The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-11-24
ONE WAY TO ROB THE MAILS.
An Inspector Tells of a Postoff1ce
Thief's Ingenious Plan.
From the Cincinnati Ttn,es.Star.

From the Cincinnati Tin,es-Star.
"We get some pretty tough cases, said
an old postoffice Inspector yesterday. but
case on which l was set to work"
"What was thu most difficult case you
ever handledp asked the reporter.
sit happened while / was stationed at
Utica. N. Y, about Sc en- years ago." re-
Piled the inspector "Many letters contain
ing vauables had been missed, and by dint
of hard work we managed to trace the job
down to one clerk, a shaved-faced young
fellow of about % years He was a clerk
who distributed the letters into the boxes of
the carriers.
"As l said, we managed to get this far on
the case and then | set my trap. l had a
decoy letter, containing $50 gold piece,
mailed from country town in Connecti-
cut to prominent stove dealer in Utica.
The letter failed to reach the carrier
promptly, and Ifelt we had our man solid
at last.
81 waited for him until the dinner hour,
and, as he was leaving the office, accosted
him, He came with me, and, look as
closely as l might, | failed to detect any
signs of uneaslness in his features; they
we're perfectly immobile. He walked
with me into the office of the postmaster
aud submitted to a thorough search. but no
trace of the letter or $50 gold piece was
found on his person.
ITO say was dumfounded is drawing it
mildly. He appeared to be very Indignant.
But, whether 1 was right or wrong at the
time, the petty robberies came to a sudden
stop. No more complaints were heard for
a month. Then they began again. This
time | was bound would not fail, SO set
watch on my man.
Zone day, when l was about to give up
the case in despair, noticed the fellow
tearing up an envelope and dropping it to
the floor When he had gone l picked up
the scraps Of paper, and. after a hard job,
managed to piece it. / was disheartened
when / saw that the envelope had been adj
dressed to himself. l was about to walk
away when a thought struck me.
II came down the next morning before
the young clerk came to work, aud station
ed myself behind a letter rack, free from
observation, but in such position that
could see the fellows every action. l saw
him take several stamped and addressed
envelopes from his pocket, and walk over to
the stamping table and cancel the stamps.
During the course of the morning | saw the
fellow slip four letters inside of as many
envelopes, and seal the envelopes Then
knew my suspicious were correct. | went
to the carrier who carried the letter to the
mans home, and secured the four letters
addressed to the fellow himself
Have you carried many letters like thisT'
| asked him.
"'Yes, sir the carrier said. 4 carry
four or five day
II then called the fellow into my Office
and told him we had determined to have
the mail of all clerks delivered at the office,
to tighten the duties of the carriers. | then
told him that l had four letters for him,
d handed him the missives had received
from the postman. The fellow turned pale,
and was on the verge of fainting, when
asked him to open and read the letters in
my presence.
with trembling hands he did so, and
inside the envelopes, addressed to himself,
found four valuable letters addressed to g
big wholesale house. He broke down, and
confessed that he had been stealing fol-
about six months, and that during that
period he had distracted nearly 81, 500 from
business letters. He had spent the money
in gambling"