Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-06-07
THE LOST LETTER.

For several years | have been employed as
postoffice inspector. During tho autumn Of
1886 was dispatched By the head of the di
vision 70 which | belong to, town which
we will call Berne, To inT estigate a loss which
had occurred there. The case as reported
was substantially US follows;
Mr. james Appleton, a merchant OF Berne.
had a son who was attending school at Spring
deld To this young man his father was IN
the habit Of sending money, every week or
two. for school and other expenses He
usually sent 81 at a time, and It was his
custom to send a money order, although 1t
would have been quite as convenient for the
boy to get a check cashed.
On the evening Of Oct. % Mr.. Appleton
came into the postoffice late, with a letter IN
which he intended to inclose a remittance
He WAS very particular that the letter should
20 bv that night mail so as to be in Spring
field early the next morning. The hour at
which he arrived at the Office was 80 late,
however, that the money order department
was closed The postmaster and assistant
had gone home. and no one was in the office
except a boy Of fifteen, IN whose charge it
was left each night after O'Clock to wait for
a late mail
After morleat hesitation, MI Appleton
decided to risk sending The money in bills in
the letter since lie wished it to go that night.
This he did but he inclosed only fifteen dol
lars Saving nothing more to the postoliice
clerk he dropped the letter in the box and
went home.
TIia letter was never received by young
Applet0n Two or three weeks later, com
plant having been made 70 the department.
the cllse WAS put into my hands for investi-
CATION
As is usually my way in such cases, ! went
to Berue unannounced, and spent one day
quietly looking the ground over before
made myself known. In such this
the amount Of trouble put forth is often
quite out of proportion to the amount of the
loss but the main point is to discover the
thief and thus prevent further depredations.
soon found that the postmaster, Smith
by name, was quite above suspicion. He
was a wealthy man. a merchant and bank
director who gave only part of his time
to the management of the office The next
day, therefore, called upon him, made my
self known, and found him very willing to
converse With me about the matter, and anx
ious to afford me every aid in his power. 1t
had been through him, in fact, that Mr.
Appleton's complaint had been transmitted
to the department.
| learncd from him that as yet no one in
Berne knew Of the loss except Mr.. Appleton
and himself Mr. Appleton was firmly con
WINGED that the boy vino had charge of the
office at night the guilty party.
Suspicion certainly did point strongly to
ward him lie hal known that Mr.. Apple
ton was in the habit Of sending money orders
to his son. he knew that the gentleman par
ticuarly wished to send one on the night in
question and did not What more natural,
then that when in making up the mail that
night. he should have found M Appeton's
letter. dstinguishable by the business card in
the corner of the envelope. and that he should
have suspected nay, should have felt certain,
that the letter contained money and should
have appropriated il The theory of his
guilt seemed to he the most obvious solution
of the case
Only three persons had access to the office;
Mr.. Smith himself, the assistant postmaster,
and tins boy Harry Boyd. OF these the first
two were out Of the question, since neither
of them had been near the office that night
The assistant, learned. though this does not
concern the story, bore an excellent reputa-
ton and would not have been suspected in
any event
II the theft had been committed in that Of
fee, the boy must have been the guilty per
son, md It seemed much more likely that it
should have been committed there, since no
one elsewhere would have reason to suspect
that any letter il the mail contained money.
EvCi Mr. Smith Obliged to confess that
whiic he nacd the boy greatly, and had great
cnuiilcnce IA him circumstances strongly in
dicatcd biz guilt
As y myself | had no doubt whatever on
the ,ull.ct and expected to be able to prove
his dishonesty | set at work at once upon
the theor, that he had stolen the letter. and
laid my plans to force him TO confess it.
Waiting until the boy had gone to dinner.
tina, he might have no suspicion of what was
being done made a careful examination Of
the placc under the guidance of the post
master
The lostofiice was Ill the same building with
MIR Smiths store, but quite separate from it,
except that n small room behind the office
opened int. the rear Of the store, the part
which ~as used for storing heavy and bulky
goods ilafry Boyd worked in the store
part ct ,he time with the other cicr,,s but
wa the 'uly me OF them who had Access to
the Office After the store was cu,cI at 8
O'Clock at night, he remained in the office
alone to wait for late stage which did not
arriveuutil TO- and then made up the mail for
the al ut tram lie slept in the small room
beh.nj tive office
A. the door which connected this room
with tue bacA store was of glass and com
nlaIide. a good view of both rooms, decided
that here WAS the bcst place for me to besin
my sarch
Acting upon my suggestion. Mr. Smith.
late in the evening. sent Harry away upon
an errand and then helped me to arrange
where was out Of sight. but still could get a
good view through the glass door
II was a rather odd place to be in, but not
nearly as strange many my work has led
me into, and much more comfortable than
many OF them OF course hardly expected
TO detect Boyd in another actual theft
There was very little chance Of that but |
always like to watch suspected persons when
they think themselves quite alone and have
often been able to unravel some tangled web
by what | have learned while doing so.
On this night, as on every other. the lights
in the store and a part Of those in the office
were put out at . o'clock. Every one went
home except Harry, who quite unaware that
be was being watched. performed some small
duties about the odice, and then sat down to
read until tbs stage came Promptly at 10
O'Clock the stage arrived The mails were
soon arranged locked up. and dispatched to
the train Then the boy put out the lights
in the outer office closed doors and shutters,
and came back to the inner room
Now. if ever. was the time for me to ex-
pect Developments and, not at all TO my sur
prise, they came though Of a rather perplex-
ing nature
Stepping up TO tde case Of boxes, several
hundred in number, Boyd commenced taking
out the letters from all of them | could see
that occasionally he separated letter from
the rest, and seemed to mark it in some way
with pencil
When he had taken the letters from all the
boxes, he put them on a table and shuffied
them together 50 as thoroughly to disarrange
them. Then taking handful he began put
ting them back in the boxes. moving from
one end Of the case TO the other After some
little time this task was finished. and be TN
dressed, blew out the lights and went 20 bed
was willing to confess that was puzzled
could not understand what be had been
doing. He certainly had not distracted any
letters from the number, for had watched
him closely Still the fact that be had placed
mark upon some of them was very sus-
picious, and went far to confirm my impresr
sion that he was guilty
An hour later Mr. Smith came by agree
,aus and, fv lar b--, ka,i