Montgomery County sentinel., 1891-03-06


fore the young clerk came to work, aud
stationed myself behind letter-rack.
free from observation. but 10 such
position that | could see the fellows
every action. saw him take several
stamped and addressed envelopes from
his pocket and walk over to the stamp
ing table and cancel the stamps Dur.
ing the course Of the morning I saw the
fellow slip four letters inside Of as many
envelopes and seal tho envelopes. Then
| knew my suspicious we're correct.
went to the carrier who carried the letter
to the young mans home and secured
the four letters addressed to the fellow
himself.
4" Have you carried many letters like
this 2 asked him.
:" Yes. air, the carrier said: 'Icarry
four or five day.
II then called the fellow into my Of
fce and told him we had determineti 10
have the mail of all clerks delivered at
the Office to tighten the duties of the
carriers. then told him that 7 had
four letters for him and handed him the
missives I had received from the post
man. The fellow turned pale aud WAS
on the verge of fainting when | asked
him to open and read the letters in my
presence.
"With tembling hands he did so, and
inside the envelopes, addressed to him
self, | found four valuable letters ad-
dressed to big Wholesale house. He
broke down and confessed that be bad
been stealing for about six months, and
that during that period he had ab-
stracted nearly fifteen hundred dollars
from business letters. He had spent
the money in gambling"
1.-THE hardest case | ever had TO work
on" broke in another inspector, turn
cd out to be no case at all. IL was 10
u small town in Ohio few months ago.
From this town had come numerous
complaints Of missing mail, valuable
and valueless pieces disappearing regu-
larly. was sent down to work tho
matter up. | worked as hard as could
and failed to detect any guilty person
amongst the several employed in the
Office.
Gas dernier resort determined to
spend one night in the office. It proved
to be very successful night. Shortly
before midnight | heard scratching in
ihe lower letter boxes and carefully be-
gan to investigate. | opened drawer
and out jumped big rat. | watched
him disappear through hole and then
went home.
Next day the floor was torn up and
10 that rats hole we found scraps Of
paper, checks and currency, oil used rs
a soft, downy bed for the family of ro-
dents. 1t was n blessing for the town.
as u new postoffice was secured at once"
zone time" said another inspector.
II was fooled by pair of high-topped
boots Many letters had been missing
from the mail trains running between
Cincinnati and New York. BY means
of decoy letters traced tho robberies
down to railway mail clerk, but was
unable to catch him in theft for a
long time.
"Aftcr many letters had disappeared
| got mad one wet night, and just rs
the clerk stepped from bis car | placed
him under arrest. The truth of the
matter was that really had M grounds
on which to arrest him, 80 took him to
a hotel and rented one room for both Of
US.
"a nice crate fire was mado in the
room, and | took off my shoes t o dry my
feet in the grateful warmth. My pris-
oner remained quietly in his chair until
| requested him to remove his big boots
and fee more comfortable.
"Then be began to fidget uneasiIy.
and grew suspicious. With rush
and u jerk pulled off ono of his boots.
and out dropped three letters to the
floor. The other boot yielded up half a
dozen Never until that moment had
had the least suspicion Of those clumsy.
big boots, and were it not for that lucky
CRATE fire should probably have never
been able to convict my man"
"What is the most wearing task which
you are compelled to perform ?" queried
the scribe.
"Checking up the accounts of igno-
rant country postmasters," replied the
inspector. ''I would sooner get out to
unravel the toughest case with which
the department is compelled to deal
than to square the accounts Of some
postmasters | know of"-Cincinnafi
Ttmes-iStar