Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-03
LETTERS OPENED BY MISTAKE.
The Tricky Ways of Business Men Whs
Pry Into Each Others Mail.

The Tricky Ways of Business Men Who
Pry Into Each Others Mail.
The law inflicts a severe penalty upon a
citizen who has been proven guilty of will
fully opening the mail of another. After a
letter has been stamped and placed in n gov
ernment postoffice or other receptacle pro
vided for it, it is supposed to be under the
protection of the United States, with an army
of officers of justice to enforce its inviolabil
ity and punish the citizen who desecrates it,
But ON the same principle that one dishon-
est citizen steals a coat by buying it and
never paying the tailor, the reader of other
peoples letters can get around the law in a
way equally tricky, but equally safe II he
wants to peer into confidential correspond
ence he boldly opens the letter, reads and
masters its contents, puts the letter back
and then calmly writes on the envelope
''opened by mistake, +" and perhaps adds, mot
read"
This is habit practiced in many New
York business houses. If an employe is sus-
pected of relations with other firms, or any
offense that human being can commit
against the person who hires him, his mail
matter is quite likely to be "opened by mis-
take" This is said to be especially true in
cases where statesmen with valuable clientele
have left an establishment and taken their
trade with them to some competing house.
By opening mail, wrongly addressed To the
care of their old employer, a good order can
be sometimes tilchcd. The well dressed and
self respecting culprit, who thinks that he is
not really doing anything dishonorable, APP
propriates and fills the order, and if any con
fusion subsequently, arises from the exposure
of his method, he explains it away loftily
and haughtiJy with the familiar "opeued by
mistake: thought it was addressed to the
firm
The law in a case like this docs not punish
Il man for his mistake, although the man who
by blunder alone bitches an express train and
kills some of its passengers is quite likely to
be sent to Jail The excuse "ditched 10y mis-
take would 10 met with the rcbuke but you
had no right to ditch the train by mistake"
OF course the opening Of n letter is not SO
serious as wrecking train, but a parallel
can be drawn between the two from IA legal
standpoint.
Except in the cases of fatal accident due
to carelessness, the law always considers the
intent or malice of the accused. Therefore,
if prosecutor can prove that his mail was
being continually opened and so often and
under such circumstances as to show very
strong probability of the "open by mistake
inscription being lie, and couple with this
a good reason why the defendant should de-
sire to read his mail, a conviction can be
secured. As the offenders often hold good
position in the world and only breal, the law
in the particular line of pilfering rom tho
mail, it is somewhat difficult TO get jury to
convict.
The trouble and misery that can arise be.
tween husbands and wives, women and their
best friends and partners in a firm through
the habit of willfully opening letters by mis-
take is very great. 1t is hard to tell a man
that you think him mean enough to want to
pry into your private correspondence, and
the man whe does it can usually get off scot
free, because of the unwillingness of the vic
tim to hurt his feeIings.-New York Press