Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-12-24
DON'T ROB TIE MAIL,
Pos:-CFce inspectors Ee:a+o IL
teresting Anecdotes.

AS a rule, the secret service Of the
poSi-OGlce Nepurt!i1ent contains so1oe Of
the harlcst-workeL emplo.-c Of tho
Government Very fcT persons outside
OF the u,a =! service know OF the duties
Of a posC-ctice Inspector, but suffice 1t
70 say that a days lNty Of an inspec tor
contains half a ac#en thrilling "onlances.
When oue becomes statistical and
glance At tho vast amount Of mall mat
ter which annually passes through the
r,'1S1-oCice Of the Country. DO can not
for the ille Ct him even imagine how d
mere handful Of inspectors Can trace at
all the many petty :obbecies OF the
mali and secure evidence enough to
convict the perpetrators.
There IS 3 wonderful system about on
inspe ctor's daily work, but even with
this sys I'm no is worked like 4 Trs jan
in thu oattlen,ents from early morning
until late at night lie has no regular
hours. lie may be found ON duty any
time from one midnight to the next
No one except his superior and himself
knows bis business, and it will readily
be seen that one Of the grea test requis-
ties TO make good inspector is a love
Of silence.
Around the walls OF the Government
building, if ore will look closely. he
viii observe what appears as registers,
high up near the calling. They arc In
nocent looking enough to distract the
suspicious OF the most willy thief. But
every da2, behind ono OF these iron
gratinGs, there May be found post
Office inspector, intently watching the
actions of the clerks, either In the main
distributing room or in the regis ter or
money order departments.
Should there happen to be any con-
plains OF missing nail there is a sour
rying in the ms pection department. and
every nan on the staff is put on to test
his nettle with the case which con-
fronts the department. And the won
der is that nine times ont of ten the
case is worked to :. successful conclu-
sion and The guilty person convicted Of
the heinous crime of tampeving with
Uncle Sans mail
We get some pretty tough cases."
said an olG inspector recently, but it
has been my fortune to run down every
''Nhat was the most difficult case you
ever handled?" asked 9 reporter.
ut happened while / was stationed
at Utica n. Y. about seven years ago, -
replied the ms pector. MANY letters
contain iug yaluables had been missed,
and by dint Of hard work we managed
to trace tho Job down to one clerk, a
shaved-faced young fellow Of about
twent7 two years. He was clerk who
dis;-i Duted the letters in to the boxes Of
the carriers
las said, we managed to get this
far on the case and then ! set my trap
had decoy letter containing twen-
ty-dollar gold piece mailed from a
country town in Connecticut to prom
inent stove dealer in Utica The let
ter failed to reach the carrier promptly,
and felt we had our man solid at last.
II waited for him yn:il the dinner
hour, and as he was leaving the office
accostcd him. He came With me, and
look as closely as | might ! failed to
detect any signs Of uneasiness in his
features; they were perfectly immobiie,
He walked with me- into the office OF
the postmaster and submitted to thor
ough search, but no trace of the lotter
or twenty dollar gold piece was found
On mis- person
ITO say I was dumfounded is draw
ing it mildly. He appeared to be very
indignant But whether was right Or
wrong at the time. the petty robberies
came to gudden stop. No more com
plants were heard for month. Then
they began again. This time / was
bound would not fail, 50 / set O. close
watch on my man. # &
"One day when WAS about to give up
the case in despair noticed the fellow
tearing up an envelope and dropping ii
to the floor. When be had gone picked
up the scraps Of paper, and after a hard
job managed to piece it. was dis
hearsened when saw that the yelope
had been addressed to himself. was
Z about to walk away when sudden idea
struck nae. -.
s#e Il came down the next morning be-
4 fore che young clerk came to work, and