Wichita eagle., 1889-12-13
RUBBING THE MAILS.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SAFE
TY FOR THE POSTAL THIEF.

Measures Taken to Render the Detection
of Dishonesty in the Service Almost Ger
tain-The Admirable Registry System.
How Lost Letters Arc Traced.
But few chances has the postal thief Of es-
Gaping detection. The system Of guarding
Uncle Sans letters and packages from ma
rauding hands has reached high stage OF
development, especially in this city.
Think of the carriers handling on each of
their routes 2, 800 letters, ETC., every day. and
Of the $500, 600 or more pieces of mail matter
delivered in New York CITY every week; and
consider the possibility of tracing one piece
Of matterl 1t seems remote when one thinks
Of tho number Of hands and postofices each
piece has passed through, and yet it is COM
paratively simple, such Is the degree of per-
lection in the system. In this city the work
Of tracing articles lost from the mail is done
by the inquiry Office.
HOW THE TRACING IS DONE.
If the thing missing has been miscarried,
this department WILL sooner or later, find 1t
by the rigorous search it institutes If it has
been intercepted, it viii 1T be long before the
point is located, ard the finger of suspicion
once being fastened upG some one, it will be
but short time before his guilt or innocence
is esta blished by the inspector or the four de-
tectives who are under him.
When anything is reported missing at the
Office of inquiry tracer is sent to the origina-
ting Office, and copy Of the same Is for
warded to all offices that should handle the
object before its destination is reached. The
time the article was mailed, the address it is
supposed to bear and its detailed contents are
given on the tracer.
The Office receiving the tracer looks
through its instructed letters and 'held for
postage" matter, and also through that ''held
for better address" and reports the result to
the inquiring Office.
A similar search has been made at the
home Office. before the tracer is sent out. If
these steps prove unavailing, the dead letter
Office is subjected to formal inquiry.
Next, the route of the missing article
through the home Office is asked. A registry
already made in the descriptive book at the
home Office makes the missing article known
by number. 1t is learned what carriers
route that number should have gone over.
Then the carriers name who was on that
route the day this number should have been
delivered is ascertained.
In a "black book" kept by the inquiry
Office the names of all carriers appear. OPP
posite the name Of each carrier is the number
of each missing letter or parcel that be-
longed on his route.
That book many carriers know nothing
about. But the inspectors make a study Of
it. From it they get the carriers saver
age" Too many numbers behind a carriers
Ill{, nv.l Is 81,
numbers are found to represent money letters
or packages, he Is at once subjected to sus-
picion.
Often the man is changed to some other
route, and il the discrepancies in his work
continue suspicion becomes next to a GER
tainty, and trap is laid for him bv the
willy inspector into which the culprit in
variably falls.
In the case of one accusedsthe crooked work
had been going on for upward Of two years
before guilt could be actually fastened upon
him.
One lost letter after another from various
parts Of the country was traced to his route,
but that did not furnish sufficient grounds to
take legal action against him, or even to re-
move him, as the authorities are very wary
through fear Of doing an injustice.
But his numbers piled up on the blotter
until they covered two lines in the "black
book" while most Of the carriers had but a
total of three or four against them.
The suspected man had been cautious in his
interruptions, being careful not to victimize
one person too often. Among the letters he
failed to deliver were many that contained
nothing Of value to any one but the owner,
showing that he stole Unfortunately any
thing that he suspected of containing money.
A lot of bank notes were inclosed to an adj
dress on his route by the inspector one day
after the numbers upon them had been taken
and they had been marked for Identification.
Then tho fac-simile of the stamp used at the
New York postoffice was produced with lead
pencil, and care taken that the letter should
fall into the suspected carriers hands. The
letter did not reach its destination. The dis
honest carrier had been watched and followed,
and at the proper time he was arrested. The
marked bills were fonnd in his possession, to-
gether with number of other letters con-
tanning money and jewels, which he had held
back.
NOT ALWAYS CARRIERA.
It is matter Of wonder to some how tho
unscrupulous class of public servants closely
distinguish between money letters and others,
but the authorities say that they become e1-
pert after a while, and can guess pretty well
which envelope contains bank bills by simply
feeling it.
However, the leak is not always in the car
rier service. There has been such thing as
a dishonest postal clerk or messenger in tbs
railway mail service. This system crowds
them into close quarters before they operate
a great while. If the thieving employe hap
pens to be at an outside Office the net Of sus-
picisn enveiops him all the quicker, and after
that the way IL easy.
That will be readily seen. The complaints
about lost letters come from all quarters. 1t
is not long before it is observed that those
the tracer" and other searchars fail to find
are Of value. and that most Of them come
over a certain route. They may come from
ali directions. and center at one point for re-
distribution. Snpposing one of the clerks at
that point is the thief, suspicion is at once
drawn to his Office from the fact that the
lost letters were supposed to pass through it,
it being taken for granted that they were
not intercepted on the multifarious routes
they take before reaching him, or on the
scattered routes they must take after leaving
his hands. Therefore, he is cornered with
out knowing it. A pair Of eyes is ever upon
him after that, and decoy letters keep falling
into his. hands