The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-08-06
ROBBING THE MAILS.
How Clerks Guilty of the Heinous
ftt Crime Are Caught
An Interesting Talk with POST once In
specterrJames stewsrt-How Hard
ened Thief Was SGT TO Catch Him
self--CJever Detective Work.

hODDlnR bne HALLS 10 uOb uSuohy
productive or highly successful way Of
filling ones pockets with other peoples
money" said Post-0fice Inspector
James Stewart to q Chicago Inter
Ocean reporter. "You see, every posi-
BILE safeguard is thrown around all valu-
able mail. and 1t is usually rather easy
to locate the thief before any serious
damage is done. The delay or deviation
OF registered letter is almost immedi-
ately noted. Every man who handles
the registered letters is cautious to see
that they are all right as to condition
and number, and so each man has a
check before and behind him. Howev-
er, occasionally the registered letter
thief succeeds in giving us o good deal
OF trouble.
zone case that remember, and with
some pardonable pride, ! will tell You
about. There was long star route
clear TO tho Pacific coast, Every now
and then registered letters would be
received at both ends, the contents OF
which had been abstracted and the let
ter gummed together again. All the
ordinary checks failed 70 locate, even
remotely, the culprit, so l sent out o
special TO 20 over the route from end TO
end. He went and he returned without
having discovered any thing. l sent
out another and another, with the same
lack OF result. 1t was costing the Gov
ernment many hundreds Of dollars and
the stealing still continued. What was
most annoying was that the thefts con-
tinued Just the same while the specials
were out trying TO discoveruwho was
doing It The thief was expert. He
knew how to steam or otherwise open
the envelopes. He could then abstract
any cash or convertible securities, and
regum the envelopes, and there was
nothing about their outward appear
ance to indicate that they had been
tsmpered with. The fellow annoyed
me, and made up my mind to find him
out.
$50 I started out over the line myself.
/ gave it out that It was Just friendly
sort OF visit ! wished to make In order
to become familiar with the various Of
fees and their needs, and have q sort
OF little pleasure trip. ! visited every
Office In casual sort Of way, would not
examine any thing, and said didn't
want to be bothered with business on
pleasure trip. chatted with the men,
smoked, and had good time, and went
on. Thus went over tho whole line,
and came back here satisfied. Isaid:
The very first letter that follow robs
bring II TO me and ] will nab him.
Who Is hep ! was asked u don't know,
but he will tell me, Just as sure as he
robs anosher letter. ! replied. ! guess
II was all OF two weeks before word
came TO me that he had robbed several
letters. Bring thom here said i.
They were brought. | lifted the nap OF
the envelope and touched the gum to
my tongue. had him. ! sent officers
at once TO q certain station and caught
the thief.
"How did the gum help me? ] will
tell you. The open letters were Just
like the untouched letters except In one
particular--they were regummed with
mucilage. Now when | stopped at each
Office made myself at home, and pres
emily would ask permission TO use the
postmaster's desk to write letter home
or some such thing. When the oppor-
tunity offered would dose the mucilage
bottle with some recognizable flavor. A
note in my note book opposite each
Office told what was the favor OF the
mucilage. The gum used to reseal the
robbed envelopes was we'll dosed with
quinine. A look in my note book at
once showed what Office that mucilage
was in. II wasn't such very bad idea
that, to set thief to catch himself;
now, was it?'
II was at once admitted that 1t was
an exceedingly clever ruse. The In
spector was asked: "But sometimes con-
siderable sums are got sway with. are
they not?"
"Not often. A very little thing will
locate the thief. Take the John Moore
case some years ago. The stolen parcel
was OF 5000 In bills. The thief un-
sealed the parcel, united tho string,
substituted paper cut Of the size Of the
bills and tied and sealed itagain. Three
months after detected the thief.
Howe put 5000 In bills In the rined
package, tied the string and scaled It.
and found at once that the string was
loose. Now, all such strings are tied
tightly, and string won't stretch. Be-
sides, any clerk receiving the parcel
with loose string would at once note
in bad condition opposite the parcel
number No clerk had done this, 90 I
ct onco said that tho last man who hand
led the package was the thief So IL
proved. He was arrested and the money
recovered. part Of It from the coattail
pocket OF Chicago pawnbroker. And
so say that the wayoi tho mail robber
Is usually hard and rocky way. Sooner
or later he is surely nabbed."