San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-04-17
POSTAL MYSTERIES.

IEOil lnt ulluutIpula ihiuiiNi'
Comfortably seated in his private
office, Chief Post Office Inspector Ed
CARTON told an Inquirer reporter some
of his many strange experiences dur
ing nineteen years of servicein charge
of various postal districts. "Do
YOU know" said he, there seems
to be an epidemic of obscene
letter writing, from five to six COM
plants being made daily? This is I'M
usual, and does not speak very high
ly for the morals of the great number
of people engaged in these unlawful
practices. The suicide of the beautiful
girl, Jessie White of Joliet, H., re-
calls a similar case | had when in
Cincinnati.
"A wealthy, respectable, and very
good looking woman, the wife OF a
prominent man in politics and busi-
ness, was for long time the recipient
of scurrilOus postal cards. From mo-
tives OF delicacy she did not put the
matter into the hands of the postal
authorities until she was driven near
ly crazy by them.
"She came to me bringing large
bundle of cards, and Historically told
me how she had received two or three
daily. She did not suspect any one,
and | was obliged to go to work with
out clue. Watch was Kept upon
the street boxes, but, as the cards
were dropped everywhere. this meth
cd proved unsuccessful. Her hus--
band paid many visits to the office
and begged me for Gods sake to try
and discover the writer. | do not re-
member exactly how, but suspicion
finally fastened upon the hus band
himself and l went to work on that
basis After careful investigation L
discovered that my suspicious were
correct. The wretch had been writing
them himself. He had become infat-
uated with some woman and desired
TO get rid of his wife Knowing her
sensitive 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 COM
plants. When l had every thing
ready | sent for this model husband
and told him plainly what | had dis
covered. He was enraged, but when
| related the story of his msdOings
ne become frightened and promised
to do what ever | told him. For his
wife's sake | did not arrest him, but
keeping the pOstals, | told him to 90
and to remember that a repetition of
the offence would lead to his punish
ment. When the wife came | told
her that she would receive no more
scurrilous missives. There are plen-
ty 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 tod me that he had reason to be-
lieve that his wife was carrying ON an
Illicit correspondence, through the
medium of private box in the post
office, with notorious rough in the
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
note to her advising her to call at
my office. She came, not without
trepldatiOn, fOndly imagining that
nOle knew OF her guilt. In a naughty
manner she asked my business. I
told her, without any attempt to
veneer it with soft words. She de-
Clared herself ipsulted and said she
would tell her husband | told her
to be seated, that her husban had in
stituted the inquiry, and then adj
vised her to drop the correspondence,
as she was standing on the brink of
disgrace and ruin, and all for the
sake of "a man noted for his dissolute
manner of living. She became fright
ened and promised to stop, and
as an assurance of her good faith
she gave me the key to the
box. [ sent for her husband
and told him that he was mistaken,
that his wife was not corresponding
with any one, except by the regular
course Of the mails. This, of course,
was lie by implication, but ii sent
him away happy man, and | believe
i'll such an instance the lie was justi-
fed.
speaking ofSt.Lo reminds me of
another curious case. We had a man
there, the chief registering clerk, who
was indefatigable 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 were disappearing,
most of them with remittances to the
lottery. The clerk was so deep in our
confidence that we told him to keep
a sharp outlook 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. | then made a personal in
VeStigatiOn but could find no drivers