Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-06-12
POSTAL MYSTERIES.
furious Gases Unearthed by an Inspector
for the Department

Sasrs Snearlhed by All Inspector
for the Department.
Comfortably seated in his private Of
nee, Chief Post Office Inspector EDGAR
ton told an Inquirer reporter some of
MS many strange experiences during
nineteen years of service in charge of
various postal districts. do Won
know" said he, there seems to be an
epidemic of obscene letter writing. from
five to six complaints being made daily?
This is unusual, and does not speak very
highly for the morals of the great num-
Der of people engaged in these unlawful
practices. The suicide of the beautiful
girl, Jessie White. of Joliet, Ill, re-
calls similar case / had when in Gin
cinnati.
"A wealthy, respectable and very
good-tooking woman, the wife of
prominent man in politics and business,
was Tor long time the recipient of
scurrlIous postal cards. From motives
OF deIlcacy she did not put the matter
into the hands of the postal authori ties
until she was driven nearly crazy by
them
''She came to me bringing a largo
bundle of cards, and Historically told
me how she had received two or three
daily. She did not suspect any one, and
1 was obliged to go to work without a
clue. Watch was kept upon the street
boxes, but, as the cards were dropped
everywhere, this method proved unsuc-
cessful. Her husband paid many visits
to the Office and begged me for Gods
sake to try and discover the writer L
do not remember exactly how, but sus-
ia ~,
himself and l went to work on that ba-
Sis After careful investigation | dis
covered that my suspicious were cor
rect The wretch had been writing
them himself. He had become infatu-
ated with some woman and desired to
get rid of his wife. knowing her sem
sitive nature he thought by this method
to drive her either insane or to suicide.
For some time l said nothing, but
worked on, listening to the husbands
hypocritical complaints. When l had
every thing ready 1 sent for this
model husband and told him
plainly what 1 had discov-
cred. He was enraged, but when l re-
lated the story of his misdoings he be-
came frightened and promised to do
whatever 1 told him. For his wife's
the postals. l told him to go, and to re-
member that repetition of the offense
would lead to his punishment. When
the wife called l told her that she would
receive no more scurrilous missiyes.
There are plenty of such cases, but
many women will never complain.
Il had the pleasure of settling an.
other case in st. Louis, but in this in
stance the shoe was on the other foot.
A noted criminal lawyer came to me
and told me that he had reason to be-
1ieve that his wife was carrying on an
Illicit correspondence, through the me-
dunn of private box in tie post-office,
with 4 notorious rough in that city. ],
of course, Investigated, and found that /
his suspicious were correct. They both /
had lock boxes, and when he came to get /
his business mail he would also remove /
this woman's letters from the other box. |
/ sent a note to her advising her to call .
at my office. She came, not without /
trepidation, fOndly imagining that none |
knew of her guilt. In a naughty man. |
ner she asked my business. | told her, !
without any attempt to veneer it with /
soft words. She declared herself in
suited and said she would tell her hus- /
band. ! told her to be seated, that her /
husband had instituted the inquiry, and /
then advised her to drop the CORE
spondence, as she was standing on the .
brink of disgrace and ruin, and all for .
the sake of a man noted for his diSso- /
lutte manner of living. She became
frightened and promised to stop, and
as an assurance of her good faith
gave me the key to her box. l sent for
her husband and told him that he was
mistaken, that his wife was not corre-
spending with any one, except by the
regular course of the mails. This, of
course, was lie by implication, but
it sent him away a happy man, and
believe in such an instance the lie was
justified.
speaking of St Louis reminds me
of another curious case. We had a man
there, the chief registering clerk, who
was interchangeable in his efforts to assist
in detecting postal thieves. At that
time the Kentucky lottery was in full
blast, and whole patches of Louisville
mail was disappearing, most of them
with remittances to the lottery. This
clerk was SO deep in our confidence that
we told him to keep sharp lookout for
the thief. In few days he said that
they must be taken by the drivers of
the mail wagons who came into the
cars to get warm. l then made a per-
sona1 investigation, but could find no
drivers. Suspicion then turned upon
the clerk, and sure enough l found he
had been the thief. He was arrested
and served three years. Oh, there are
lots of funny things happening in the
postal service which cause one to Won
der if the good really exists in man
Inquirer.