The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-02-19
DON'T ROB THE MAIL.
-Post-O Office Inspectors Relate In.
teresting Anecdotes

AS rule, the secret service of the
Post-Office Department con tains some OF
the hardest-worked employees of the
Government. Very few persons outside
OF the mail service know OF the duties
of post-office inspector, but suffice it
to say that days duty Of an inspector
contains half dozen thrilling romances.
When one becomes statistical and
chances at the vast amount of mail mat
ter which annually passes through the
post-office Of the country, he can not
for the life Of him even imagine how a
mere handful of inspectors can trace at
all the many petty robberies Of the
mail and secure evidence enough to
convict tho perpetrators.
There is wonderful system about an
inspectors daily work, but even with
this system he is worked like Trojan
In the battlements from early morning
until late at night. He has no regular
hours He may be found on duty any
time from one midnight to the next
No one except his superior and himself
knows his business, and 1t will readily
be seen that ono of the greatest requis-
ties to mako good inspector is love
of silence.
building, ii one will look closely, he
will observe what appears as registers,
high up near the ceiling. They are In
nocent looking enough to distract the
suspicious Of the most willy thief. But
every day. behind one. 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 register or
money order departments.
Should there happen to be any COM
plants OF missing mail there is i sour
-rying in the inspection department., and
every man on the staff is put on to test
his mettle with the case which con-
fronts the department And the won
der is that nine times out of ten the
case is worked to successful conclu-
sion and the guilty person convicted Of
the heinous crime of tampering with
Uncle Sans mail.
We get some pretty tough cases, 7
said an old inspector recently. "but it
has been my fortune to run down every
case on which was set to work"
What was the most difficult case you
ever handled?" asked reporter.
ut happened while was stationed
at Utica, N. Y, abont seven years ago."
replied the inspector. MANY letters
containing valuables 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
Twenty-Five years. He was clerk who
distributed the letters into the boxes Of
the carriers.
las L said, we managed to get this
far on the case and then / set my trap.
had decoy letter containing TWEEN
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.
Il 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 uncasiness in his
features; they were perfectly immobile.
He walked with me into the Office OF
the postmaster and submitted to thor
ough search, but no trace OF the letter
or twenty-dollar gold piece was found
on his person.
TO say 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 sudden stop. No more COM
plants were heard for month. Then
they began again. This time was
bound would not fail, so set close
watch ommy man.
One day when was about to give up
the case in despair, i noticed the fellow
tearing up an envelope and dropping 1t
to the floor. When he had gone picked
up the scraps of paper, and after q hard
JOB managed to piece II / was dis
heartened when saw that the envelope
had been addressed to himself. was
about to walk away when sudden idea
struck me.
Il came down the next morning be-
lore the young clerk came to work, and
stationed myself behind letter
rack, free from observation, but in such
position that could see the fellows
every action. saw him take several
r stamped and addressed envelopes from
ms pocket and walk over to the stamp
ing table and cancel tho stamps. Dur
ing the course Of the morning saw the
ieilow slip four letters inside OF as
man. many envelopes and seal the envelopes,
7 inen ! knew my suspicious were cor
rect went to the carrier who carried
inc letter to the young mans home and
- secured the four letters addressed to the
fellow himself.
Nh haye you carried many letters Ike