rural districts. \ gold watch with
chain and charm for Sl.5O is a bait
that catches a great many green spec
ulators, ana as they arc instructed to
send remittanccs by registered letter,
the operator receives a number OF i've
and ten cent stamps. These stamps
he operates on, and when ne returns
the jcwclry he pays the postage III
whole or in part with Cancelled stamps.
He makes 100 to 200 per cent ON the
jewclry, and COOS Il thriving business
in illegal stamps at the same time.
"Ah, yes, there are a great many in
the business, and their success is won
dertul. All tbat we can do is to keep
on the lookout and catch one Of them
when we can. We get an idea that a
mar is doing crooked work, and then
watch him. When we once get an
idea it does not take us long TO asccr-
tain the truth. Whenever the person
presents a package for registration VIC
have ii held for inspection, ana if there
are Cancelled stamps upon il we are
pretty sure to find them. Often the
bad stamps are detected before they
reach the cancellation clerks. When
they are being taken from Tic rccciv-
ing baskets they are sometimes detect
ed. There is now awaiting the action
of the grand jury a mar who is held
for doing a rushing business in can
celed stamps from his store on Broad
way. He followed the usual plan"
War Speculation in the south.